LS GIRLS SWIM AND DIVE PLACE 2ND AT DIV 1 STATE MEET

On Saturday,February 15th, the LS girls Swimming and Diving Team were runners up at the Division 1 State Championship.  The team led by coach Ann Boudrot scored 211 points for the second place win only second to Westford Academy who have an exceptionally strong team this year.   

Kim Yang, a junior, placed second out of 23 state qualifiers in the diving competition. Diving Coach Shawn Powers commented " The state meet was the best I have ever seen Kim dive in the last three years".

The 200 yard medley relay foreshadowed the rest of the meet.  The Westford girls team broke the state record and placed first.  The LS girls team of Caroline Goswami ( back), Ansley Baker ( breast) Caroline Thomas ( fly) and Jenny Genovese (free) fought hard and held nothing back and placed second.  

The 200 yard freestyle was an exciting race to watch.  Michela Eckhouse was on fire and dropped 3 seconds off her seed time and led her heat the whole race.  Emily Huang fought hard and Freshman Courtney Brown placed 12th overall in the state in this event. Brown and Eckhouse both earned points for the team. 

Next up was the 200 yard IM, representing LS was  Jillian Rastinejad who swam 50 yards of each stroke and performed well and efficiently.  The winner, Jen Marrkand, a senior from Westford, broke a state record.  

LS had many qualifiers for the 50 freestyle race. The top four swimmers competed and all did great sprints and made their team proud.  Katherine O'Shea placed second, Ansley Baker placed third, both earned many points for the LS girls. Captain Jenny Genovese swam her best time earning points and Caroline Goswami swam hard with an impressive time. 

The 100 yard butterfly was another impressive swim by Michela Eckhouse who placed 13th earning points for her team and swimming a best personal time. Astrid Swenson of Beverly swam to a first place finish and also broke a new meet record in this event.  

The 100 yard freestyle race was a hard fought one.  LS had four strong swimmers represented in this event and all swam their hearts out.  Katherine O'Shea placed second in a strikingly competitive race with Dorian McMenemy from Algonquin who won.  O'Shea did her best time as did Caroline Thomas, Emily Huang and Jenny Genovese.  

At this point in the race the LS girls were 3rd amongst the 47 teams competing for the Division 1 title.  

The 500 freestyle race was next, Courtney Brown did an amazing swim as she was the sole LS swimmer in this event.  She placed 9th as a freshman, an amazing accomplishment as well as earning points for her team.  

Next up was LS's turn to shine!  The 200 freestyle relay team of Caroline Goswami, Ansley Baker, Courtney Brown and Katherine O'Shea sprinted to the gold in a close race down to the end when O'Shea passed the Westford swimmer for the win.  

The 100 yard backstroke was represented by LS's only state qualifier Caroline Goswami.  There was tough competition as Marrkand from Westford swam to a new state record.  

The 100 breaststroke was a nail-biter.  Ansley Baker who was ranked 2nd in the event placed second against Maddison Garder from Milford who tied the meet record.  Baker left it all in the pool and swam an impressive race, earned points and showed great sportsmanship.  Captain Caroline Hultin another state qualifier swam an impressive race as well.  

The final event was  the 400 freestyle relay.  The team of Eckhouse, Brown, Genovese and O'Shea again gave it their all and placed 3rd. 

At the meets conclusion the Westford swimmers earned the first place trophy as LS earned the runners up trophy.  Coach Ann; " I am very proud of the girls for leaving nothing in the tank and leaving it in the pool and getting a second place finish at the state meet and having a very successful season".