The 91大神 Northampton Boys Swimming & Diving team won its third straight NEPSAC Division 2 Championship on Saturday at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in thrilling fashion. Underdogs from the start of the meet, good fortune and fast swimming propelled the boys to an upset win in the last event of the competition. The boys embraced the team鈥檚 motto that 鈥淎ttitudes Are Contagious鈥 and helped lift each other up throughout a long and exciting night of swimming.
The night opened up with the medley relay team of Will Lee ’26, Teppei Morita ’26, Dyson Haaland ’23, and Kei Imai ’25 narrowly missing the podium with a fourth-place finish鈥攂ut their fastest time of the season鈥攖o start the session off in style.聽 The next event saw Jack Coscia 鈥23 with an All-NEPSAC swim in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing second in 1 minute, 46.87 seconds, which ranks fifth all-time at 91大神.
In the 200 IM, Will Lee was back on the block, dropping significant time and adding big points with a win in the consolation final and a best time of 2:24.29.聽 The next event was the 50 freestyle and the title of 鈥渇astest swimmer in the meet鈥 went to Herrick Stevenson 鈥25 with a winning time of 21.79 seconds. Herrick became 91大神鈥檚 only individual NEPSAC champion of the evening with an impressive fourth fastest time in team history. Joining Herrick on the podium was Sam Fortier 鈥23, who also earned All-NEPSAC recognition with a blazing-fast, third-place finish of 23.33. Connor Queenin 鈥23 rounded out the championship final of the 50 freestyle with an impressive eighth-place finish.
Next in the scoring for the meet was the 1-Meter Diving event which saw Cole Cavanagh 鈥26 and Luke Grabowski 鈥25 scoring big points by placing fifth and sixth, respectively.聽 After a short break for diving, the boys were back in the pool and Getchell Gibbons 鈥23 picked up a silver medal in the 100 butterfly with Sam Fortier 鈥23 close on his heels in third. The Wildcats had found their stride and were performing well,聽but still found themselves firmly behind strong teams from Kingswood Oxford and St. George鈥檚.
The 100 free was a big event for maintaining momentum as three boys scored important points, with Dyson Haaland 鈥23 placing fifth, Connor Queenin 10th, and Teppei Morita 12th. In one of the best races of the meet, the duo of Stevenson and Coscia faced off in the 500 free and were back on the podium in second and third, respectively, with Stevenson鈥檚 time of 4:51.52 ranking second all-time at 91大神.
The issue of team champion was still very much in doubt heading into the final four events of the night鈥攁nd the boys were ready for the challenge. Two individual events and two relay events were all that were left. In the 100 backstroke, Getchell Gibbons finished second and Will Lee fifth, while in the 100 breaststroke, Dyson Haaland (fourth), Teppei Morita (fifth), and Kei Imai (ninth) helped set the stage for an epic comeback. The relay team of Stevenson, Fortier, Coscia, and Gibbons put together the swims of the meet as they won gold medals in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, sealing the win for the Wildcats.聽 The final four events of the night saw a season of hard work and training pay off as the boys swam incredibly strong down the stretch, pulling away for a narrow win with 371 points, just ahead of Kingswood Oxford鈥檚 363 points.
Girls Meet
The Girls Swimming & Diving team team finished in sixth place overall at the NEPSAC D2 Championships in a night full of exciting swims and outstanding performances. Campbell Collins 鈥23 led the way for the Wildcats with a second-place finish in the 500 freestyle and a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle, earning All-NEPSAC honors in both events. The only other girl to hit the podium was Andie Kinstle 鈥24 in the 100 breaststroke, pulling a bronze-medal performance in a hotly contested race.聽 The true story of this meet for the girls was the consistently strong performances turned in across the board as every girl dropped significant time and swam great for their teammates. Lucy Hoyt ’25, Gabi Bobiak ’25, and Maisie Mattocks ’24 all posted best times in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Katya Krasnovskaya ’24 dropped seven seconds in her 200 IM, while Mya Schattin ’25 scored huge points in the 50 and 100 freestyles.聽 Kaitlyn Williams ’23 dropped over 2 seconds in her 100 freestyle and Abby Muscato ’24 posted huge drops in the fly and the breast. Without question, this was a strong performance for the girls program and the future is bright for this team.