Above: Senior swimmers Emma Stark, Will Jackson, Ila Smith, Genevieve Cava, Kathryn Moran, Erika Finger, Bella Petito, and Grace Sheridan. (Missing are Natalia and Robert Oganesian.)

Boys – a smaller, younger team – build toward future

As with all things this pandemic year, the EG Girls and Boys teams have had a very different kind of season. The main difference was that the meets were fewer and virtual. This week will be the first time the swimmers will compete against other teams in person. 

While that makes it an odd year, it’s also been a great year for the Girls, who finished their regular season with a 10-0 record. East Greenwich swimmers in are Division 1, which has only gotten more competitive in recent years with the addition of some of the private schools, like Lincoln School, Moses Brown and Providence Country Day. Still, the Girls swam their hearts out and go into the final meet of the season with a perfect record. 

The Boys had a rougher time of it, ending in the exact reverse, with a 0-10 record. Coach Gina Hand said the boys swam well all season but it’s a small team – only 12 swimmers. 

“If you look at the boys results, the score differential for those bottom teams is close,” said Hand. “We don’t have the depth that other teams have.”

The girls team has had strength at every grade level, starting with the seniors. Hand noted Bella Petito and Genevieve Cava, captains, for the “tremendous” leadership during this weird COVID year.  

Hand credited Natalia Oganesian – ”a consistent distance scorer” and a big help in the relays – and Grace Sheridan, who has been covering sprints for the team, the 50s and the 100s. “Grace works really hard,” Hand said. Sheridan is planning to swim at the University of Maine next year, a D1 school. Katie Moran also got a shout out as the team’s best breaststroker.

Another senior of note, if not for scoring but for stamina and grit, said Hand, is Ila Smith. “She’s not going to score points but she’s just a really good role model to all our new swimmers.”

The team also has strong juniors in Kelsa Dator and Audrey Kling, sophomores Megan Huntley and Jessica Finger, and freshman Grace Nardozzi and Ava Bradshaw.

Hand said she was really proud of the girls for their undefeated season but acknowledged that the upcoming meet would test them in a different way, since they would finally be competing in person. 

“There’s just nothing like head-to-head combat,” she said. 

The boys’ season ended Wednesday evening with a wild card loss against La Salle. “They swam their hearts out and had some best times, but they lost 57-37,” Hand said. All season long, she said, the boys did their best. She lauded seniors Will Jackson and Robert Oganesian, as well as juniors Jacob Pierce and Nick Brita and sophomores Vincent Brita, Henry Fraser and Robert Sprague. 

“They’re the future,” she said.

Grace Sheridan has been a strong part of the EG Girls success this year.

Natalia Oganesian has been EG’s best distance swimmer as well as helping in relays.

Girls Co-captain Bella Petito

Senior swimmer Will Jackson.

Senior swimmer Robert Oganesian.

Senior swimmers Emma Stark, Will Jackson, Ila Smith, Genevieve Cava, Kathryn Moran, Erika Finger, Bella Petito, and Grace Sheridan. (Missing are Natalia and Robert Oganesian.)