Hanover girls easily win swimming title

From left, Hanover swimmers Sofia Ye, Rosie Keith, Iris Freeman and Elizabeth Staats won the 200 yard medley relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay at the NHIAA Division II state meet. (Courtesy photograph)

From left, Hanover swimmers Sofia Ye, Rosie Keith, Iris Freeman and Elizabeth Staats won the 200 yard medley relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay at the NHIAA Division II state meet. (Courtesy photograph) Courtesy photograph

By PATRICK O’GRADY

Valley News Correspondent

Published: 02-12-2024 7:01 PM

DURHAM. N.H. — The Hanover High girls swim team easily won last weekend’s NHIAA Division II state meet at the Swasey Pool on the campus of the University of New Hampshire, beating second place Oyster River, 236-148.

Hollis/Brookline was third among 25 teams with 140 points.

The Hanover boys, runners up last year and state champions the year before, finished second this year with 167 points. Windham won the meet with 16 schools with 209 points.

“Tons of hard work,” Hanover coach Trent Staats said about the results for the Bears. “This was a great group that worked hard all season long, getting up for 5:30 a.m. practices a couple of times a week. We were undefeated this year in Division II competition.”

The girls team of Elizabeth Staats, Iris Freeman, Sofia Ye and Rosie Keith won the 200 yard medley relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay. Keith also won the 100 yard free and Ye was first in the 100 yard breaststroke.

Freeman was second in the 200 and 500 yard free and Hanover’s Gabe Clerkin finished second in the boys 500 yard free and third in the 200 free.

“Rosie was one of our senior captains this year and she was a standout,” Staats said.

Sam Calderwood and Theo Burdick finished one, two in Saturday’s diving competition while Skylar Spiro of Hanover was fourth in the girls competition. Calderwood also swam in the 200 yard free relay.

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“That is pretty exceptional to have a diver swim in a relay,” Staats said.

Stevens junior Sara Gaspard, the only swimmer at the state meet for Stevens, was fourth in the 50 yard free and third in the 100 yard butterfly, giving the Cardinals 23 points and a 15th place finish in the team standings.

Results: Girls — Hanover 236, Oyster River 148, Hollis/Brookline 140, Windham 121, Saint Thomas Aquinas 116.5, Souhegan 111, Milford 71, Derryfield 62, Goffstown 57, Bow High School 53.5, Stevens 23 (15th). Boys — Windham 209, Hanover 167, Coe-Brown 130, Portsmouth 127, Goffstown 126, Hollis/Brookline 113, Souhegan 100, Saint Thomas Aquinas 37, Belmont 32, Newmarket 23, Sunapee 20 (13th).