Old Rochester Regional High School (ORR) boys swimming is once again the standard for the South Coast Conference. The Bulldogs took home top honors in the SCC Championship, scoring 402 points, 65 more points than second place Seekonk (337).
Though nothing is a given, it wasn’t exactly a major surprise the Bulldogs took care of business and by such a significant margin. Mainly because they never lost a dual meet in SCC play this season.
“It was awesome,” Old Rochester Regional coach Mitch Suzan said. “It definitely was a good feeling. We had a lot of top-six finishes. We had multiple swimmers swimming really well. [We had] a lot of personal best times. They’ve been working really hard.”
Top dog at the meet was Jacob Cuocowho won two individual heats and helped take first in a relay. Cuoco was the top finisher in both the 200 free (1:51.49) and the 100 butterfly (52.65). He was also a cog in the 4×400 freestyle relay that took first with a 3:31.37 finish, partnering up with Sam Harris, Michael Holmes, and Colin Kulak.
Old Rochester Regional girls swimming took third overall at the meet with 258 points. However, Jenna Durgindid have herself a big day as she set the SCC Championship meet record in the 200 freestyle with a 2:02.66. Rachel Perrywon the 100 butterfly and Charlotte Coletook first in diving (172.05 points). ORR’s 4×200 relay group of Durgin, Perry,Claire Noble-Shriver, and Sarah Besancontook first with a 1:51.65 finish.
ORR boys basketball took a tough loss at the hands of Somerset Berkley on Friday, losing 81-61. The loss marks three in a row for the Bulldogs who need to regroup so their postseason stock doesn’t fall further. However, making the postseason, in general, shouldn’t be an issue with the Bulldogs (9-5) only needing one more to qualify. Nick Johnsonwas the lone bright spot in the loss to Somerset Berkley, scoring 21 for Old Rochester Regional. Cole McIntyrealso chipped in 10 points.
Old Colony
Old Colony girls basketball continues to fight for its playoff hopes having won back-to-back wins to start a six-game stretch where the Cougars have to win every night.
“We’re still looking for small goals to get to the tournament. We’ll continue to work, play as a team, and try to make some noise when we get there,” Old Colony girls basketball coach Craig Lincoln said, “We’re looking at one game at a time and we’ll take care of business Wednesday and if we do that, we’ll move forward.”
The Cougars’ most recent win came against Diman in a 31-29 nail biter. With the Bengals adjusting late in the game to focus on Savannah Halle(nine points) defensively, Kat Kirbyhelped steer the Cougars to a win, finishing with 11 points, seven assists, as well as four rebounds.
“[Diman] played phenomenal defense in the second half,” Lincoln said. “[They] made it really tough for [Halle] to do anything offensively, so we had to switch what we wanted to do and we weren’t really executing as cleanly as I would have liked to see it. But the ball movement was good. We still got shots off, but I think we settled a little too much at that point.
“We’ve talked about it since the first week of the season that she’s going to get more isolated defense because of the freshman year she had,” continued Lincoln. “And the fact that [Old Colony 2018 graduate] Abby[Cioper] is gone this year. We knew people were going to be locking her down.”
Lincoln was also pleased to see Kirby step into the role of leader in her team’s time of need.
“I’m so proud of her,” he said. “As a basketball player, her IQ is improving every day. The fact that she leads this team on both sides of the ball – she’s just fun to have around in practice and in games every day. She’s a great kid to coach.”
Old Colony continues to make an impact on the ice with 10 Cougars making up the Apponequet/Bishop Connolly/Old Colony roster. The Lakers have surged back to give themselves a shot at qualifying for the postseason, now 5-8 and needing to win four of their last five games.
Key contributors to the surge have been Ethan Harropand Zach Lovendale, two Old Colony students. Harrop is second on the team with 10 goals and nine assists for 19 points and Lovendale has 13 points on the year.
However, their success doesn’t stun Lakers coach Craig Correia.
“You take into account the fact that every Freetown-Lakeville kid that plays hockey will play for the same team regardless of which school they go to – unless they go to the Catholic school,” he said. “They grew up playing together.”
High School Sports Update
By Nick Friar