Swim team ends season on up note
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
The NHS swimming and diving season is over, and coach Jim Pignato and his teams can look back on a year of record-breaking accomplishments.

Two of those records fell during the Division II state finals, thanks to the efforts of Justine Paradis and Beau Garufi.

As she seemed to do every week, Paradis again broke her own school diving record at the February 25 state meet held at Wellesley College with a score of 299.60, besting her old high mark of 195.80, and finishing in sixth place. At the boys' finals the previous day at Northeastern University, Garufiset a new school record in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:04.56, breaking the old mark of 1:04.7 set by Josh Blount in 2002. "It was something he'd been trying to do all year," Pignato said.

Other notable performances at the state finals were turned in by captain Ainsley Ellis, who finished 7th overall in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.86, her fastest time in the event in two years. Elllis came in 14th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:04.96, close to the school record of 1:04.17 set by Natalie Hamblin.

Also competing for the girls' team at the state finals were Ashley Martin, Haley Cabre and Meaghan Lynch, who took part in the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays. Overall, the girls finished 18th out of 25 teams.

On the boys' side, Harrison O'Rourke shaved a half second off his personal best time in the 100- yard freestyle with a time of 51.70, good for a 15th place finish. For O'Rourke, the accomplishment capped his high school swimming career, as the co-captain now looks ahead to graduation. O'Rourke also came in 15th in the 50-yard freestyle event. Overall, the boys finished 29th out of 32 teams competing in the meet. On the season, the boys came in second in the Bay Colony Conference with a 6-record.

Besides O'Rourke, the boys will lose five other swimmers next year, with Hunter Burnham, Caleb Mitchell, Beau Hambleton, Parker Graham and Danny Woodruff also graduating this spring.

With the girls' squad, however, Pignato will look forward to welcoming back the entire team, along with some promising underclassmen. Also rejoining the squad next year will be Brianne Vittorini, who is back after a year away at boarding school, and who competes in the butterfly and individual medley. After compiling a 2-5 record in the Bay Colony Conference, Pignato knows this season's experience will help the girls' squad improve on that mark. "Hopefully, we'll be that much stronger next year," he said.