KUA Swimmers Excel at Williston Northampton
The KUA swim team traveled to the Williston North
Hampton School on Wednesday, Feb. 4th for its first meet of the year.
The 12 member team (7 boys, 5 girls) competed against much larger teams from
Williston and Worchester Academy The KUA girls 200 medley relay team (Caitlin
Michaels, Mollie Hoopes, Amelia Good and Anne Loftus) got the meet off to great
start, just getting edged out of 1st place by the home team's top swimmers.
This same KUA team, with Holly McLaughlin stepping in for Caitlin, also finished
a close second in the 200 freestyle relay. The boys 200 yard medley relay team
(John Galvin, John Morse, Ryo Nimura and Tom Timpone) had a very strong
showing. The first individual event was the 200 freestyle, Anne Loftus cranked
an outstanding race finishing 3rd. For the boys, Christoph Kurzer and Tom
Timpone finished very well... with Christoph, redefining the 200 free race to
receive the unofficial KUA swimming innovation and effort award. Tom and
Christoph combined forces again to swim excellent 100 breaststroke races with
Tom finishing 4th. In an awesome display of KUA swimming power,
Amelia Good used an amazing breaststroke leg to win the demanding 200 individual
medley race. Amelia repeated that winning feat in the 100 breaststroke race,
completely dominating the field. Mollie Hoopes made strong showing in that race,
battling the group chasing Amelia. Ryo Nimuura followed with an outstanding 200
IM finishing well in the money. In the most demanding event of the meet, John
Morse swam an outstanding 500 freestyle, finishing 2nd. John had another
excellent 2nd place swim in the 100 backstroke. Harold Kim took 5th in the very
difficult and competitive 100 butterfly race. Team leader and senior Caitlin
Michaels swam an amazing 100 butterfly, matching Williston's best flyer stroke
for stroke until the final lap when Caitlin put the hammer down and won by
several lengths. Caitlin followed with the closest and most exciting race of
the meet, the 100 backstroke, dueling Williston's excellent backstroke
specialist to the end, losing by a fingernail. Having never raced in a
sanctioned swim meet , Holly McLaughlin, John Galvin and Will Murphy swam very
fast in the 50 freestyle, beating most of the field. For those who have been
around swimming for a long time, it is unclear how such swimmers could go so
fast with so little experience and training. The boys team of Harold, Will, John
G and John M closed the meet with a spirited 400 free relay. Although
outmanned greater than 2:1 by Worcester and 3:1 by Williston, incredibly the
girls team beat Worcester. Both of our teams left a mark of things to come. KUA
swims again, in a multi-team meet, at the Eaglebrook School, Deerfield, MA, on
Saturday, Feb. 7. The team looks forward to the return of injured swimmer Chris
Morse, who will definitely help the cause.
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