Freshmen and sophomores played significant roles in season-starting successes for their Londonderry High School swim squads at The Workout Club Friday night, Dec. 8.
The Lady Lancers went a perfect 5-0 – with a couple of tight decisions – in their opener at home that evening with freshman Kaity Witkop and Liz Allen and sophomore Jasmine Brown coming up big along with several battle-tested veterans. And the Lancer males – powered by sophomore Chris Byrne and freshman Brandon White – went a very strong 4-1 to start off their 2017-18 campaign well.
GIRLS
Veteran coach Chrys Ewen watched her Lady Lancers go 5-0 with convincing defeats of Campbell of Litchfield (132-18), Goffstown (127-34), and John Stark Regional of Weare (130-31), and far tighter edgings of Windham (87-83) and Timberlane of Plaistow (93-76).
The ninth-grader Witkop began her high school career in superb style by winning the 100-yard butterfly (time of 1 minute, 2.70 seconds) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:14.32). The locals also notched a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay (4:19.07).
The hosts received second places from senior veterans Madison Martin in the 500-yard freestyle (6:11.39) and Caroline Russell in both the 100-yard backstroke (1:13.25) and the 200-yard individual medley (2:39.48).
Thirds were delivered by Brown and Allen in the 50 free (tied at 28.65 seconds), Brown in the 100 free (1:05.48), Allen in the 500 free (6:26.72), Caitlynn Mahan in the 100 backstroke (1:15.12), and the 200 medley relay (2:14.82) and 200 free relay (1:57.52) teams.
Along with Witkop and Allen, freshmen looking to make a difference for their Lady Lancers this season are Isabella McKnight and Grace Stone.
BOYS
The Lancer guys bagged four lopsided wins over Goffstown (123-27), John Stark Regional (137-4), Timberlane (126-28), and Campbell (137-6) but fell to Windham (100-70) in going 4-1 overall.
Rookie White began his high school career in stellar fashion by winning the 100 free (54.41) and the 100 backstroke (1:03.80), while sophomore Byrne was tops in the 500 free (5:47.07) and second in the 200 IM (2:23.53).
Senior stalwart Brian Parrott snared a second in the 200 free (2:15.26) and a third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:14.07), and other second places were delivered by the 400 free (4:01.37) and 200 medley (1:56.09) relay quartets. Londonderry also bagged third in that latter relay (2:12.85).
Other newcomers on the LHS boys’ squad this winter include senior Jake Calligandes, junior Parker MacIntyre, and sophomore Jaime Aranzabal, and freshmen Theo McKnight, Luc Lafond, Connor McKinnon, and Hunter Turek.
The two Londonderry High contingents return to action in their home pool this Friday night against Campbell, Conant of Jaffrey, Dover, and Mascenic of New Ipswich.