NHS freshman girls lead swim team to victory over Weymouth

With a strong new class of freshmen replacing last year’s seniors, the Needham High School girls’ swimming and diving team beat Weymouth girls and their lone male teammate in all 11 events, for a 90 to 80 victory in the first meet of the season Sept. 17. 

Four Needham divers competed, but Weymouth didn't field a team in that event.

Freshman Patricia Kenney took first place in the 500-yard freestyle in 6:09.98. Freshman Elizabeth Bonvoulior plowed quickly through the individual medley event of four strokes with a winning time of 2:22.76, easily meeting the qualifying time for the Division I State Championships. And freshman Monika Hedman took first in the 100-yard breast stroke, in 1:18.59, just edging out her freshman teammate Grace Ward, who touched in at 1:18.73, both qualifying for the South Sectional finals.

The 53-member Needham team, practicing since Aug. 22, has put in close to 50 hours of pool and dryland workouts – swimming as much as 3 miles per practice, says Coach Rachel Waldstein. The team is so large and pool space and time at such a premium that half the team is bused to practice 8 miles away at the Hyde Park YMCA, and the other girls swim as many as nine to a lane at Babson College. 

Rockets who helped Needham to 5th place in the 2012 Massachusetts Fall Division I Championships last year still with the team include these top-10 showings:  co-captain Katie Santaniello, who placed 3rd last year in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 59.87, and 10th in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.88;  co-captain Rebecca Phillips, who finished 8th in 100-yard breastroke with 1:13.81, and 10th in the 200-yard individual medley with 2:22.38; Emilie Despres, who placed 5th in the 100-yard freestyle in 55.48, and 8th in 200-yard freestyle at 2:01.74; and Claire Hadelman, who was 10th in the 500 yard freestyle with 5:22.39.  

Though the team’s best swimmers do come from elite, USA Swimming club backgrounds – the no-cut policy allows a large group of students to try the competitive experience.

 “One of my favorite parts of having a no-cut sport,” says Coach Rachel Waldstein, is watching kids who have never swum competitively stick with the grueling practices and improve, moving up from the slowest practice lanes to faster ones. “It’s almost like catching a bug and you get in the water and have a race and it propels you to work hard and get better.”  She points out senior co-captain Claudia Garber as a successful example: Claudia arrived her freshman year with no competitive experience and improved “leaps and bounds, and [now] is a contributor to the team,” says Waldstein.

The next home meet will be Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Babson College pool – admission is free.

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