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11/14/2018 11:00 PMThe Branford girls’ swimming and diving team competed at the Class M State Championship last week and finished in seventh place out of 23 teams at the meet. The Hornets saw two individuals and one relay notch top-five finishes en route to scoring 298 points in the State Championship, which was held at Wesleyan University in Middletown on Nov. 13. Numerous athletes from the team improved on their times from the Class M Qualifying meet that was held three days prior to the finals. Branford’s seventh-place performance marked a one-spot improvement from the Hornets’ eighth-place finish at last year’s Class M meet.
Branford’s best overall performance at the Class M State Championship came from its 400-yard freestyle relay. The Hornets’ quartet of sophomore Melissa Juliano, freshman Erika Barone, junior Cordelia Keberle, and junior Gabrielle Gillis recorded a time of 3:49.32 to finish in fourth place and score 50 points for the Hornets at the state finals, while also qualifying for the State Open Championship. They had previously posted a time of 3:52.66 at the Class M Qualifying that took place at East Hartford High School on Nov. 10. Branford’s same grouping of Juliano, Barone, Keberle, and Gillis went on to score 44 points by taking seventh place in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:58.61, improving on their qualifying time of 2:00.34.
At the State Open, the Hornets' 400 freestyle relay team of Juliano, Barone, Keberle, and Gillis finished in 23rd place with a time of 3:51.47. The meet was held at Yale University on Nov. 17.
Additionally at the Class M State Championship, Gillis delivered a fifth-place finish in the 100 freestyle by swimming a time of 55.89 seconds to score 24 points at the finals. The junior improved upon her time of 56.25 from the qualifying. Additionally, Gillis scored 19 points for Branford with her ninth-place finish in the 50 freestyle. Gillis swam a time of 25.84 at the finals to better her qualifying time of 26.11 by less than half-a-second.
Barone placed in the top 10 of two events for the Hornets at the state finals. The freshman finished with a time of 1:02.21 in the 100 backstroke to take fifth place and score 24 points. Then in the 200 individual medley, Barone swam a time of 2:20.22 to come in 10th place and score 17 points for Branford. Barone improved on her times in both events from the qualifying, where she swam a 1:03.60 for the backstroke and a 2:21.59 in the 200 IM.
Junior Adrienne Dillon claimed eighth place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:04.05 at the Class M finals, scoring 21 points and beating her qualifying time of 1:04.07 by just two one-hundredths of a second. Dillon also scored seven points by finishing 18th in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:05.86, improving on her mark of 2:08.16 from the qualifying meet.
The Hornets’ 200 freestyle relay of sophomore Nicola Colossale, senior Serena Sachs, freshman Rory Jacobson, and Dillon finished in 12th place with a time of 1:53.54 to score 30 points. They had previously posted a time of 1:54.13 at the qualifying.
Also at the state finals, Juliano scored 15 points by placing 12th in the 100 backstroke (1:05.06) and tallied 13 points with her 14th-place finish in the 50 freestyle (26.36). Juliano bettered both of her times after having swam a 1:06.92 in the backstroke and a 26.76 for the 50 free in the qualifying meet.
Keberle took 16th place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:06.38 to score 11 points. She swam a time of 2:07.82 at the qualifying. In the 100 butterfly, Keberle recorded a mark of 1:04.58 to finish in 18th place, score seven points, and improve on her qualifying time of 1:05.82.
Jacobson scored 11 points by finishing 16th for the butterfly with a time of 1:05.88 in the Class M finals. Her time at the qualifying was 1:04.15. Jacobson also came in 20th place in the 200 individual medley to score five points behind a time of 2:25.26, which was faster than her qualifying time of 2:24.41.