Canton swimmers compete in sectional meet
~ LeDonne moves on to state tournament ~
By Jeffrey
Pickette
Citizen Staff
Five Canton High swimmers — Misty King, Andrea Konopka, Alison
McHugh and Abbey Willis for the girls and Chris LeDonne for the
boys — competed in last weekend’s Central/South Sectional
Swimming and Diving Championships at M.I.T.
LeDonne had already qualified for Friday’s State Championship
meet during the regular season, so last Sunday’s boys’ sectional
meet was effectively a warmup. However, last Saturday’s girls’
sectional meet was their last chance to qualify for the state
championships.
While neither Konopka, competing individually in the 100-yard
freestyle event, nor the 200-yard freestyle relay team of King,
Konopka, McHugh and Willis were able to advance, coach Lori
Mooney was impressed with their respective efforts.
“Being a qualifier and taking part in this event was thrilling
alone,” Mooney wrote in an e-mail to the
Citizen.
“It gave all the underclassmen a renewed sense of determination
for next year.”
Konopka, Canton’s lone senior representative at sectionals, was
seeded second-to-last heading into the 100-yard freestyle event,
but shed her qualifying time of 1:01.75 by an additional quarter
of a second, finishing 37th out of 43 swimmers with a
time of 1:01.50.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team had a last minute shakeup with
Willis filling in for Brianna Duserick, who was too ill to
compete, according to Mooney. Mooney said Willis “stepped up to
the plate and filled [Duserick’s] shoes perfectly,” helping the
Canton quartet finish 28th out of 32 teams with a
time of 1:54.71, which was almost a full second better than
their qualifying time.
On the boys’ side, LeDonne had qualified in five events and
chose to compete in the 200-yard freestyle and in the 100-yard
fly.
Dealing with what Mooney called a “nagging injury that had left
him unable to train as usual this past season,” LeDonne “didn’t
fare quite as well,” finishing 20th out of 33
swimmers in the 200-yard freestyle and 20th out of 29
swimmers in the 100-yard fly. LeDonne was seeded 12th
and 16th, respectively, going into both events.
He looks to rebound this Friday at the State Championship meet,
held at Harvard.
February 18, 2010
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