Londonderry High School’s talented girls’ and boys’ swim teams very nearly beat each and every opposing squad which they faced in their home pool at The Workout Club last Friday night, Jan. 12. The only fly in the Lancers’ ointment on the way to a perfect night was, in fact, the tie score at which the LHS boys and the Nashua North Titan males dead-locked.
Longtime Londonderry coach Chrys Ewen saw her Lady Lancers go a perfect 5-0 on the evening with lopsided wins over every opponent. And Ewen’s Lancer males were very nearly as successful, going an excellent 4-0-1 at their home facility.
The two LHS contingents also had some of their top swimmers compete well at The Bobcat Invitational at the University of New Hampshire this past Sunday the 14th.
GIRLS
The Lady Lancers simply throttled Campbell of Litchfield (133-14), Goffstown (121-36), John Stark Regional from Weare (125-29), Merrimack (114-55), and Nashua North (123-34) on a perfect night.
The exceptional effort was paced by individual event wins from Kaitlin Witkop in the 200-yard freestyle (time of 2 minutes, 06.47 seconds) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:08.52), Julia Ethier in the 50 free (28.56), Isabella Wright in the 100-yard butterfly (1:25.61), and Elizabeth Allen in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:21.65).
Relay victories were delivered by the quartets of Caity Mahan, Witkop, Allen, and Jasmine Brown in the 200 medley (2:05.71), Maeve McPahil, Caroline Russell, Madison Martin, and Ethier in the 200 free (1:59.94), and Brown, Martin, Allen, and Witkop in the 400 free (4:17.52).
Two days later at the UNH event, Witkop proved unbeatable in both the 100-meter breaststroke (1:02.11) and the 100 fly (1:02.11). Other top-six performances were notched by Allen in the 100 back (fourth) and Martin in the 500 free (sixth).
BOYS
Thanks to their great depth, the LHS males wound up being far better than Goffstown (106-50), John Stark (135-5), Merrimack (116-41), and Campbell (131-16) along with the aforementioned tough tie with North.
First places were bagged by the 200 medley relay quartet of Brandon White, Brian Parrott, Luc Lafond, and Chris Byrne (1:56.90) and Parrott on his own in the 100 fly (1:03.68).
At the UNH event, White managed a sixth place in the 100 backstroke.
The LHS squads will once again host a meet in their home pool this Friday night the 19th.