Bradley Farm Waves vs Kingston Chase Fighters, in what might be the closest meet of the season

Erin Rider

Kingston Chase Fighters vs Bradley Farm Waves

The meet started off with a splash as the 10 & Under IM swimmers dove into the first race of the night. The Kingston Chase Fighters got off to an early lead over the Bradley Farm Waves taking home the first two IM races. Allie Baez finishes her IM with more than enough room to spare with Theresa McNulty and Mary Baez finishing out the sweep of the race. Hugh McNulty pulled out a stunning finish and win in his 11-12 IM race even with his goggles hanging beneath his chin for most of the race. After that the Waves started a comeback sweeping the 11-12 girls IM race and pulling out magnificent finishes in the 13-14 boys and girls IM races. The 15-18 boys IM race came down to the wire with Bradley Farm just out-touching Devin McNulty for the win. In the 15-18 girls race the Fighters clinched first and Elizabeth McNulty was able to catch up and pass her competitors to come in second for her team (Kingston Chase).

Starting off the Freestyle events the Fighters clinched another win with their 6 & Under boys but Bradley Farm was able to sweep the 6&U girls 25 meter Freestyle race. Throughout the freestyle events Junior coaches/coaches were seen jumping into the water before the race started so that they could encourage their swimmers as they swam across the pool. As the Freestyle races progressed the winners went back and forth from Bradley Farm winning races to Kingston Chase winning other races. The 11-12 boys 50 Freestyle race was close from the start with Hugh McNulty and Hunter Buley pulling away to catch 1st and 2nd. Hunter Buley felt that he swam his race well and stated that he achieved a personal best time. For the 13-14 boys races throughout the meet, there were only two swimmers who had attended the meet so they swam against each other in each race. After the 50 meter Freestyle race Bryan Nicgorski (Kingston Chase) stated his opinion on only swimming against one other swimmer who was from the other team, he said “I hate it because he is so much faster than me,” adding that the other swimmer “might even be able to beat Christian” who is one of the fastest 13-14 male swimmers in the league. In the second heat of the 15-18 girls 50 meter race Jessie Jorgensen won. When asked about how she felt her swim went she said “My flip turn went into the other lane and I was able to get back into my lane and still win the race because I pushed through at the end”.

Throughout the younger age groups’ backstroke races the results were split with wins from both teams. In the 11-12 boys 50 meter backstroke race Hugh McNulty pulled ahead in the last 10 meters to clinch the win. When asked about how he felt about his win he said “So good” and that he “got a best time”.  The Bradley Farm Waves went on to sweep the next two events but when the 15-18’s were ready to race it was a different story. During the boys race it was close until the end when a swimmer from Bradley Farm was able to out-touch Devin McNulty who also out-touched his brother Ryan McNulty, even though Ryan is usually the winner for the Fighters when competing in Backstroke. After the race I asked Ryan how he felt about coming in behind his brother at the finish and he said “I was kind of upset because I had talked about breaking the record [for the 50 meter backstroke] in this meet but I lost it on the flip-turn.” Devin was in a humorous mood when he was asked about how his feelings on the race stating that “It was a historic day.”

The Breaststroke races were also back and forth from one team to the other winning. When asked about his feelings on his 9-10 boys 50 meter Breaststroke win David Jorgensen stated “I’m proud, I used the underwater pullout so that helped.” After the 9-10 girls race I asked Allie Baez about her feelings on being so far ahead of most girls in her age group, she said “It’s because I’m almost 11, but it makes me feel valuable and it feels good to get points for the team.” Her teammates McKenna Buhler and Theresa McNulty said “She is a freak because she is so fast.” When asked about his 11-12 Breaststroke race Spencer Buhler said that he felt “Good and amazing,” but that he doesn’t ask for times because “I like surprises.” Before the 13-14 boys were up to race again during Breaststroke I asked Alan (from Bradley Farm) how he felt about only racing against Bryan Nicgorski throughout the meet and how he was much faster than him as well. Alan said “I’ve never lost this season yet except for relay races. I am looking forward to competing with Christian during the Herndon Olympics.”

When Butterfly races rolled around the deck was bustling with swimmers lining up for their Butterfly races as well as swimmers lining up for their relay races. Needless to say it was somewhat of a madhouse on the deck in between races. I was able to ask Hunter Buley about how he felt after his 11-12 50 meter Butterfly swim and he stated “I think I did well because I improved on breathing patterns.” Before his 13-14 50 meter Butterfly swim Bryan Nicgorski said “I think I can hold my own in fly and be at his [Alan’s] heels”, after the race was over however (Alan had pulled ahead from the start swiftly beating Bryan and keeping his streak of being undefeated in individual races alive) Bryan said “My heart is broken and I feel like I let my team down” even though his team did not feel that way. Mikkayla Malatesta’s feeling about her Butterfly race was that she “did pretty decent with a pretty good time.”

During the relay races the Bradley Farm Waves came out strong winning 8 & under races as well as the boys 9-10 race. Kingston Chase came back to win the 9-10 girls (with Theresa McNulty losing her goggles but still giving her team a commanding lead in the Breaststroke leg of the relay which she felt “Pretty awesome” about)  as well as the 11-12 boys race with Bradley Farm returning to win the 11-12 and 13-14 girls relays. Kinston Chase was able to have both 15-18 relays win and the boys 15-18 was rumored to have beaten their relay record. When asked about how they felt about possibly breaking the record Ryan McNulty said “I am very happy, now I have two relay records at Kingston Chase” and Brett Petty said “I feel good about it because it is my first year [and last because he is 18] on the team and I beat a record”. They both chimed in and said “We’re a team, bros, and it’s our final year and we have swagger.” The boys and girls mixed age relays were just out-touched with Elizabeth and Devin McNulty putting up a good fight in their final 50 of the relay and they both almost caught up to the Bradley Farm relays.

The ending score of the meet was as close as can be with only a six point difference separating the Bradley Farm Waves, who won the meet, from the Kingston Chase Fighters.