Although the 56 Rapids swimmers from the Manchester Swim Team delivered 44 first-place finishes in 67 events, it was not enough to defeat the Southern New Hampshire Fins from Nashua. MST took three out of the 10 division point totals – 11- and 12-year old and 15- to 19-year-old female and 8-and-under male – but fell to the Fins, 409-325, at Southern New Hampshire University on Friday, Nov. 12.

Swimmers taking first place in all three of their individual events were Leah Burke, 13-and 14-year-old female; Riley Ewing, 8-and-under male; Stephanie Lynn, 11- and 12-year-old female; Carolyn O’Hara, 15- to 19-year-old female; Chris Walczyk, 15- to 19-year-old male; and Milan Sandhu, 9- and 10-year-old male.

Also, Maria Colella, 12, swam up to the 13- and 14-year-old female division and turned in two first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-meter freestyle events.

Dual winners were Christina Denbow, 9- and 10-year-old female group; Hayden Mitchell, 11- and 12-year-old male group; and Kendra Decelle, 15- to 19-year-old female group.

Other individual winners were Katie Aldrich, 11; Elizabeth Conway, 9; Alex Ewing, 10; Elizabeth Gagnon, 15; Matt Goczalk, 13; Melissa Goczalk, 16; Marissa Lynn, 14; Fritz Manson, 13; Abigail Mitchell, 11; Ryan Mitchell, 11; Kyle Pinheiro, 16; and Karam Sandhu, 7.

The team won six relay events. The 8-and-under relay team of Kyle Colella, Alex Ewing, Karam Sandhu and Zachery Bonte won both the 100-meter medley and 100 free relays. The 11- and 12-year-old female 200-meter medley relay team of Abigail Mitchell, Sarah Margolin, Kelsey Ewing and Stephanie Lynn placed first. In the same age group, Hayley Berg, Elizabeth Morin, Katie Aldrich and Katie Donovan also placed first.

Carolyn O’Hara, Melissa Goczalk, Elizabeth Gagnon, and Kendra Decelle pulled together to capture one 15- to 19-year-old female medley relay. The team of Ashley Green, Carolyn O’Hara, Jackie Foster and Kendra Decelle also took first place in a 15- to 19-year-old medley relay race.

Almost every MST swimmer set at least one personal record (PR) for the night. Additional MSTswimmers who motored to individual PRs were Lizzie Aldrich, Katherine Berg, Jeffrey Bernier, Sean Brown, Amy Burke, Kyle Colella, Scott Ewing, Brady Hobbs, Mary Clare Kramer, Brian Lynch, Kerry McCann, Olivia MacQuade, Emily O’Hara, Kathryn O’Neill and Brian Volonte.

The team is preparing for the weekend of Dec. 10 to 12 and the Bowdoin Open Swim Meet held in Maine for all age groups.

The Manchester Swim Team is a USS-registered team with the New England Swimming Association and will compete in meets throughout the Northeast and beyond. Those interested in joining the team can call Steve VanDerBeken at 623-4179, Jean Mitchell at 668-9048 or Andy Bonte at 627-9512, or you can visit manchesterswimteam.com.