ARHS places 3rd at WMass meet

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CHICOPEE — Despite the effort of junior Ciaran Dillon-Davidson, the Amherst Regional boys swim team placed third at the Western Massachusetts championship meet Tuesday at Chicopee High School.

Minnechaug ran away with its sixth consecutive title with 345 points. Westfield (288) earned the runner-up spot, while Amherst collected 249.5 points. Belchertown (108) was ninth.

Dillon-Davidson finished with one individual title and one relay title. He nearly had two individual firsts.

In a high-profile early event, Northampton’s Colin Machat went head-to-head with Dillon-Davidson in the 200-yard freestyle.

Through the first 150 yards, Dillon-Davidson stayed within a second of Machat, who lengthened his lead over the home stretch and finished first in 1 minute, 45.88 seconds. Dillon-Davidson (1:47.11) was second.

Dillon-Davidson later repeated as champion in the 500 free and swimming the anchor leg of the Hurricanes’ winning 400 free relay team.

He assumed control of the 500 free at about the midway point and came in at 4:50.41, shaving nearly four seconds off his winning time (4:54.3) in the 2012 meet.

“After the second in the 200 free, I was very motivated to win that 500 free and take a title home,” he said.

“Ciaran’s extremely talented and he keeps getting better,” Amherst coach Keith McFarland said. “I expect him to perform better at states than he did (Tuesday) and better next year.”

The 400 free relay proved to be a thrilling conclusion to the meet. Top-seeded Amherst was a few strokes behind Westfield when Dillon-Davidson hit the water. He caught up then took the lead over the final lap.

“We really wanted to win that being the top seed, and we were nervous because of the strong competition,” Dillon-Davidson said. “I just thought about swimming my fastest, and it was different because I don’t think we’ve ever been down going into my leg.”

Amherst’s team of Marc Klepacki, Eric Chen, Alan Tang and Dillon-Davidson had a time of 3:22.17. That quartet also came in third (1:43.33) in the 200 medley relay.

The 400 free “was a really nice way to finish, and it was a gutsy swim because we kept falling behind,” said McFarland.

Both Klepacki and Tang earned 32.5 points apiece for Amherst. They tied for second in the 100 fly at 55.14. Klepacki came in third in the 50 free at 22.78, and Tang placed third in the 100 breast at 1:03.9.

The Hurricanes swam with extra inspiration on Tuesday after the Amherst girls were denied the opportunity to compete in Monday’s girls meet.

“In this meet we wanted to swim for ourselves and also our girls, so we’re glad to be able to pull out a good meet,” Dillon-Davidson said.

With only two seniors set to graduate, the boys team will return a deep and talented squad next year in hopes of claiming a sectional crown.

“We’re pretty young and just about the whole team’s coming back,” said McFarland.

Matthew Quinney of Belchertown placed fifth in the 200 IM, and teamed with Andrew Burns, Sam Scudere-Weiss and Robbie Lewis for fifth in the 400 free relay.