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Wayland's title a foregone conclusion

The real story of wayland's girls hard work and inspiration.. Its just amazing to
see these girls performing..

"It was a little refreshing cool off after three months of hard work," said Foley,
Wayland's coach for the last 10 years.
After a celebratory dip in Harvard's Blodgett Pool, Foley stood in a circle with his
senior girls. The huddle was filled with nostalgia and thank yous for girls such as
captains Katie Karlson, Olivia Blahut, Leah Jacques, and Kristin Hehir, who
contributed to Wayland's four years of excellence and its fourth consecutive
Division 2 girls' state swimming and diving championship. The girls also joined
Foley in his pool celebration.
After a 14-0 regular season, Wayland continued its perfect streak yesterday,
finishing the championship meet with 308 points, far ahead of Weston (194), the
Warriors' Dual County League rival, and Marblehead (108).
Wayland won five of the 12 events, including all three relays, with Blahut
finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute 57.46 seconds) and Hehir
taking the diving (409.40). But it was sophomore Emily Wright and junior Emily
Downs who proved to be the Warriors' 1-2 punch.
Both were members of the 200 medley (1:50.31) and 200 freestyle (1:37.02)
relays, the latter breaking Andover's nine-year-old state record (1:38.26). Wright
and Downs finished second and third, respectively, in the 50 freestyle behind
Monson junior Kellie Pennington (24.06), and then flopped places in the 100
freestyle behind Longmeadow junior Sara Li (51.01).
"Both of them are tremendous swimmers," Foley said of Wayland's duo. "We're
deep in a lot of events."
But Wright was more excited for her team's overall performance than her own,
admitting that she gets the most joy out of cheering on her teammates.
"It's great," Wright said. "I thought we were going to do well, but I didn't know
we'd do this amazing and I'm so proud of everyone. I got my best times and
everyone was improving, so it was a great atmosphere."
Another notable performance came from Li, who set a state record in winning the
200 IM (2:03.13). She also was a member of Longmeadow's 200 medley and 200
freestyle relay teams, which each finished third and helped Longmeadow to a
fourth-place overall finish.
Also winning were Pennington (100 butterfly, 58.23), Arlington Catholic's
Colleen McCormack (500 free, 5:12.74), Hamilton-Wenham's Annie Lindland
(100 back, 1:00.30), and Easthampton's Karissa Gorman (100 breast, 1:07.85).
Even though Wayland has won the state title multiple times, team members said
it feels different with every victory.
"It's really exciting each year, it gets better," Downs said. "There's a ton of new
people who get to share the experience with us."