The crowd was electric as both the Blue Devils and Hilltoppers took their positions on the starting blocks for the first race of the meet. Westfield came into this meet with a confident mentality, expecting a win over Summit. However, Summit immediately started off strong, taking first in the 200 Medley Relay. The Blue Devils answered, taking second, third and fourth, but ultimately it would not be enough as Summit overcame Westfield 88-82.
Both teams kept the matchup close throughout the meet, with the scores flipping back and forth after each race. Sophomore James Kavanagh came in first in both of his individual races, 200 Free (1:49.22) and the 100 Free (49.15). However, that was not enough to keep up with Summit junior and South Carolina commit Yehor Maistruk, who made up time in the 400 Medley Relay to come back and give the Hilltoppers a first-place finish.
Westfield struggled to find a consistent pace compared to their performance in prior meets. Senior co-captain Logan Welsh commented, “We didn’t come into it with the right mentality, but Summit did. I feel like that’s why they were able to beat us where it counted. We came in a little too confident and a little too complacent with how we did last week, so we didn’t push ourselves.”
The Blue Devils were missing a few key swimmers as they were out due to injury. As a result, some of the younger swimmers were required to step up. Welsh added, “There were some weaker events, but even though it wasn’t our worst event. The final race is tough because it’s where it all comes down to one race and one swim, so there’s a lot of pressure.”
Despite Kavanagh’s two wins, it still was not enough to overpower Summit. “We just need to get more together as a team. I mean, you gotta just swim more cohesive. We really fell apart in the back half, and we need to just hit that hard, and we have to be faster coming into counties,” Kavanagh said.
Because this loss was unexpected for the Blue Devils, head coach Jeff Knight declined to comment. During the 2024-25 season, Westfield surpassed Summit in a 106-64 win, which was drastically different from the outcome this season. Welsh said, “It sucks that [this loss] was to Summit, and this wasn’t really supposed to be a meet that we were gonna lose. We’ve got to learn from it, and we’ve got to keep pushing ourselves to be faster after every meet.”
After back-to-back losses, the Blue Devils now move to a 6-3 record. They are looking to bounce back with a win against New Providence at 3 p.m. on Jan. 22 at home.
