NORTHAMPTON — Northampton’s Quinn Nortonsmith carefully constructed the freestyle aspect of his Western Massachusetts Championship program.
No need to enter the distance events.
Those are the domain of Belchertown’s Ben Laclair.
“I definitely specifically built my freestyle event around what he would do so I wouldn’t have to race him,” Nortonsmith said. “It’s fun to race him, but when it comes to the 200 and even the 100 I’m like ‘there’s no competition,’ he’ll just beat me.”
Laclair is the defending sectional champion in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races, holding the Western Mass. record in the 200.
He’ll try to defend both titles at Saturday’s Western Mass. Championships. The boys meet begins at 9 a.m. at Springfield College.
Laclair posted the top time in western Mass. in all four freestyle distances (50, 100, 200 and 500). He’ll be the top seed in the 200 at 1 minute, 44.22 seconds and the 500 at 4:47.58. His 200 time is nearly five seconds faster than the closest competitor, and he’s 12 seconds clear of the second seed in the 500.
Athletes are allowed to swim in four events, and no more than three of them can be individual events.
Belchertown’s athletes weren’t made available for interviews prior to the championships.
“No one wants to swim distance free unless you’re Ben Laclair,” Northampton’s Nick Whitcomb said. “I would not have fun doing the 500 free. That’s kind of out there.”
Fun played an important role in deciding individual events for Whitcomb.
He’ll attempt to defend his own title in the 100 backstroke and try to keep Northampton’s hold on the 100 butterfly crown. Last year, Johnny Williams won the Western Mass. and state titles, and broke the state record in the event.
“It’s easier to improve the times that aren’t my backstroke. It’s easier to feel good about myself when I’m not swimming backstroke,” Whitcomb said. “It’s not that I don’t like backstroke. I’m more excited for fly.”
He’s aiming for All-American status in the backstroke. Whitcomb will need to hit 49.74 for automatic All-America status and 51.01 for consideration. He’s seeded at 51.73.
“The 100 back is definitely, it’s my main thing,” Whitcomb said. “It takes some priority over the 100 fly.”
Nortonsmith is also expanding his horizons by entering the 50 freestyle. He’s the top seed at 22.54 seconds, but the top four seeds are all within a half second of each other.
“I’ve never done it in a championship meet,” Nortonsmith said.
His signature event, though, is the 100 breaststroke. He finished second last year to then Belchertown senior Matthew Quinney, who also won the state title. Nortonsmith brings the top seed (1:01.98) this year but isn’t placing too much stock in it or the 4.5 second gap he has on the rest of the seeded field.
“There’s definitely an element of pressure that (the top seed) puts on you and a lot of expectation that puts on you,” he said. “I’m trying not to get too attached to the 100 breast. It’s my main event, and I would love to win it, but I’m trying not to build up expectations that could lead to disappointment.”
Nortonsmith also would have been the top seed in the 200 individual medley if he decided to enter it, but he’ll compete in two relays. That top honor now belongs to Amherst Regional’s Noah Labich at 2:05.6.
The Hurricanes’ other top contender is diver Luca Brashear. He’s the defending Western Mass. champion, but he didn’t face Monson’s Connor Pennington, who was injured last year.
Pennington is healthy this season and ranks first in scoring average (288.72) and high score (327.55).
“I love Connor’s diving. We are friends. He has some of the dives like a reverse 2½ that I don’t have yet,” Brashear said earlier this season. “I have more experience and form than him, but he’s definitely bigger and stronger. We’ll see if my form can conquer his degree of difficulty.”
The relay top seeds are split between Longmeadow in the 200 medley, Minnechaug in the 200 freestyle and Belchertown in the 400 freestyle.
“Our seed times are kind of messed up. We should be in the middle lane, but we’re in the outside,” Whitcomb said. “It’s gonna put us at a disadvantage. We should be in for a fast top heat.”
Northampton finished third in the team standings last season, and Belchertown was fifth.
“We have a lot of strength,” Northampton coach Molly McLoughlin said. “Some folks from last year that stepped up and made the jump into multiple events.”
Northampton freshman Ruby Gottlieb finally conquered a sickness near the end of the regular season.
Now the top seed in the 100 butterfly (1:01.21) wants to see what she’s capable of. The girls meet starts at 4:30 p.m. at Springfield College.
“I’ve been a lot healthier lately, so I’m excited to see what I can do,” she said. “I’ve been a butterflyer since I’ve been 10, 11. It’s always been my favorite stroke.”
Hampshire County’s only other No. 1 seed in the girls meet is Belchertown’s 200 medley relay. The Orioles swam a 1:58.02 in the regular season, just edging Saint Joseph’s at 1:58.26.
Belchertown still features several second seeds aiming to move up the leaderboard. Senior Haley Synan is second in the 200 freestyle by a little over a half second at 2:01.61 and two seconds behind in the 500 freestyle at 5:24.19.
Wiktoria Kaczor, a Chicopee transfer now at Belchertown, is second in the 100 breaststroke at 1:12.2, less than a second behind first place.
Last season, Northampton finished second in the team standings behind Longmeadow, ending a run of three straight titles.
“I think realistically with only seven girls going to Western Mass., it’s going to be tough for us to try to win,” Northampton coach Jacob Wingfield said. “But there are teams that beat us throughout the regular season that we think we can match up well with in a championship meet setting. This year we want to try and get in the top three or so. This group has the ability. We’ve been sick or not quite put together the perfect meet yet.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com.