Bishop Hendricken Boys, Barrington Girls Win Rhode Island State Titles

Rhode Island High School Swimming State Championships

• February 23rd, 2019
• Brown University
• 25y, Timed Finals
• Boys Heat Sheets
• Girls Heat Sheets
• Boys Team Results
• Boys Event Results
• Girls Team Results
• Girls Event Results

The boys from Bishop Hendricken High School and the girls from Barrington High School came away as state champions last weekend at Brown University.

Boys’ Meet

Top 5 Team Scores:

1. Bishop Hendricken – 380
2. Barrington High School – 279
3. South County Co-Op – 203
4. Portsmouth High – 175
5. Lincoln High – 156

Among the double winners at the meet was Bishop Hendricken sophomore CJ Sheldon, who swept the 200 free (1:40.78) and 100 free (46.59) at the meet. He also anchored a pair of Bishop Hendricken title-winning relays. On the 200 free relay, he split 21.23 on the anchor amd combined with Aidan Blanchette, Paul Fedorenko, and John Walden to win the title by over a second in 1:28.90.

The day finished with another big anchor, in 45.97, and a 2-second win in the 400 free relay in 3:15.17. This time he was joined by Walden, John Smith, and Michael Ryan.

There were several near-miss state records on Saturday, including Sheldon’s 100 free, though none were actually broken. Barrington senior Ethan O’Connor was .11 seconds away from the record in the 50 free with a winning time of 21.41. He also was within a second of Luca Spinazzola’s 100 back record, swimming a 50.66 on a record of 49.74. He’ll head to swim at Division III Bowdoin College in nearby Maine in the fall.

O’Connor combined with Bennett Jackson, Andrew Barton, and Gor Bagumyan to win the day’s other relay, the 200 medley, in 1:39.05. Barrington won that relay last year as well, in a State Record, and were able to defend their title in spite of swapping out 3 of the 4 legs (O’Connor was the lone holdover).

Other Noteworthy Winners:

• Lincoln freshman Tyler Lutz won the 500 free in 4:45.88. The defending champion, junior Jacob Hack, didn’t swim the high school state meet this season.
• South County Co-Op’s Wes Rea won the boys’ 100 fly in 50.93. The time was slower than, but his spot was one spot higher than, his runner-up finish from last year’s meet as a freshman.
• Moses Brown High School’s Coleman Flynn won the boys’ 100 breaststroke in 1:00.37. In his sophomore season, Flynn has emerged as a breaststroker after swimming exclusively backstroke and freestyle as a freshman (with a high finish of 6th in the 100 free).
• South County Co-Op freshman Drew Jalbert won the 200 IM in 1:56.99.

Girls’ Meet

Top 5 Team Scores:

1. Barrington High School – 298
2. NKHS – 261
3. La Salle Academy – 240.50
4. Prout – 161
5. East Greenwich – 150

The Barrington High School girls’ sprint machine was in full-force on Saturday as they rolled to their 5th-straight state title.

The most amusing story to come out of this meet is that Barrington girls’ head coach Sandy Gorham, in spite of being the 4-time defending state champions, didn’t bother to pack a change of clothes this year for a possible post-championship plunge into the water at Brown University.

Something tells us that he holds no remorse for that decision, even in February in Rhode Island.

The team was led by junior Sydni Diehl, who began her meet with a win in the 50 free in 23.73. That won the race by .72 seconds, though it missed her State Record from last season. She also defended her state title in the 100 free, touching in 52.23 later in the meet.

But the real fun began when she teamed up with a group of teammates to break the State Records in both free relays. First came the 200, where she anchored in 23.44 and combined with Emma DiGiacomo (25.43), Julia Zulker (25.39), Rachel Baker (24.65) to win in 1:38.91. That broke the old State Record of 1:39.84 that was set in 2014 by South Kingstown High.

Editor’s Note: That E. Pelton on the old record-setting relay’s leadoff isn’t former US international Elizabeth Pelton; it’s Emma Pelton. Liz Pelton lived in Baltimore in high school.

In the 400 free relay, Diehl once again anchored her team to victory, splitting 51.51 to take the team to a new State Record of 3:36.63. DiGiacomo led off that relay in 55.68, freshman Garin Stone swam 2nd and split 55.05, and Baker swam 3rd, splitting 54.39. The old State Record of 3:38.45 was set in 2017 by North Kingstown High. La Salle Academy’s runner-up relay finished in 3:37.96 and was also under the old State Record.

Both Barrington’s relay (which had no seniors) and La Salle’s relay included 2 sophomores and a freshman.

Those sprints, combined with a ton of depth racking up points in 8-16th place positions, was enough to lift Barrington to another title.

Other Event Winners:

• Prout High School, the alma mater of 2008 World Junior Champion Laura Sogar, won the girls’ 200 free relay in 1:51.21.
• North Kingston sophomore Abby Maguire won the 200 free by 2 seconds in 1:54.14. That’s her best time by almost two-and-a-half seconds. She swam the 200 IM at last year’s state meet, but shifted to this 200 free for 2019.
• For the 2nd-straight season, Maguire finished runner-up in the 500 free to fellow sophomore Maddie Tetreault of La Salle. Maguire led most of the race, but Tretreault out-split her 28.76 to 29.78 on the final 50 to win in 5:01.06. Maguire’s time was 5:01.25.
• BVA’s Gianna Spremullo won the girls’ 100 backstroke in 56.07. That’s her 2nd-straight title in the event after finishing in 2nd place as a freshman in 2017.
• East Greenwhich freshman Kelsa Dator won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.76.