Bishop Feehan’s title not so easy

Girls’ Swim Sectionals

November 14, 2011|By Sarina Mathai and Ryan Mooney, Globe Correspondents

Needhams Jessica Murphy finished second in the 200 IM. (Yoon Byun/Globe Staff )

With a Southern Conference championship title and undefeated dual meet season already in the books, Bishop Feehan fully intends to keep its spotless record rolling through the postseason. The path to perfection, however, isn’t without bumps and bruises.

Moments before jumping into Harvard’s Blodgett Pool for the South Sectional yesterday, the Shamrocks learned that senior Caitlin Callanan was sick and would not be able to swim. The loss of a top swimmer normally would deal a mighty blow to even the best of teams, but Bishop Feehan used it as motivation.

“We were a little worried and shocked,’’ said Caroline Capece, a part of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team. “But [Callanan] stayed and was here to pump us up and keep things positive. We just knew we had to step it up to win.’’

The Shamrocks finished with 281.5 points, enough to outpace Walpole (245 points) and Framingham (230 points).

It came down to the last event, with Bishop Feehan’s 400-yard freestyle relay team (3 minutes 40.43 seconds) edging Walpole (3:42.01). Earlier, Walpole won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.70, which broke the meet record Bishop Feehan set in 2009.

“Had we not won that [last] relay, we would have been in trouble,’’ said coach Chris Payson. “It wasn’t a give-in win at all. The score certainly shows that - we won by 20 points - that’s a swing one way or another on a relay, or a bad finish - it could have been anything.’’

Another pivotal event for the Shamrocks was the 200 individual medley, where they placed three swimmers in the top five; freshman Marisa Reidemeister (2:10.81) was the winner.

The crowd also witnessed the fall of a 26-year-old record. Will Higgins of Norwood won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.96, breaking the record set by Cynthia Kangas of Wellesley in 1985. Westwood’s Irina Chiuli also set a meet record in 1-meter diving with 504.50 points.

North sectional

Andover was in total control, placing first in 10 of 12 events, setting two meet records, and finishing with a team score of 398.5 - nearly 200 points ahead of Acton-Boxboro (199). The Warriors have won the North sectionals 12 of the last 13 years.

Reading (185), Chelmsford (176), and Haverhill (96) rounded out the top five.

“This was really fantastic,’’ Andover coach Marilyn Fitzgerald said. “Beyond anything I think we’ve done before at sectionals in terms of the number of swimmers we had get on the podium.’’

Andover wasted no time in asserting its dominance, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:47.77, nearly matching the meet record it set last year (1:47.76).