For the Gazette
EASTHAMPTON — The Easthampton girls swimming & diving team defeated West Springfield, 101-82, to win the Patriot League championship, Wednesday at Williston Northampton.
The championship came on senior night. Easthampton’s seniors — Kiernan Jones, Taylor Mitchell, Emma Taylor, Brielle Bergeron, Carly Detmers and Abby Tobin — were honored by their families and the coaching staff.
“Unbelievable, these guys are unbelievable,” Eagles coach Carla Soutra said. “I’ve got three swimmers that swim year-round, so we had nothing from nothing and we’ve got it all.”
It was a successful night for Tobin, who swam the third leg of the winning 200-yard medley relay. The team of Saige Harper, Elizabeth Winberg, Tobin and Victoria Dresja finished in 2 minutes, 5.97 seconds.
Tobin also led off the winning 400 freestyle relay. Drejsa, Winberg and Harper followed to win in 4:02.63.
Tobin swam in a couple individual races. She finished in third place in the 100 fly in 1:11.55. She also earned third place in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:37.07. Harper won the event in 2:26.60.
Harper also was victorious in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:05.88, touching the line two body lengths in front of West Springfield’s Lauren Kenney.
“We’re really proud of everyone, they did their absolute best,” Tobin said. “I can speak for all when I say we’re really proud of our performance.”
Easthampton swept diving. Amelia Craig won with 192.6 points, following by Bergeron (186.35) and Zoe Paradis-Stern (170).
Mitchell and Bergeron swam the opening and closing legs, respectively, of the 200 free relay. Craig and Jillian Scott swam the middle legs as Easthampton placed second in 2:01.33.
Drejsa took two firsts. She won the 200 free (2:08.65) and the 500 free (5:43.09).
Winberg won the 100 free (1:00.12) and was second in the 100 breaststroke (1:18.06).
Scott was second in the 500 free (28.81).
“I think we all came here today not expecting to win, but expecting to have to work really hard for the win and that’s exactly what we did,” Bergeron said. “Our team is so close and we all get each other on a different level, I just think it’s really nice to have all these people to come together and work for something.”
Bergeron believes there was an extra sense of urgency from her teammates considering it was senior night. She felt the team had excessive energy before the meet and everyone wanted to “go out with a bang.”
“It’s nice being able to have my last swim in this place and have it be a good memory,” Bergeron said.
