Hawks continue to roll, coast by Rebels

Matt Metcalf
Posted 2/10/15

A year after Hendricken’s streak of 24-straight state championships was snapped at the hands of Smithfield, the Hawks have responded well this season, establishing themselves as the clear-cut …

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Hawks continue to roll, coast by Rebels

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A year after Hendricken’s streak of 24-straight state championships was snapped at the hands of Smithfield, the Hawks have responded well this season, establishing themselves as the clear-cut favorite to regain the crown.

The Hawks have dominated every league opponent they’ve faced in their dual meet season, including Barrington and Cumberland, the second and third place teams.

Thursday was no different.

Hendricken upped its perfect record to 6-0, rolling to a convincing 70-24 win over South Kingstown.

Sophomore standout Max Miranda led the Hawks, winning his two individual events – the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley. He was also part of the 200-meter medley relay and the 200-meter freestyle relay teams that won.

Miranda currently holds three state records in the 200 free, 200 individual medley and the 500 free.

He has already qualified for the Olympic trials in 2016 in the 200 butterfly – an event that the Rhode Island Interscholastic League doesn’t have, but Hanson is hopeful that he can achieve another feat that no other swimmer at Hendricken has ever accomplished.

“He’s knocking on the door for qualifying for All-American,” Hanson said. “At Hendricken, as good as we’ve been for all these years, we’ve never had an All-American swimmer. It would be nice if he was the first.”

It wasn’t only Miranda, however, as the Hawks got contributions in a number of areas. Of the 11 races, the Hawks dropped just three to the Rebels.

“We had a lot of good team efforts today,” head coach Dave Hanson said. “If you look at our relays, particularly the 400 free, that’s our third or fourth string. Those guys just keep grinding away and keep fighting. That’s what it’s all about.”

The Hawks got to work right away, winning the 200 medley relay with a team comprised of three sophomores and a freshman.

Sophomores Miranda, John Beretta and Owen Schriber and freshman Lucas Stencel took first place in that event with a time of 1:36.05.

Another sophomore, Troy Pina, won the 200-meter freestyle in a time of 1:58.37, before Miranda took first in the 200 individual medley in a time of 41.457.

The Rebels’ Asher Kiely pulled out a win in the 50 free, finishing in a time of 22.79 to cut South Kingstown’s deficit to 25-9.

After Miranda took the 100 butterfly, Kiely won his second event of the day, this time pulling out a win in the 100 freestyle in a time of 48.27.

Sophomore Alex Vessella took first in the 500 freestyle, before the 200 freestyle relay team of Pina, Schriber, Miranda and Brendan Crowe won their event to widen the gap on the scoreboard.

Stencel then won the 100-meter backstroke in a time of 58.54.

With the meet essentially decided, South Kingstown pulled out one more win down the stretch, as Callum Hamel edged Vessella for first place in the 100-meter breaststroke with a final time of 1:09.02.

The Hawks bounced back to end the meet the way that they started it – getting a win from one of their relay teams.

This time it was the combination of Vessella, Beretta, Dillane Wehbe and Crispin Ferris who placed first in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:47.

All-in-all it was business as usual for the Hawks.

Hendricken kept its season rolling in the right direction a day later, defeating Prout, 69-24.

After finishing its dual meet season at 7-0, Hendricken will now turn its attention to the Division Championships, which are set for Sunday at 1 p.m. at Roger Williams University.

The Hawks will then compete for the state championship on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 9:30 a.m. at Brown University, as Hendricken looks to start a new streak.

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