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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
An exciting Jim Ehrlich Mile Swim on July 27 at Dug Pond in Natick saw Framingham take home the first-place crown. However, members of the Walpole Barracudas, Westwood Waves, Medfield Marlins, Sherborn Snappers, and Needham Sharks had some outstanding individual performances.
Medfield’s best performance at the event came from 16-year-old Pari Ahmadi (23:59.02), who finished third in the girls division. Nora Herbstzuber (26:15.65) finished 19th, Kelley Regan (32:19.31) at 43, and Mary-Katherine Benson (32:21.91) at 44. Quinn Borchers (25:01.64) put together the best time in the boys division for Medfield, resulting in an eighth-place finish. Brandon Sahr (29:09.09) placed 27th, Daniel Whelan (31:56.99) at 41, Michael Gingrich (32:26.88) at 42 and Kyle Heaney (33:13.29) at 45.
Needham put together an extremely strong performance, headlined by 15-year-old Zoei Howard (22:33.90), who won the event for the second consecutive year. Ava Sirignano (25:22.99) also placed in the top-10 at No. 9. Her sister, Francesca (28:13.68), meanwhile, finished 26th. Hannah Garrard (28:27.15) finished 30th, and the event’s youngest participant, 11-year-old Julia Rowe (29:32.10), came in at 32. On the boys side, Charlie Nascimben (23:33.33) finished fifth, while teammates Martin Barbera (25:16.47) and Zibing Zhang (25:32.75) placed 11th and 13th, respectively. Will Vallatini (26:58.00) placed 18th, and Charlie Volpe (29:43.21) rounded out Needham boys’ placements at No. 30.
The Sherborn Snappers saw a dominant performance in the girls race with two top-five finishes coming from Ellie Soska (23:49.72) at No. 2 and Ava Yablonski (24:11.42) at No. 4. Riley Correll (27.30.15) finished 25th and Abby Dawley (33:08.30) finished 45th. Sam Dawley (25:36.93) had the best placement for the Sherborn boys, with a No. 14 finish. Brian Olson (32:27.71) and Sam Correll (33:03.58) finished 43rd and 44th, respectively, and Ethan Lynch (40:11.36) finished 47th.
Despite a heavy amount of youth, Walpole put together some solid performances, headlined by Patrick Parlon (27:08.77) who placed 19th in the boys division. Matthew Ferraro (27:36.16) and John Garvey (27:50.60) came in right behind at 20th and 21st, while Conor McMahone (29:10.61) finished 28th, and Barry Kyle (33:31.97) in 46th. Grace O’Malley (26:41.53) and Lindsay Ahmed (26:52.84) led the Walpole girls by finishing 21st and 22nd. Anna Smith (28:17.29) finished 27th, Genna Barry (31:28.07) at No. 39, and Audrey Bongett (32:12.38) at No. 41.
Ruby Fyffe (26:04.02) headlined the performance by the Westwood girls by placing 16th, while Eve Lucas (31:51.01) finished 40th. Gabriel Greenwald finished 39th in the boys division for Westwood.
For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0.
