Whaler girls, boys turn back Coyle-Cassidy swimmers
Ainsley Ellis and Beau Garufiturned in state tournament-qualifying times as both boys and girls Whalers squads prevailed over visiting Coyle-Cassidy Saturday afternoon.

ROB BENCHLEY/The Independent Nantucket High School's Ashley Martin swims in the freestyle event during Saturday's meet with Coyle-Cassidy.

The girls took their meet, 98-78, and the boys theirs, 112-46.

Ellis qualified for the state tournament in two events with a time of 2:06.21 in the 200-yard freestyle and a time of 1:05.00 in the 100-yard backstroke.

The girls' meet was a seesaw affair, with the teams trading first place scores in the first four events. Even though Nantucket took seven first place finishes in 12 events, it wasn't until the last relays that Nantucket won the match.

"It took a total team effort to win the meet," coach Jim Pignato said afterwards. "We worked on minimizing sixth place finishes (for which no points are awarded) and that really helped."

Diver Tiffany Lee just missed qualifying for the state sectionals by onetenth of a point in the 1-metre dive.

On the boys' side, Garufi's tournament qualifying time of 1:56.72 in the 200-yard freestyle, was two seconds off Luther Blount's school-record time. Garufialso missed qualifying for the state tournament in the 100-yard butterfly event by two seconds.

In all, the boys took 10 first place honors in 12 events. Like the girls, the boys were strong in relay events, taking first and second place in the 200-yard freestyle relay and first and third place in the 400-yard freestyle.

"Relays are our biggest strength," Pignato noted. "Every boy on our team is under 30 seconds in the 50- yard freestyle."

Both teams look forward to Saturday, when perennial rival Nauset visits the island. The meets

begin at noon. I

- Steve Sheppard