Barrington girls swim to 8th straight state championship

PROVIDENCE – Complacency isn’t part of the vocabulary of Barrington girls swim coach Sandy Gorham and his Eagles.

That was evident again Saturday when the Eagles soared to their eight consecutive state championship (13th overall) at Brown’s Coleman Aquatic Center.

Barrington amassed 313 points - over 100 more than second place La Salle.

“I think we always know there’s going to be a challenge even this year … even though we won (Division I),” said sophomore Zoe Webster who contributed two third-place finishes and swam the anchor leg on the victorious 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams. “We went in thinking that we had to swim well.

“We don’t ever want to go in thinking that we’re going to win. We do it for the team. Sandy means so much to me so I always swim for him and the team.”

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Gorham has his own take on why the Eagles aren’t complacent.

“More than anything they don’t want to be the team to lose it,” Gorham said. “I wouldn’t say the fear of failure but they don’t want to be that team to lose it.

“They bought in very, very much into the mentality I have about team first. Some of these girls swam events when I knew they preferred to swim something else. But I said ‘This is where we think we can score the most points.’ They bought into it. Swim for somebody else other than yourself.”

That was the case in the 500 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.

One of the girls who swam in the 500 as opposed to another event was Laurie Garcia who placed eighth and earned 11 points.

That also was the case with Kristen Baker who placed third in the 100 backstroke.

“I knew she was going to struggle going from the breast to the back with very little rest,” Gorham said. “I think she could score really high in the back. She went from seventh to third.

“I don’t say it like they were mad at me,” Gorham said. “They knew that for the team they had to swim the 500 because they would have scored more points than in their individual events (the other two girls were Lara Tolley and Ava Webster). There wasn’t any animosity. They said ‘Yes, whatever you need.’”

As has been the case much of the season, Barrington failed to win an individual event. But the Eagles did annex the 200 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relays which gave them 80 points.

“I think it’s the depth,” Webster said while referring to a Barrington strength. “We didn’t win any individual events but we had so many of the nine through 16 swimmers and all the new freshmen who placed really well. We only won the relays but that was so large.”

The highest placement for Barrington was in the 100 butterfly where Garin Stone finished second.

“I push them in practice,” Gorham said. “I can devise some sets (i.e. a series of swims repeating the same distance and amount of time allocated) that keep their egos way down.

“They bought into that team mentality and it’s been great.”

Ironically, Zoe Webster intimated that Gorham’s sets don’t irritate the team.

“I wouldn’t say he’s very hard on us but we have some sets that are really challenging,” she said. “But it’s always nice to know this is what we’re working towards. You can see the end result. It’s nice to see it all come together”

La Salle was led by Sonia Mlakar who swam the lead leg on the victorious 200 medley team and who won the 100 butterfly.”

TEAM RESULTS (Top 10)

Barrington 313; LaSalle Academy 201; Prout 196; Lincoln 186; East Greenwich 148; Classicial 144; NK 138; Narragansett 122; Lincoln School 115; PCD-SRA 105

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Top three)

200 medley relay – 1. La Salle (Sonia Mlakar, Sofia Rojas, Riley Plante, Mia Gajic), 1:53.62. 2, Lincoln. 3. Classical.

200 freestyle – 1. Katelyn Chiappetta (Blackstone Valley Prep), 1:57.21; 2. Courtney Boghosian (Lincoln School); 2. Paige Meller (Prout).

200 individual medley – 1. Sadie Brown (Lincoln), 2:10.25; 2. Ruby Groves (Classical); 3. Isabelle Chou (Bay View).

50 freestyle – 1, Kendra Daily (Classical), 24:66; 2. Olivia Nault (Lincoln); 3. Zoe Webster (Barrington).

100 butterfly – 1. Sonia Mlakar (La Salle), 57:96; 2. Garin Stone (Barrington); 3. Isabelle Chou (Bay View).

100 freestyle – 1. Megan Huntley (East Greenwich), 53:34; 2. Katelyn Chiappetta (Blackstone Valley Prep; 3. Zoe Webster (Barrington).

500 freestyle – Oceanna Lowe (Toll Gate), 5:10.63; 2. Courtney Boghosian (Lincoln School); 3. Abby Bauman (Narragansett).

200 freestyle relay – 1. Barrington (Meagan Mungovan, Maude Smith-Montross, Garin Stone, Zoe Webster), 1:45.42.; 2. North Kingstown; 3. Prout.

100 backstroke – 1. Sonia Mlakar (La Salle), 57:93; 2. Kendra Daily (Classical); 3. Kristen Baker (Barrington).

100 breaststroke – 1. Sadie Brown (Lincoln), 1:07.20; 2. Ruby Groves (Classical); 3. Isabella Gianetto (Prout).

400 freestyle relay – 1. Barrington (Megan Mungovan, Maude Smith-Montross, Garin Stone, Zoe Webster), 3:46.14; 2, La Salle; 3. Lincoln.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Barrington girls swim to 8th straight state championship title