After a turbulent season, the Old Rochester Regional High School boys swim team came out on top in the South Coast Conference Championship meet on February 3 with a score of 332. Michael “Skip” Holmes placed first in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, Sean Lund won the 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay of Lund, Holmes, Sam Harris and Jaymison Gunschel also placed first.
The girls team placed second at the meet with second-place finishes from Emma Whittaker in the 50 and 500 freestyles, Quinn O’Brien-Nichols in diving, Abigail Daniels in the 100 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay team of Whittaker, Daniels, Katie Anderson, and Corrine Hibbert.
The road to the championship has been a bumpy one for the Bulldogs and started before the season itself when a pipe under the pool at New Bedford High School, where Old Rochester has practiced and held meets in previous years, was causing a leak. Repairing the pipe required the pool floor to be ripped up, leaving the Bulldogs without a pool and putting their season in limbo.
“We were relieved and excited to find out that Apponequet and Middleboro were able to give us pool time on such a short notice,” said ORR swim coach Sarah Robinson.
However, while they were able to get pool time in, it was very limited, forcing the Bulldogs to take a different approach on days where they couldn’t get into the water. “This season we introduced a more regimented dryland program for the swimmers on Monday and Tuesday to make up for the lack of pool time,” said Robinson.
Next up for ORR is states on February 26-27 at Boston University, and Coach Robinson has high hopes for the meet. “We are hoping to swim hard and aiming to make the top 10 in Michael ‘Skip’ Holmes’ and Sean Lund’s individual events. Skip made the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke for states, and Sean made the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley. Skip Holmes, Zack Travis, Sam Harris and Sean Lund made the 200 medley relay, and Sean Lund, Jayimson Gunschel, Sam Harris and Skip Holmes made the 400 freestyle relay.”
Boys Basketball
The Bulldogs picked up two wins at home last week, starting things off on February 2 against Bourne. Steven Morrell scored 19 points, Jacob Smith scored 12, and Sawyer Fox scored 11 on their way to a 63-48 win. They followed up the win on February 5 when they defeated Dighton-Rehoboth, 66-54. Liam Geraghty led with 21 points, while Fox and Smith contributed 19 and 11, respectively. Old Rochester visited Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech on Tuesday and will visit Somerset Berkley on Friday, February 11, at 6:30 pm.
Girls Basketball
The Lady Bulldogs extended their win streak on February 2 with a win on home court against Falmouth. Maddie Wright scored 19 points on the way to a 54-36 win. Also contributing was Logan Fernandes who scored 9 points as well as Maggie Brogioli and Tess Adams who each scored 6 points. Old Rochester followed up the win on Monday with a 67-37 win against Dighton-Rehoboth. Wright scored 22 points while Fernandes and Brogioli each scored 15. The Bulldogs hosted Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech on Tuesday and will host Somerset-Berkley on Friday, February 11, at 6:30 pm.
Hockey
After a 3-2 loss to Dennis-Yarmouth on February 2, Old Rochester’s boys’ hockey team got back on track with two straight wins. The first came on February 5 when they defeated Wareham/Carver 8-1. The Bulldogs followed it up on Monday when they picked up a 4-2 win over Apponequet/Connolly. They faced the Lakers again on Wednesday and will visit Diman-Voke on Friday, February 11, at Driscoll Arena in Fall River.
Sports Roundup
By Matthew Curry