To no one’s surprise, the race to the Northeastern Conference swim championship once again went through Marblehead … and as they have been so many times in the past, the Magicians were far ahead of rest of the pack.
Both the girls and boys teams from Marblehead swam to NEC crowns Saturday at the Sterling Center YMCA in Beverly. The girls finished with 555 points to outdistance second place Masconomet (459), while the MHS boys wound up with 583 points, decimating the rest of the field by more than 250 points. That gave the Magicians a combined team score of 1,138.
Senior Finn Bergquist (1,117 points) and freshman Grace Ladouceur (1,041 points) finished second third in individual points for the girls to lead Marblehead. Four of their teammates also placed in the Top 10: ninth grader Shaelyn Callahan (6th, 740), sophomore Abby Moore (8th, 673), and seniors Brinleigh Callahan (9th, 657) and Madeleine Auerbach (10th, 653).
Marblehead earned wins from Shaelyn Callahan in both the 500 free (5:46.65) and 100 breaststroke (1:17.05), Ladouceur in the 100 freestyle (57.40), Bergquist in the 100 backstroke (1:03.19), and all three relays. Ladouceur, Bergquist, and the two Callahans claimed top honors in both the 200 medley (1:59.63) and 400 free (4:01.65) relays, while Elizabeth Hayes, Monica Pechhold, Auerbach and Abby Moore captured the 200 free relay (1:57.85).
The Masconomet girls swam extremely well, with junior Brynne Curley placing first overall with 1,234 individual points. She won the 200 IM (2:15.20) and the 100 butterfly 1:00.20) and swam on a pair of second play relays.
Sophomore teammate Dylan Guido earned 670 points for the Chieftains, good for seventh overall. Junior Kayleigh O’Brien added a first place finish in the diving (250.05 points).
Claire Slomski, a junior, won both the 50 free (26.49) and the 200 free (2:05.50) for Swampscott, which finished fourth as a team with 306 points. They were followed, in order, by Danvers (282 points), Peabody/Essex Tech (234) and Salem (70).
For the boys, Marblehead claimed seven of the top 10 individual point scorers to win going away. Taking the 2nd-through-4th spots were Magician senior Logan Doody (1,170 points), juniors Cale Nelson (1,019) and Brady Leveroni (845), and sophomore Omar Elnabaraway (845), the latter two tying for fourth place. Additionally, junior Ian Chemel was seventh overall (804 points), senior Nate Rosen was eighth (792) and freshman Orion Lewis claimed 10th place (672).
Doody was a double winner for the Magicians, taking victories in both the 50 free (22.69) and 100 free (50.35). Teammates joining him as first place finishers included Rosen in the 200 free (1:54.98), Leveroni in the 100 fly (57.57), and Nelson in the 100 back (56.27). All three relays were also captured by Marblehead, as Chemel, Nelson, Leveroni and Doody won the 200 medley relay (1:46.47) and 400 free relay (3:30.25); Chemel and Rosen then combined with Lewis and Elnabaraway to take home the 200 free relay (1:35.64).
Salem High sophomore Grant Dwyer was spectacular in winning the individual points crown with 1,300. He hit the wall first in both the 200 IM (1:56.91) and 500 free 4:47.24) as the Witches took sixth as a team with 152 points.
Senior James Teague of the combined Peabody/Essex Tech team won the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.82, helping his squad to a second place finish (325 points).
Junior Zachary Cotter of Danvers finished sixth overall with 806 points, helping the Falcons to a third place team finish (319 points). Masconomet was close behind with 316 points, led by junior Landen Boutilier winning the diving (250.10 points).