WHS swim team shows improvement in Class A State Swimming and Diving Championships

By Matt Pascarella

Windham High School’s swimming team competed against schools from all over the state during the Class A Swimming and Diving Championships at Colby College in Waterville on Friday, March 6 with the Windham boys finishing sixth with a score of 171 and the Windham girls finishing 14th with a score of 26.

Windham sophomore Stephanie Roghelia competes in the
100-yard breaststroke race during the Class A State 
Swimming and Diving Championships at Colby College
in Waterville on Friday, March 6.
PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA   

“Each race had a strategy but mostly enter the meet with confidence of preparation,” said WHS swim coach Peter Small. “We always want to see swimmers drop times – to be able to improve upon both the time and the technique that they have done previously. In a sport where you can't 'play defense' against an opponent, we are always racing the clock. Everybody believed in themselves; that confidence can go a long way and was lifted up by their teammates. A positive attitude, obviously along with the training that they did, was a huge help. Between both the regionals and the state meet, this group had one of the stronger post-season improvements.”

BOYS

In the 200-yard medley relay made up of sophomores Beckett Bragdon, Peter Funk, Rocco DiDonato and junior Sullivan Scharf of Windham finished second with a time of 1:45.41 minutes.

In the 500-freestyle Scharf finished in first place with a time of 4.54.84. Scharf finished second in the 200-individual medley with a 2:01.79 time.

Funk finished third in the 200-freestyle with a 1:48.71 time and fourth in the 100-butterfly with a 55.35-second time. 

DiDonato finished 10th in the 500 with a time of 5.46.60.

In the 100-breaststroke, Bragdon finished seventh with a 1:07.11 time.

Sophomores Luke Hangee, Mahiro Hammond, Bragdon, DiDonato and Hilmer also placed and saw significant improvements and time drops during the meet.

“My expectations coming in were to win, but as a team to place better than we did last year,” said Scharf. “Our technique was really good today; the effort and team morale has been really good today. It’s a good meet in general. Finishing first in the 500 was such a great feeling and definitely proved that hard work pays off. The time recorded at the state championship was not my best time during the season, but my best time in the season was only a few seconds off.”

GIRLS

The relay team of freshmen Lauren Nickel, Aubrey McInnis, sophomore Stephanie Roghelia and junior Maya Fitts finished 12th in the 200-freestyle relay with a time of 2:16.46. They finished 14th in the 200-medley relay with a 2:42.84 time.

In the 50-freestyle, sophomore Roghelia finished 10th with a time of 26.62, a personal record for her. She finished 14th in the 100-breaststroke with a time of 1:17.09.

“My goal going into (today’s) meet was to show off all of my hard work,” said Roghelia. “I wanted to represent my team as best as I could. I think my team did amazing. We had so many swimmers swim new personal bests and podium. Overall, I’m proud of how I did because I achieved my goal. Not only did I swim a new personal best in the 50-freestyle, but I also beat that best by splitting an even faster time when I swam in the 200-freestyle relay. Our times and sportsmanship went well during the meet, all of us did such a great job representing WHS swimming with each and every personal best. We did such a great job cheering each other and other swimmers on.” <