BOSTON – Belchertown’s Grace Perron and Northampton’s Amalia Guerra highlighted Hampshire County’s individual performances in the MIAA Division 2 Girls Swimming Championships at the Boston University Pool on Saturday afternoon.

Perron, a freshman, captured the state title in the 500-yard freestyle while Guerra, a senior, repeated as the 100-yard backstroke champion, and also won the 200-yard individual medley after coming in third in 2024.

Perron eased past the competition once again this week as the Orioles’ swimmer finished the lengthy race in 5 minutes, 5.64 seconds, nearly six seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

“It was good,” Perron said. “I got the time I was hoping for so that was nice.”

The state championships marked the second straight week Perron came in well below her seed time. At the Central/West sectional meet at Springfield College last Saturday, Perron was seeded at 5:22.85 and won the race in 5:10.80. Saturday at BU, Perron’s entry time was her winning time at sectionals, which she topped by more than five seconds.

“The 500 is like a sprint, but it’s good to pace yourself,” Perron said.

“[Perron] is one of my hardest workers and when she sets her mind to something, it’s hard to stop her,” Belchertown head coach Jo Manduley said.

Perron earned 20 of the Orioles’ 41 total team points. Belchertown’s 200-yard and 400-yard medley relay teams also featured Perron, which placed 16th and 13th, respectfully.

“I just try and go as fast as possible,” Perron added.

Aubrey Harrington joined Perron on the Orioles’ medley relay teams and also competed in the 100-yard backstroke, taking eighth place in 1:03.42. Addyson Thomas and Valerie Williams also swam on the Belchertown relay squads.

Guerra picked up where she left off at Springfield College, dominating once again in her two individual events at BU. Guerra won the 200 IM in 2:09.96, about a second faster than her entry time of 2:10.94.

“She has as much experience or more than anybody here and I think that really showed [Saturday],” Northampton head coach Peter Davis said. “She was out like a shot in the 200 IM and it was a struggle coming home, but she really toughed it out.”

Later in the day, Guerra defended her crown in the 100 backstroke, winning the race in 56.95 seconds. 

“I was really proud of how, the last event, the last meet, the second half of the last race was probably the best swim I’ve seen out of her in the last two years,” Davis said. 

Guerra’s splits read 27.77 seconds, then 29.18 seconds.

Northampton’s prized swimmer finished out her high school career as well as anyone could hope with a couple of state titles. Guerra will head off to Division 1 San Diego next fall to continue her swimming career after compiling a spectacular high-school resume with the Blue Devils.

“She’s a joy to coach,” Davis said. “I just feel really lucky and blessed to have been able to help her along.”

Caeil Killip-Leonard did well in the diving competition for the Blue Devils as well, grabbing 11th place with a score of 347.90 points.

Hurricanes tie for sixth as team – Rowan Albertson and Finnley Chambers paced Amherst to a tie for sixth place in the overall team competition.

Albertson was top three in both individual events she competed in, which was just as impressive as Chambers’ pair of top-five finishes in her two individual events.

Albertson was right behind Guerra in the 100 backstroke, taking second place in 58.40 seconds, for her best race of the afternoon. Chambers also picked up a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:57.99, to highlight her last high school competition of the season.

“It feels really awesome,” Albertson said on the team getting sixth. “I don’t know where we were seeded but I think the whole team did even better than we thought we would. So it was really great, feeling good.”

The Hurricanes had the best team finish among area teams with 138 points, which matched Wayland. Northampton (46 points), Belchertown (41 points) and Holyoke (2 points) rounded out the local squads. Weston won the team competition with 230 points. 

“Exceeding expectations as a team, which is what I love about swimming. It’s an individual sport but to be able to come together as a team to score points for Amherst is all that wanted and we did it and we did it better than I ever expected this season so I’m really happy,” Hurricanes head coach Denise Leckenby said. 

Albertson also concluded the 50-yard freestyle in third (24.70 seconds), and Chambers was fifth in the 500 free (5:18.85).

The Hurricanes had strong performances in each of the 200 relays too. Amherst was third in the 200 medley relay in 1:55.61 and fourth in the 200 free relay in 1:43.98. Albertson and Chambers were combined with a mixture of Emory Albertson, Caprial DiBartolomeo and Sadie Cyr in those two relays.

Bette Sherr-Garcia garnered a top-10 finish in the diving competition with a score 360.80 points which was good enough for seventh place. Cyr contributed a 19th-place finish in the 100 backstroke and a 25th-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle.

Sherr-Garcia and Cyr will leave big holes in the Amherst roster next season as both will graduate this spring. However, the Hurricanes are excited a bulk of this year’s roster will return to the Amherst pool next winter.

“We’ll have the confidence that we know we can do as well as we did this year and better,” Chambers said.

Aldrich, Raymond compete for Purple Knights – Delaney Aldrich and Hannah Raymond swam for Holyoke in the Division 2 championships on Saturday.

Aldrich had a time of 1:15.93 in the 100-yard breaststroke (23rd place), while Raymond recorded a time of 1:05.67 in the 100 backstroke (15th place). Raymond’s performance got the Purple Knights their two team points.

Boys meet postponed – The Division 2 boys championship was postponed Sunday due to the winter snowstorm, and will likely be rescheduled for next weekend, though an official date and time was not yet available at press time.