SPRINGFIELD — The Amherst Regional girls swimming team couldn’t believe it.
The Hurricanes thought they finished first in the 200-yard medley relay during the West/Central Swimming and Diving Championships at Springfield College on Sunday, but the relay was disqualified due to an early takeoff on the freestyle leg.
Amherst’s relay team – Sara Baxter, Vianka Acosta-McKenzie, Lucy Smith and Adda Hennessey – was upset, but it didn’t let the result dictate the rest of the meet.
Led by strong finishes from Baxter, Acosta-McKenzie and Smith, the Hurricanes placed third with 157 points. Minnechaug (314) and Longmeadow (234) were first and second, respectively.
The Hurricanes placed sixth in last year’s championships.
“This was a huge step up for us,” Amherst coach Jennifer Albertine said.
Northampton and Belchertown tied for seventh (125). Easthampton (83) was 13th.
Acosta-McKenzie placed second in the 100 breastroke (1minute, 8.22 seconds). Smith took second in the 50 freestyle (24.90) and fifth in the 100 butterfly (1:01.34), while Baxter placed second in the 100 backstroke (1:00.30).
Natalia Robak took first in the 500 freestyle for Easthampton. Ruby Gottlieb placed second in the 100 butterfly (59.01) and was a member of Northampton’s 200 medley relay team that took first in 1:56.63. Gottlieb also placed third in the 100 backstroke (1:02.15). Alannah Lavoie placed third in the 500 freestyle (5:31.03) for Belchertown.
With the 200 medley relay being the first event, the Hurricanes’ disqualification could have set a poor tone for the rest of the day, but the team used it as a motivator.
“Little mess ups happen,” Acosta-McKenzie said. “I think after a good reset and getting over it, we were able to come back and do good things.”
Gottlieb, the three-time 100 butterfly champion, came into the race as the second seed behind Monument Mountain’s Asa Stone. Gottlieb held a slight advantage midway through the race, but Stone edged past Gottlieb and finished in 59.00 – one hundredth of a second faster than the Northampton senior. Lavoie placed fourth in 1:01.16. Smith took fifth in 1:01.34.
“(Asa) is a great athlete,” Gottlieb said. “Everyone in the field was really competitive. It was a really bad swim for me, but there is nothing I can really do about it. … It’s hard, but it’s OK.”
Gottlieb teamed with Cecelia Ripley, Abbie Murphy and Fiona Tischler to win the 200 medley relay. Belchertown placed ninth (1:59.97) in the event.
Northampton’s relay team came into the meet with a seed time of 2:01.70. The group’s time of 1:56.63 on Sunday, in addition to finishing first, came as a bit of a surprise.
“We definitely didn’t expect to come in first at all,” Tischler said. “We hoped to place. We got really lucky. We all worked really hard this season and dropped a lot of time. It’s great.”
Robak had an extra piece of motivation in the 500 freestyle. The freshman competed against some of her club teammates in Lavoie (third), Agawam’s Katie Dustin (second) and Longmeadow’s Isabelle Shafiei (ninth).
“I was excited to go against them,” Robak said. “I could see them while I was swimming. They helped push me to go faster.”
Belchertown’s Brooke Podsiadlo was sixth (5:34.22) in the 500.
Baxter placed second behind Stone in the 100 backstroke. Like Robak, she also competed against a familiar swimmer.
“I was racing one of my friends, Asa Stone,” Baxter said. “I gave her a pep talk before we went.”
Stone edged Baxter for the title in 59.76.
“My goal was just to go out first and keep it, but I was a little off, it’s OK,” Baxter said. “I always try and stay positive, especially while swimming. I knew I wasn’t winning, but that can’t change how you swim your race. If you don’t have a good attitude, it’s not going to happen.”
Smith, a freshman, was second by less than a half-second in the 50 freestyle. Margaret Petruzzelli, of Minnechaug, took first in 24.51.
“I was really nervous, just because I was racing a lot of fast people,” Smith said. “But I’ve prepared. I’m feeling excited.”
Smith anchored Amherst’s team in the 400 freestyle relay. Baxter, Sadie Cyr, Acosta-McKenzie and Smith were third in 3:49.64.
Amelia Craig had a tough start to the 1-meter diving event.
At one point, she miss-timed a dive and earned low marks, but she rebounded and finished with a score of 361.80, good for eighth place.
Teammate Courtney Ross placed 11th (351.10).
Lizzie Meschisen, of Algonquin, took first (499.30).
Craig was nervous entering the meet because the MIAA recently bumped up the score needed to qualify for the state championships. Her eighth place-finish was enough to qualify her and she will join Ross at the championships.
“I’m really happy I still get to go,” Craig said.