Friday, March 17, 2023

Middle School swimmers triumph in meet against Westbrook

By Matt Pascarella

In just their second meet of the season, the Windham Middle School swim team showed immense skill and sportsmanship against Westbrook at St. Joseph’s College on Friday, March 10.

Windham seventh grader Rocco DiDonato shows his skill
during the 50-year freestyle event in Windham Middle
School's swim meet against Westbrook on Friday, March 10
at St. Joseph's College. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 
Windham was victorious over the Blue Blazes. The girls won, 47-44, and the boys won, 64-34.

“After our first meet we really discussed positive sportsmanship and stepping up our game with that,” said Windham Middle School swim coach Anne Fougere. “I think they really wanted to work hard at that. As coaches, we’ve been pushing that more than the swimming; so, we were happy to see improvement there too.”

Windham began with two first-place finishes in both medley relays. The girls finished with a time of 3:04.72 minutes and the boys finished with a time of 2:27.67.

Boys

Seventh grader Peter Funk finished first in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 34.11 seconds. He also finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a 1:11.90 time.

Eighth grader Sullivan Scharf finished first in the 50-yard backstroke with a 29.72 time. He also finished first in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:16.84.

“I think we got some great swims in today, not just myself, I would say the whole team did great,” said Scharf. “Sportsmanship went up a whole bunch. We’re more bonded than before. Now, we’re here for everyone.”

With a time of 48.84, seventh grader Timothy Slabbinck-Unser finished second in the 50 breaststroke.

In the 50 freestyle, eighth grader Jacob Leavitt finished second with a time of 32.81, eighth grader William Blyther finished third with a time of 36.23 and seventh grader Rocco DiDonato finished fourth with a time of 45.50.

Eighth graders Mason Butterfield and Brock York both put in great efforts in the 50 freestyle. Butterfield finished with a 44.59 time and York finished with a 46.93 time.

Girls

In the 50-yard backstroke, seventh grader Mareina Lavalle finished first with a time of 46.01. Behind her was eighth-grader Allison Shardlow who finished second with a time of 49.59. Shardlow also finished fourth in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:51.18.

In the 50 freestyle, seventh grader Stephanie Roghelia finished first with a time of 29.46. She also finished first in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:24.28 time.

Roghelia said the team did amazing with sportsmanship and their times. She underestimated her strength, but feels she did awesome. She also received a ducky award from Coach Fougere for being an overall team player. It was unexpected to receive this and Roghelia said it felt awesome.

Sixth grader Lucy Stretch finished second in the 50 freestyle with a 48.83 time and third in the 50 breaststroke with a 1:06.36 time.

Sixth graders Zoe Varney and Bevie Yekeh both had excellent times in the 50 freestyle; Varney finished with a 52.43 time and Yekeh finished with a 1:58.85 time.

“They’ve put everything to use today that we’ve worked on during practice this week and that’s really exciting to see,” said Fougere. <

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