The quality of competition at the Division 2 girls state swimming and diving championships didn’t intimidate Northampton freshman Ruby Gottlieb. It inspired her.
“I got to race against some really fast girls. That pushed me to do better,” Gottlieb said Monday.
Gottlieb followed up her Western Massachusetts championship in the 100-yard butterfly by finishing second in the event in 58.41 seconds. Duxbury’s Grace Ali won in 55.94.
“It was fun to race the Duxbury girl,” Gottlieb said. “I don’t get the opportunity often to race a girl like that. It was inspiring to go against her.”
The Blue Devils finished ninth with 90 points Saturday at Boston University. Belchertown was 11th with 74. Duxbury won the team title with 250.
Abby Murphy, also a Blue Devils freshman, took ninth in the 500 freestyle in 5 minutes, 26.43 seconds.
Northampton’s 400 freestyle relay team of Murphy, Gottlieb, Eva Gerstle and Lilly Etlinger finished eighth in 3:50.2.
The Blue Devils 200 freestyle relay team of Maggie Miller, Caitlyn Richmond, Murphy and Etlinger was ninth in 1:44.79.
Northampton diver Jordyn Vandergrift took 10th with 402 points.
Senior Haley Synan led Belchertown with two top-five finishes.
She was third in the 200 freestyle in 1:59.12 and fifth in the 500 free in 5:26.43.
Both were best times for her in high school competition, and she set the school record in the 500.
“It’s kind of a love-hate relationship (with distance races),” Synan said Monday. “I do enjoy it because it’s more of a mental game.”
Belchertown’s 200 medley relay team of Audra Hale, Wiktoria Kaczor, Synan and Aubrey Endress finished seventh in 1:55.43.
They set the school record they’d been chasing all season.
“We were super excited about that,” Synan said. “It really is a great group of girls.”