David Creed •
This Whaler sports roundup includes updates on the girls and boys swim teams following a road meet against Martha’s Vineyard, the boys hockey team, the boys basketball team, the girls basketball team, and the indoor track team.
The Nantucket girls swim team came home with a convincing 135-29 victory over Martha’s Vineyard Saturday afternoon while the boys swim team lost a close meet 85-81 on the road. Below are some of the notable Whaler swims.
Girls:
Sara Dussault, Evie Phelps, Martina Savova, and Myah Johnson placed first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:03.97, which was also a state qualifying time.
Martina Nastus placed first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:19.47.
Sara Dussault placed first in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:25.76, which was also a state qualifying time. She also placed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.48.
Myah Johnson placed first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.92, which was also a state qualifying time. She also placed first in the 100-yard freestyle and secured a state qualifying time in that event as well (58.78).
Martina Savova placed first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:08.06.
Evie Phelps placed first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:55.15, which was also a sectional qualifying time.
Evie Phelps, Sara Dussault, Gabby Fee, and Myah Johnson placed first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:53.33, which was also a sectional qualifying time.
Boys:
Pavlin Aleksiev, Markus Vitanov, Eli MacIver, and Jake Johnson placed first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:55.48.
Eli MacIver placed first in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:12.85, which was also a sectional qualifying time.
Andrick Mooney placed first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.85.
Jake Johnson placed first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.25, which was a state qualifying time.
Robert Graves placed first in the 500-yard freestyle relay with a time of 6:17.16.
Jake Johnson, Andrick Mooney, Pavlin Aleksiev, and Eli MacIver placed first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:41.31.
Pavlin Aleksiev placed first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:09.58.
Markus Vitanov placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:15.23.
The Whaler’s next meet is scheduled for Tuesday, January 28th at home against Barnstable High School at 5 p.m.
The Nantucket boys hockey team welcomed the Bourne Canalmen to the island Saturday afternoon. It was the first meeting between the two schools since the Whalers beat Bourne 3-2 in the state tournament last winter to advance to their third straight state quarterfinal.
But on Saturday, the Canalmen had the upper-hand on a young Whaler squad – shutting out Nantucket 4-0. While the scoreboard may not have reflected it, Whaler head coach Jack Moran said after the game he was happy to see how his team performed and believes this group – that has just one senior on the roster – continues to improve.
“The whole game was played really well,” Moran said of his team’s performance. “They played extremely well. They did what they were supposed to do. Couple of breakdowns on a couple of situations but that’s just human nature. You get tired, you start reaching, and a lot of bad things come out of those things. Overall, it was a 100% better game than I’ve seen them play in a long time. They played physical, they played hard, they got a lot of shots off. I would have liked to have seen a lot more on net instead of over the net, but that’s something we can work on.”
It has been a frustrating season for Nantucket so far. They are still searching for their first win of the season through eight games. Of the 17 games on Nantucket’s schedule, just six are home games.
But that hasn’t stopped Moran’s team from showing up to practice’s with the mindset of trying to get better every day, and he is happy with the growth they are showing.
“They played hard and that’s all we can ask of them is to go out and do exactly what they did here today,” Moran said on Saturday. “We kept that a game the whole time, we just couldn’t get by (Bourne’s) goalie, and their goalie was good. But I love to see the improvement, and that’s all we can ask of them. It’ll start clicking eventually when some of the younger kids get a little bigger. As time moves forward, we’ll be right back in the mix of it. I hate to say rebuilding year. I don’t even like to use that term, but it’s developmental. We have a lot of freshmen. So that variance is difficult to work with because you got a lot of kids that are playing this year that didn’t play a lot last year, so the burden of responsibility falls upon them and they’re still learning. But they’re doing a great job.”
Nantucket’s next game is scheduled for Wednesday, January 29th on the road against the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins at 4 p.m.
The Nantucket girls basketball team began their weekend with a close 47-45 win over the Sturgis West Navigators Friday afternoon on the road but lost to the Hull Pirates 60-23 Saturday afternoon on the island.
Freshman guard Grace Schroeder led the Whalers with 17 points on Friday against the Navigators followed by a 13-point performance by senior guard Mani Taveras. On Saturday, the Whalers leading scorer was sophomore forward Marin Mooney, who finished with 12 points in the loss.
The Whalers are now 3-3 this season and they will attempt to earn their fourth win of the winter on Monday, January 27th at home against Cape Cod Academy at 5 p.m.
You can view more photos from the girls basketball game against Hull, as well as the boys hockey game against Bourne, by clicking here.
The Nantucket boys basketball team lost a pair of games over the weekend on the road. The first game was a matchup with Ayer Shirley Regional High School on Friday, which Nantucket lost 57-39. Ayer is currently the #21 seed in the Div. 4 state tournament bracket with a 13-1 record.
On Saturday, the Whalers played KIPP Academy and lost 69-59. KIPP is currently the #9 seed in the Div. 4 bracket with a 9-4 record.
The Whalers are now 2-7 this season and they will try to get in the win column on Tuesday, January 28th against the Monomoy Sharks on the road at 3:30 p.m. Monomoy is currently the #33 seed in Div. 4 with a 2-8 record. Nantucket is currently the #31 seed in Div. 4.
The Nantucket indoor track team was on the road for the MSTCA Coaches Invitational over the weekend, and had two runners competing.
Jaiden McInnis completed the 300m in 37.65 (29th out of 70).
Grace Hanlon completed the 1000m in 3:20 (PR, 19th out of 40).
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Monday, January 27th:
The girls basketball team will be at home facing the Cape Cod Academy Seahawks at 5 p.m.
Tuesday, January 28th:
The boys & girls swim teams will host Barnstable at 5 p.m.
The girls basketball team will host Rising Tide at 5 p.m.
The boys basketball team will be on the road facing Monomoy at 3:30 p.m.
For more coverage of all the Nantucket High School winter sports teams, follow our sports Instagram page here.
For more photos taken by Chris Tran, follow his Instagram page here.
To view the MIAA Power Rankings, click here.
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