BY Nantucket Island Inquirer

It is two different story lines for the girls and boys swimming and diving teams this year. The perennially strong girls team is struggling with numbers this season with only ten swimmers. On the other side, the boys team has filled out their roster with depth and skill and is poised to make a run at the Bay Colony Conference title.

Bob Kennedy joins the Whalers coaching staff

as the diving coach this season, alongside swimming head coach Jim Pignato and assistant coach Jen DuBois. Kennedy, who replaced two-year head coach Tom Olcott, has been judging diving officially since 1995. He spent time under the tutelage of former Nantucket diving coach Kevin McCarthy before he departed.

The Whalers squads open the season with the annual Relay Carnival in New Bedford on Saturday before opening dual meet competition on Dec. 14 at Oliver Ames.

Boys Swimming

Last year the Whalers boys team finished 8-1 overall and 7-1 in second place overall in the Bay Colony Conference behind Nauset - a perennially strong opponent. After the departure of only three swimmers, the Whalers are returning to the pool with the depth in the lanes to challenge the Warriors for the top spot.

“This is the best shot I have had as head coach to go after Nauset with the boys,” Pignato said.

Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger

Justine Paradis readies for the season at Swim and Dive practice on Friday, Dec. 1.

The boys team welcomes 19 swimmers to the pool this season including senior captain Harrison O’Rourke and junior captain Will Martin. O’Rourke is expected to compete in the freestyle sprint and butterfly events, while Martin will contribute in the freestyle sprint and middle-distance freestyle events.

New to the pool this season is senior Hunter Burnham, who Pignato expects could take a crack at breaking the longest standing records on the high school record board - Luther Blount’s 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle marks set in 1999.

Sophomore Beau Garufi returns to the pool in the breaststroke and freestyle sprint events. As a freshman, Garufi finished eighth overall in the South Sectional meet in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Among the newcomers, freshman Henry Toole is expected to contribute in the backstroke this season for the Whalers.

“We have lots of free sprinters on this team. The depth on the boys side is going to be the main strength,” Pignato said. “I would love to try to get as many boys qualified for the sectional meet as I can.”

The Whalers lost a consistent member of their team in record-setting diver Nick Valero. Sophomore Forrest Cook joins the squad this season as the lone diver for Whalers, but won’t be ready to compete a six-dive list until later in the season, Kennedy said.

“The biggest weakness will be the lack of diving when we have home meets. If the other team brings divers, we have to let them dive. We are getting hurt by our own facility,” Pignato said. “Hopefully the depth in the pool will help balance that out.”

Girls Swimming

The girls swim team has some holes to fill after the departure of talented swimmers to graduation and private schools. Last winter’s team finished at 5-2 overall in third place in the Bay Colony Conference behind Nauset and North Attleboro.

“Last year the team was more versatile, where we could spread around and cover all of our events,” Pignato said. “Now that is where we lack the most.”

In addition to the lack of versatility, the girls squad lacks depth with only ten swimmers and three divers this season. The low numbers could prohibit the Whalers from being able to fill all possible slots in each event, allowing less opportunity to earn points. The biggest gap will be the inability to fill out a second relay team.

“Those are big points that we aren’t going to have this year,” Pignato said.

There are no seniors on this year’s team with four juniors, four sophomores and five freshmen.

The main goal for the girls team is to stay above .500 this year. It will be a tough year but we do have the right pieces that we should be able to reach that goal,” Pignato said.

The Whalers will be led by junior captain Ainsley Ellis, who finished seventh in the 50-yard freestyle and eighth in the 100-yard freestyle at the state meet last year. Ellis traditionally swims the freestyle sprint events and some backstroke events, but with the lack of depth , could be incorporated in distance freestyle events, Pignato said.

Also returning to the Whalers this season will be junior Ashley Martin in the distance freestyle, sophomores Haley Cabré in the butterfly and Meaghan Lynch in the breaststroke.

Junior Justine Paradis returns to the board this season after a two-year hiatus at school off-island.

“I think she is going to break both of the school records in diving this year. She is very talented,” Kennedy said. “It is great to have her on the team because she is a mentor to the other kids, who have just started. She is a real asset.”

Paradis already holds one record on the Whalers record board, the six-dive total of 164.55 set in her freshman season. The 11-dive record of 247.00 was set by Gillian Walsh in 2003 at the now-defunct Nantucket Diving Invitational. Divers perform six dives in regular season dual meets, but post 11 dives during state and sectional meets.

She will be joined by freshmen Rachel Foulkes and Georgie Morley.

The younger three (including Cook) are newcomers to diving. They are gaining confidence daily, just learning the skills necessary to compete in diving. It is going to be a while before they will have six dives to compete, but hopefully by the end of the season they will be contributing numbers to the team.”

The long road

On the schedule this season for the girls and boys teams are eight meetings against Bay Colony Conference opponents - Holliston, Taunton, Coyle Cassidy and Barnstable will be at home, while Oliver Ames, Nauset, North Attleboro and Sharon will be on the road. The boys squad will also square off against Sandwich in late January. Following the conference meet on February 11, the sectional and state meets will be held the third and fourth weekends in February.

Also on the schedule this season, the Whalers will open their season at the annual Relay Carnival in New Bedford this weekend and will travel to the first Cape Cod Classic in Sandwich on Dec. 15.

The Classic is a new addition to the schedule this season and was developed by coach Pignato and Nauset assistant coach Justin Bohannoa. The two were swimming rivals through club swimming, high school and college and as coaches decided to establish an event on the Cape to bring teams together. Nauset, Nantucket, Barnstable and Sandwich will swim the same format as a regular dual meet, with two heats per event to accommodate all of the swimmers.

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