SPRINGFIELD -- Maeve Wilber of Monument Mountain turned in a pair of top 10 performances to pace the Berkshire County contingent at Saturday's 3 MIAA swimming championships at Springfield College.

Wilber finished sixth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:14.59 and was 10th in the 100 backstroke in 1:02.06.

Hoosac Valley High School's swimmers also comported themselves well. Emma Whitney finished 12th in the backstroke in 1:03.57 and was also 15th in the 50 freestyle in 26.33. In addition, the Hurricane 200 relay team of Michaela Vecchiarelli, Julia Whitney, Liz Bernardy and Emma Whitney turned in a 10th place finish in 1:48.12.

Wilber's sixth in the IM was made all the more impressive because she came out of the fifth of seven heats to finish that well. She easily won her race, but had to wait for the times of two more heats to determine how she did.

Emma Whitney's 15th in the 50 was a similar scenario, as she was also in the fifth heat, with two more races to go. Whitney finished 15th, but was bunched in with another eight swimmers who finished within 1.1 seconds of each other. With a whisper of luck, she might have ended up in the top eight or higher.

In the backstroke, Wilber was 13th after the first 50 yards, but made up three places on the backstretch to finish 10th.

The Hurricane relay squad was in the third of six heats, but dominated their heat and held on for tenth.

To their credit, meet officials kept the event moving

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briskly, holding award ceremonies during other events. But the presence of 40, 50 and sometimes 60 or more swimmers in each event, necessitated at least seven heats per race. In the 50 freestyle there were 11 heats.

Westford Academy won the title with 279.5 points. Hoosac finished tied for 20th and Monument Mountain was 22nd.