Two Roger Williams University pool records went down on the final evening of the Swimming World Fall Classic, one of them previously belonging to an Olympic medalist with local ties in Elizabeth Beisel.
Bluefish’s Hannah Pariseault opened up the session with a victory in the girls’ 400 IM, clocking 4:34.88 and holding off teammate Courtney Brown (4:35.28) down the stretch. Bluefish’s River Wright then pulled away from teammate Harry Homans on the breaststroke leg in the boys’ race, touching in 4:02.88. Homans settled for second in 4:05.34.
After finishing second three times Saturday night, Bluefish’s Abby Martin won the girls’ 200 free in 1:55.07. Teammate Will Barao won his third freestyle race of the met in winning the boys’ 200 free in 1:42.46. Bluefish’s Emma Bridges then swam away from Cynthia Xie to take first in the girls’ 100 breast in 1:09.15, two tenths ahead of Bridges’ 1:09.36.
Wright broke the first pool record of the night when he touched in 58.30 in the boys’ 100 breast, under the previous mark by nine one-hundredths of a second. Bluefish’s Millie Benkerk held off Martin to win the girls’ 200 fly, 2:09.49 to 2:09.93, and Wright won his third race of the night and fourth of the meet when he posted a 1:51.16 in the boys’ 200 fly.
Kingfish’s Sydni Diehl became the first non-Bluefish winner of the night when she won the girls’ 100 free in 53.87, just ahead of Bluefish’s Kelsey Cordery (53.94). Barao then won the boys’ 100 free in 47.81, completing the 50-100-200-500 free quadruple for the meet.
Seacoast’s Gianna Spremullo dominated the 200 back, coming in at 2:03.57 to wipe more than a second off the previous pool mark of 2:04.59. That had belonged to Beisel, the bronze medalist in the event at the 2012 Olympic Games. Homans then rounded out the meet with a victory in the boys’ 200 back, notching a 1:52.44 to easily beat out Barao (1:55.66) and Kingfish’s Keda Song (1:56.68).
In the 11-12 boys’ age group, Bluefish’s Landon Him won three more events: the 200 free (1:54.00), the 100 breast (1:08.68) and 100 free (52.42). He ended up winning seven events in seven tries at the meet. Bluefish’s Ava Larkin won the girls’ 200 free (2:01.55) and 100 free (56.38), while teammates Ella Smith (100 breast, 1:09.49) and Aislin Farris (200 fly, 2:20.55 and 200 back, 2:14.76) also picked up wins.
The meet was streamed live on Swimming World TV, and all races, along with interviews and recaps, are available on-demand on the event landing page.
Looks like it was a fun meet, but you may want to adjust the initial reference Beisel who, while a great champion, would be excited to know she was an Olympic Gold medalist; she has a Silver (London 400 IM) and Bronze (London 200 Back) but no Olympic Golds at this time (possibly subject to later drug tests on past samples of her competitors); she did win a FINA World Championship gold (2011 400 IM)
Whoops. Let’s fix that…
Congrats to River Wright!!! Also noticed that some races are missing? For example, Girls 13&O Finals for both 100BK (all) & 200 BK (B&C) , Boys 100 FR(B&C)
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