The Mt. Hope High School boys' swimming team added to the legacy of the program by finishing off one of its most successful seasons ever as the Huskies capped off their unbeaten winter in Division III competitions by winning the 2025 league championship meet Saturday night, Feb. 15, at the Roger Williams University Aquatics Center in Bristol.

Mt. Hope finished with a meet-best 318 points, far outdistancing the runner-up Middletown-Rogers co-op with 236 and third-place Blackstone Valley Prep with 187.

Mt. Hope did not lose during in D-III dual meets, winding up with its best regular season since '06-07 when the Huskies finished first with a 9-1 record in what was then known as the Creed-South Division. For a time, the Interscholastic League recognized contributors to the sport by denoting regular season groupings under their names.

The Huskies then claimed their first division meet crown of any kind since the program won its only two such titles in back-to-back seasons, '04-05 and '05-06, when the locals also captured consecutive D-III championships.

The previous evening, also at RWU, the Mt. Hope High girls' team, which finished second to only East Providence in duals, finished as the runner-up as well in their D-III title meet.

The Middletown-Rogers co-op, third during the regular season, actually leapfrogged the Huskies to claim the championship with 369 points, taking advantage of a depleted E.P. side. The locals were second with 307. Three key E.P. were missing from the Townies' lineup while visiting Costa Rica during the mid-winter break with the school's chorus club. The Townies, like the Mt. Hope boys undefeated in duals, settled for third with 256.

More boys' notes

Last Saturday, a Mt. Hope swimmer placed among the top three finishers in every boys' event. Senior co-captain Finn Pansa broke his own school record in the 200 yard freestyle en route to the individual win in 1:53.01. He also took the 100 free in 50.47.

Another senior captain, Cohen Ferreira won the 100 breaststroke, breaking his own school record in the process with 1:09.97. The Huskies actually swept the top three places with Kieran Riedl second (1:14) and Ben Coles third (1:15.5). Sam Coles also cruised to a pair of wins for the Huskies, taking both the 50 free (24.44) and 100 backstroke (1:05.26). Ben Coles kept the winning in the family after he took the 500 free (6:09.15).

Also of note, Kieran Riedl and Ferreira only recently started swimming the 100 butterfly, going two-three in the event. Liam Gagner had season-best times in the 200 individual medley and 100 back, taking second and third in each, respectively.

Another highlight for the locals was a close win over their counterparts from Blackstone Valley Prep in the 200 free relay (1:42.07). The Coles brothers and Riedl put the locals in position before Pansa swam a career-best relay split of 22.64 during the anchor 50.

The Huskies later closed the meet with a win in the 400 free relay as Gagner, Sam Coles, Ferreira and Pansa clocked a 3:56.07.

First-year team members Jackson Howland, Max Silva and Mac Marston also contributed to the squad. Marston, a freshman, took 30 seconds off his previous best time in the 200 free.

"This season the whole team worked extremely hard and our standings at divisions show that. It was a phenomenal season and especially on the boys side we spent time together outside of the pool to build our chemistry," said Ferreira. "At divisions the boys side showed out, going best times around the board and racking up many medals. It was a time to show what we had been working on all season."

Added Pansa, "We went into divisions with the expectation of winning and anything else would have been a disappointment, this mentality and determination led to several highlight swims and high placements from our team. Everybody similar to previous meets  had contributed to the team no matter how experienced in the sport they were. Even with the expectation of winning, brining home first as a team still felt like an accomplishment and I could not be more proud of the whole team."

More girls' notes

Junior co-captain Jessica Deal faced her sternest test to date in the 500 yard freestyle at the division meet, and rose to moment by winning the race in 5:51.75. Earlier in the meet, Deal also won the 200 free in 2:17.83.

Superb freshman Olivia Taylor had another terrific meet, winning the 100 back in a new school record time of 1:03.53, some two seconds faster than the previous mark.

Deal and Taylor were also part of the 400 free relay team along with sophomore co-captain Hazel Bradley and Emma Quigley, which broke their own school record in winning the event with a time of 4:08.96.

Of note as well, Quigley set new PRs in the 200 and 500 frees, finishing fourth (2:25.95) and (6:29.95) in both.

Also contributing to the team totals were Evelyn Towers in the 50 free and Vivian Goodman in the 200 free, 100 breast and 200 free relay with Bridget Courtney, Summer Komiega and Bradley. The quartet was fourth with a 2:07.53.

Quigley, Taylor, Courtney and Deal opened the meet with another fourth-place result in the 200 medley relay.

Those Huskies who qualify will next represent Mt. Hope at the 2025 Interscholastic League State Championship Meet Sunday, March 2, at the Coleman Aquatics Center on the Brown University in Providence.