Housy swimmers compete in Berkshire League championships

LAKEVILLE — The swimming and diving season ended for the Berkshire League schools last weekend with league championships in diving on March 4 at Shepaug and in swimming on March 5 at the pool at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville. The Housatonic Valley Regional High School team, which has one of the smallest teams in the seven-school league, came in last (Shepaug won), but the meet reflected a significant improvement over the beginning of the season.“Everyone bettered their times at this meet. Some kids took 10 or 15 seconds off their times,” said Jacquie Rice, coach of the Housatonic swim team, with Rhonda Rinninsland. “Swimming isn’t about winning. It’s about improving your times.”Eight of the Housatonic team’s original 20 swimmers made the cut for the Berkshire League championships, which require swimmers to meet a specific time limit to qualify for an event. The competing schools were Housatonic, Shepaug, Gilbert, Wamogo, Northwestern, Lewis Mills and Litchfield.All of the swimmers participated in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. Boys team Captain Travis Derr participated in the 500-yard freestyle race and the 200-yard freestyle race; Connor Riley participated in the 50-yard freestyle race; Regan Carroll swam in the 200-yard individual medley race and the 100-yard breast stroke race. Girls team captain Megan Fisher swam the 100-yard backstroke race; Bailey Phelps swam in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke race; and Eleni Hellmers, Nataly Lake-Ginouves and Molly Lovejoy participated in the relays. Bailey took fourth place in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke, Regan placed seventh in the 200-yard individual medley, and Travis placed eighth and ninth in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle races. Team spirit was high at the meet, as is normally the case. Students from the area schools decorated banners that they posted on the walls around the pool deck.Four boys from Northwestern Regional 7 (which has about 40 swimmers) shaved their heads and bodies, not only for a show of spirit but also because it makes them feel faster. Some of the swimmers also wear lightweight layers of extra clothing while warming up. “It’s like the rings on a baseball bat,” one swimmer said. “When you remove them, you feel like you’re faster and stronger.”Swimmers from Wamogo did a variation on the shaved head: They left a strip of hair on top, mohawk-style.Even the team coaches got into the swim of things. Coach Todd Dyer from Shepaug not only wore his team’s brightly colored T-shirt, which features a sheep and a hog (“Sheep, hog. Shepaug,” he explained), he also sported a summery straw hat.But the swimmers didn’t need clothing or accessories to complete their looks: Many of them drew slogans right on their skin.