Bedford's Jeffers keeps a promise
Feb. 16—For swimmer Teagen Jeffers, the Division I state meet was about redemption.
The Bedford High senior was part of winning and record-setting relay teams and two of the Bulldogs' Division I team crowns but had never won an individual state title. Jeffers changed all that last weekend at the University of New Hampshire's Swasey Pool, which will be her home pool when she joins the Wildcats next season.
Jeffers won the 200-yard individual medley (IM) in 2 minutes, 8.49 seconds and the 100-yard butterfly in 59.37 seconds. She also swam the first leg for the Bulldogs' winning 200 freestyle relay and 200 medley relay teams.
"It had been really tough freshman and sophomore year," said Jeffers, who last season swam only for her club team, YMCA of Greater Nashua Storm. "I never performed well at states. ... It felt like it was something that I needed to do before I could officially finish my high school swimming career."
Bedford won both the girls and boys Division I championships for the fourth consecutive season.
Jeffers usually swims the 200 and 500 freestyles, which have been dominated by Manchester Central's Abby Gowern in recent years. Gowern, a junior, won both the 200 freestyle (personal-best 1:53.6) and 500 freestyle (5:00.82) state titles for the third straight year.
Jeffers switched her focus to the 200 IM medley and 100 butterfly after a preseason conversation with Bedford coach Annie DeWitt.
"This year, we talked about she's done everything for us — she's never asked for anything — what could I do for her?" DeWitt said. "And she said, 'I would like to win an event.' So we looked at different events this year that she had the potential of winning and she picked the 2 IM and the 100 fly and she promised me very early in the season that she was going to win those events for me. I said, 'Alright, they're yours.'
"Before I was even thinking about states, she approached me with the goal of winning."
Jeffers won both events in personal-best times.
The 200 IM was the event just before the 100 butterfly. Her 200 IM time was more than six seconds faster than teammate Emmie Goucher's runner-up mark (2:14.82). It was also just shy of besting the Bedford school record, owned by Jeffers's former Bulldogs teammate Megan Leyden.
Jeffers said she saw both events as new opportunities and used times she set for herself (2:09.8 in the 200 IM, 58 seconds in the 100 butterfly) as motivation throughout the season.
"That's kind of how I shifted my focus — setting goals, just like I do for everything else," Jeffers said.
Sambrook, Duprey star
The Bedford girls won the Division I team crown with a convincing 291 points, 118 more than runner-up Dover (173). Nashua South (139), Pinkerton Academy (130.5) and Exeter (103.5) rounded out the top five.
Jeffers's classmate Audrey Sambrook won both the 50 freestyle (24.51) and 100 backstroke (57.74). Bedford sophomore Caitrin Duprey won the 100 freestyle (53.97).
Duprey was also part of Bedford's winning 200 freestyle relay team (1:51.48). Sambrook swam the anchor leg for the winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:38.5).
"Our girls swam lights out," said DeWitt, who is in her fourth year leading the Bulldogs.
Bedford's Allen sings then wins
On the boys side, Bedford won with a staggering 363 points, 164 ahead of runner-up Dover (199). Exeter (124), Pinkerton (105) and Keene (101) rounded out the top five boys teams.
Bulldogs senior Evan Allen won both the 50 freestyle (22.46) and 100 butterfly (52.36) and swam on Bedford's winning 200 freestyle (1:30.12) and 400 freestyle (3:21.66) teams.
Allen also sang the national anthem before the meet, something he jokingly talked about all season. "I never thought about it seriously until the bus ride there, where I was like, 'Oh my God, this is my last meet in high school so I want to make it as memorable as possible,'" he said.
Bedford sophomore Andrew Gordon won both the 200 freestyle (1:48.49) and the 500 freestyle (4:55.64) and was part of both winning relay teams with Allen.
Gordon's winning 500 freestyle time was nearly nine seconds ahead of Exeter freshman Dennis Dragomaretski's runner-up time (5:04.06).
Bulldogs junior Ethan Steichen won the 100 freestyle (49.1) and was part of the winning 200 freestyle time with Allen and Gordon.
Bedford took each of the top four spots in the 100 freestyle. Senior Jake Oster was the runner-up (51.22), freshman Dylan Belair took third (51.52) and freshman Jack Mortimer placed fourth (52.66).
DeWitt said she had a vision when she became Bedford's head coach of her current boys and girls seniors graduating as four-time state champions.
"We had a hashtag four years ago that was 'leave a legacy,'" DeWitt said. "This year, the fourth year, I was like, 'OK, these are my freshmen and now they're seniors. If they do this, this is their legacy.'
"We got 'leave a legacy' on our shirts and that was the whole mentality of the team this year — we want to leave New Hampshire swimming with a Bedford dynasty."
Watters, Avakov break records
Dover senior Bradley Watters won the 100 backstroke in a state-record time of 50.5 seconds. Hollis-Brookline senior Dylan Jewett set the previous mark (50.51) earlier in the day to win the Division II 100 backstroke title.
The Founders Academy senior Alexei Avakov, who swims for Manchester Central during the high school season, set a state and pool record in the 100 breaststroke with his winning and All-American time of 54.4 seconds.
The Indiana University commit set the previous record (55.24) when he won the event last year. Avakov, who will compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June, also won the 200 IM in a pool-record time (1:52.25).
"To me, it's a generational swimmer," Manchester Central, West and Trinity coach Steve VanDerBeken said of Avakov. "(Olympian) Jenny Thompson came through 20-25 years ago through New Hampshire swimming. She's still got records on our books. Today, we have somebody like Alexei Avakov."
Windham, Hanover rule Division II
In Division II, the Windham boys repeated as state champions with 209 points while Hanover took the girls title with 236 points after finishing as runner-up in each of the past two seasons.
Hanover (167 points) was also the boys runner-up. Coe-Brown Northwood Academy (130), Portsmouth (127) and Goffstown (126) rounded out the top-five boys teams.
Oyster River (148), Hollis-Brookline (140), Windham (121) and St. Thomas Aquinas (116.5) followed Hanover.
The Windham boys won both the 400 freestyle relay (3:41.67) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:35.51) and had eight other top-five finishes.
For the Hanover girls, Rosie Keith, a senior and Villanova University commit, won the 100 freestyle (52 seconds), took second in the 50 freestyle (24.02) and was part of both the winning 200 medley relay (1:50.83) and 400 freestyle relay (3:44.1) teams. Bears sophomore Sofia Ye was also on both those winning relay teams and won the 100 breaststroke in 1:08.46.
St. Thomas junior and Indiana University commit Sky Knowlton won both the 500 freestyle (4:53.28) and 200 freestyle (1:50.09) for the second straight season.
Hanover had nine top-five finishes overall.
"It was an affirmation of the hard work that the kids put in over the season," second-year Hanover coach Trent Staats said of the girls' title. "Last year was a good reminder that these things aren't handed to anybody. A lot has to come together to come out on top like this, so it was special, for sure."
NHIAA Swimming and Diving Championships
Feb. 9-10
At Swasey Pool, University of New Hampshire
Division I
Girls team results
1. Bedford, 291; 2. Dover, 173; 3. Nashua South, 139; 4. Pinkerton, 130.5; 5. Exeter, 103.5; 6. Merrimack, 93; 6. Keene, 93; 8. Salem, 71; 9. Londonderry, 54; 10. Nashua North, 34; 11. Winnacunnet, 33; 12. Manchester Central, 32; 13. Manchester Memorial, 235; 14. Concord, 22; 15. Spaulding, 17; 16. Bishop Guertin, 10.
Girls individual results
200 medley relay: 1. Bedford, 1:51.48; 2. Dover, 1:54.22; 3. Nashua South, 1:58.19.
200 freestyle: 1. Abby Gowern, Manchester Central, 1:53.6; 2. Caitrin Duprey, Bedford, 1:58; 3. Erin Stariknok, Pinkerton, 2:00.73.
200 individual medley: 1. Teagen Jeffers, Bedford, 2:08.49; 2. Emmie Goucher, Bedford, 2:14.82; 3. Hazel Jean Tracy, Pinkerton, 2:15.09.
50 freestyle: 1. Audrey Sambrook, Bedford, 24.51; 2. Kellie Kasabian, Dover, 25.28; 3. Helena Smart, Londonderry, 26.21.
100 butterfly: 1. Teagen Jeffers, 59.37; 2. ML Carroll, Dover, 1:01.02; 3. Sara Conquest, Merrimack, 1:02.82.
1-meter diving: 1. Ryleigh Mahoney, Salem, 434.95; 2. Katie Perry, Nashua South, 288.85; 3. Ayla Pullen, Nashua South, 265.15.
100 freestyle: 1. Catirin Duprey, Bedford, 53.97; 2. Julie Baxter, Exeter, 55.6; 3. Helena Smart, Londonderry, 56.41.
500 freestyle: 1. Abby Gowern, 5:00.82; 2. Erin Stariknok, Pinkerton, 5:22.26; 3. Allie Marvell, Merrimack, 5.29.99.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Bedford, 1:43.06; 2. Dover, 1:45.64; 3. Nashua South, 1:47.2.
100 backstroke: 1. Audrey Sambrook, Bedford, 57.7; 2. Julie Baxter, Exeter, 59.81; 3. Emmie Goucher, Bedford, 1:00.32.
100 breaststroke: 1. Hazel Jean Tracy, Pinkerton, 1:07.73; 2. Lily Peterson, Concord, 1:08.16; 3. Emma Conway, Bedford, 1:10.08.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Bedford, 3:38.5; 2. Pinkerton, 3:55.3; 3. Keene, 3:55.7.
Boys team results
1. Bedford, 363; 2. Dover, 199; 3. Exeter, 124; 4. Pinkerton, 105; 5. Keene, 101; 6. Nashua South, 90; 7. Nashua North, 75; 8. Londonderry, 63; 9. Manchester Central, 60; 10. Winnacunnet, 53; 11. Bishop Guertin, 25; 12. Spaulding, 19; 13. Merrimack, 4; 14. Salem, 3.
Boys individual results
200 medley relay: 1. Dover, 1:39.84; 2. Bedford, 1:42.92; 3. Exeter, 1:51.94.
200 freestyle: 1. Andrew Gordon, 1:48.49; 2. Dylan Belair, Bedford, 1:50.3; 3. Dennis Dragonmaretski, Exeter, 1:53.65.
200 individual medley: 1. Alexei Avakov, Manchester Central, 1:52.25; 2. Bradley Watters, Dover, 1:56.55; 3. Will Erdtmann, Londonderry, 2:02.26.
50 freestyle: 1. Evan Allen, Bedford, 22.46; 2. Brody Lee, Dover, 22.6; 3. Jake Oster, Bedford, 23.05.
1-meter diving: 1. Dawson Bolton, Nashua South, 286.1; 2. David Preston, Nashua South, 264; 3. Ian Hall, Nashua South, 216.25.
100 butterfly: 1. Evan Allen, Bedford, 52.36; 2. Will Erdtmann, Londonderry, 53.69; 3. Ben Brown, Spaulding, 56.72.
100 freestyle: 1. Ethan Steichen, Bedford, 49.1; 2. Jake Oster, Bedford, 51.22; 3. Dylan Belair, Bedford, 51.52.
500 freestyle: 1. Andrew Gordon, Bedford, 4:55.64; 2. Dennis Dragonmaretski, Exeter, 5:04.06; 3. Noah Richardson, Bedford, 5:04.33.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Bedford, 1:30.12; 2. Dover, 1:34.19; 3. Keene, 136.66.
100 backstroke: 1. Bradley Watters, Dover, 50.5; 2. Ethan Steichen, Bedford, 53.08; 3. Leighton Paulsen, Keene, 1:00.01.
100 breaststroke: 1. Alexei Avakov, 54.44; 2. Brody Lee, Dover, 1:00.53; 3. Griffin Thomas, Exeter, 1:02.38.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Bedford, 3:21.66; 2. Exeter, 3:43.97; 3. Pinkerton, 3:48.64.
Division II
Girls team results
1. Hanover, 236; 2. Oyster River, 148; 3. Hollis-Brookline, 140; 4. Windham, 121; 5. St. Thomas Aquinas, 116.5; 6. Souhegan, 111; 7. Milford, 71; 8. Derryfield School, 62; 9. Goffstown, 57; 10. Bow, 53.5; 11. ConVal, 53; 12. Timberlane, 39; 13. Portsmouth, 38; 14. Alvirne, 32; 15. Stevens, 23; 16. Conant, 21; 17. Newmarket, 17; 18. John Stark, 11; 19. Belmont, 9; 20. Plymouth, 8; 21. Kearsarge, 7; 22. Pelham, 22. Mascenic, 3. 24. Trinity, 2. 25. Fall Mountain, 1.
Girls individual results
200 medley relay: 1. Hanover, 1:50.83; 2. Hollis-Brookline, 1:58.29; 3. Windham, 2:03.59.
200 freestyle: 1. Sky Knowlton, St. Thomas, 1:50.09; 2. Iris Freeman, 2:01.08; 3. Elizabeth Staats, Hanover, 2:01.15.
200 individual medley: 1. Cambria Jewett, Hollis-Brookline, 2:09.08; 2. Mackenzie Talbot, Hollis-Brookline, 2:18.33; 3. Sophia Lake, ConVal, 2:25.15.
50 freestyle: 1. Braelyn Wilson, Souhegan, 23.8; 2. Rosie Keith, 24.02; 3. Sophia Sayers, Timberlane, 26.08.
1-meter diving: 1. Greta Parks, Oyster River, 313.45; 2. Auri Anderson, Alvirne, 270.55; 3. Lily Rudman, Oyster River, 266.95.
100 butterfly: 1. Braelyn Wilson, Souhegan, 57.59; 2. Lena Thompson, Bow, 1:01.06; 3. Sara Gaspard, Stevens, 1:03.56.
100 freestyle: 1. Rosie Keith, Hanover, 52; 2. Morgan Batchelder, St. Thomas, 55.42; 3. Audrey Hardjosuwito, Windham, 56.89.
500 freestyle: 1. Sky Knowlton, St. Thomas, 4:53.28; 2. Iris Freeman, 5:16.4; 3. Keara Wilson, Souhegan, 5:25.1.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Souhegan, 1:43.87; 2. St. Thomas, 1:47.18; 3. Windham, 1:52.53.
100 backstroke: 1. Cambria Jewett, Hollis-Brookline, 57.46; 2. Alex Uhlmann, Goffstown, 59.39; 3. Keara Wilson, Souhegan, 59.58.
100 breaststroke: 1. Sofia Ye, Hanover, 1:08.46; 2. Sophia Lake, ConVal, 1:08.75; 3. Tessa Brown, Oyster River, 1:12.59.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Hanover, 3:44.1; 2. St. Thomas, 3:54.58; 3. Hollis-Brookline, 3:55.31
Boys team results
1. Windham, 209; 2. Hanover, 167; 3. Coe-Brown, 130; 4. Portsmouth, 127; 5. Goffstown, 126; 6. Hollis-Brookline, 113; 7. Souhegan, 100; 8. St. Thomas, 37; 9. Belmont, 32; 10. Newmarket, 24; 11. Alvirne, 23; 12. Conant, 21; 13. Sunapee, 20; 14. Derryfield School, 19; 15. Fall Mountain, 10; 16. Milford, 3.
Boys individual results
200 medley relay: 1. Hollis/Brookline, 1:49.04; 2. Windham, 1:49.29; 3. Hanover, 1:53.93.
200 freestyle: 1. Chris Raymond, Coe-Brown, 1:49.79; 2. Daniel Hwang, Windham, 1:52.87; 3. Gabriel Clerkin, Hanover, 1:54.67.
200 individual medley: 1. Dylan Jewett, Hollis-Brookline, 1:56.81; 2. Thatcher Daily, Souhegan, 2:05.73; 3. Andrew Hardjosuwito, Windham, 2:10.16.
50 freestyle: 1. Kyle Dumais, Belmont, 22.91; 2. Sebastian Aftanas, Souhegan, 23.77; 3. Parker, Lukow, Windham, 24.54.
1-meter diving: 1. Sam Calderwood, Hanover, 439.3; 2. Theo Burdick, Hanover, 249.6.
100 butterfly: 1. Tucker Raymond, Coe-Brown, 54.76; 2. Sam Walden, Windham, 57.28; 3. Aidan Chapman, Goffstown, 57.42.
100 freestyle: 1. Chris Raymond, Coe-Brown, 50.57; 2. Thatcher Daily, Souhegan, 50.75; 3. Daniel Hwang, Windham, 51.15.
500 freestyle: 1. Tucker Raymond, Coe-Brown, 4:57.54; 2. Gabriel Clerkin, Hanover, 5:06.27; 3. Jack Ablondi, Hollis-Brookline, 5:07.46.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Windham, 1:35.51; 2. Hollis-Brookline, 1:42.01; 3. Souhegan, 1:45.24.
100 backstroke: 1. Dylan Jewett, Hollis-Brookline, 51; 2. Sam Walden, Windham, 56.38; 3. Jonah Saunders, Souhegan, 1:05.29.
100 breaststroke: 1. Kyle Dumais, Belmont, 1:04.21; 2. Caiden Cox, Alvirne, 1:04.65; 3. Andrew Hardjosuwito, Windham, 1:05.35.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Windham, 3:41.67; 2. Coe-Brown, 3:46.55; 3. Hanover, 3:49.04.
