Gendron, Shen impress at mid-season invitational

PROVIDENCE – Neither Cumberland High sophomore Caroline Shen nor North Smithfield senior Sara Gendron were at their physical best at the Bay View Invitational Championships, held Sunday afternoon at Brown University.

Then again, there weren’t supposed to be, but they still were able to gauge where they stand against the region’s best at this early juncture of the campaign.

Shen played a role in all but one of her team’s 65 points, propelling the Clippers to 11th overall in the 25-team field at the Katherine Coleman Aquatic Center.

The standout finished seventh overall in the 50yard freestyle (25.76) and eighth in the 100 freestyle (57.45) to notch 20 by her lonesome, then combined with with junior Cameron Cronin, sophomore Adrianna Harrison and junior Caitlyn Longest to snag eighth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:48.38).

Shen also led off the ninth-place 400 freestyle relay after joining Cronin, Harrison and sophomore Kheara Zito, who closed in 3:59.77.

Those accounted for 44 more.

CHS opened the meet with a 16th in the 200 medley relay after Zito, senior Mackenzie Waters, freshman Ashlyn Tineo and Longest combined for a 2:15.66 clocking.

As for Gendron, she apparently competed in only the 200 individual medley, and she topped the field in terms of placement with a sixth. She entered the competition with a seed time of 2:10.01, but assuredly wasn’t thrilled with a timed finals time of 2:19.97.

Lincoln manufactured only one single individual placement, and that not surprisingly went to senior Natalie Westrick, who took 16th in the 100 butterfly (1:06.01). In the previous event, the 50 freestyle, she settled for 17th (just out of the scoring). Her time of 26.68 was only four-hunderedths of a second off of Barrington junior Julia Zulker, who took 16th.

In fact, Westrick came within .25 of tying Weston, Mass. junior Gillian Reeder for 15th.

All told, the Lions amassed 41 points for 14th overall, and did so on the strength of two ninth-place relay finishes.

The 200 medley contin- gent of sophomores Amanda Allen and Anna Vygoder, not to mention Westrick and junior Lily Jacobson, improved its seed time by four seconds to close close in 2:02.43; and the same unit posted a season-best clocking of 1:49.20.

In the 400 freestyle relay, the squadron of sophomore Riley Phillips, juniors Katie Nolan and anchor Natalie Jorge and freshman Melissa Pierce managed 15th in 4:28.46.

**