Photo: Belmont’s Cross Country All-Star Stephen Carvalho

Due to the construction of the new Middle and High School, Belmont’s Cross Country and Swimming teams have lost their homes – the harrier’s Clay Pit Pond course and swimming’s Higginbottom Pool at Belmont High. But each program reached state finals this year with some strong performances.

Carvalho Leaves His Mark On X-C Honor Roll

Belmont’s Stephen Carvalho ended his high school harrier career with an outstanding performance at the Boys’ All-State Division l Cross Country Championships finishing 11th in a field of the state’s top runners.

Carvalho crossed the line of the 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) race in 16 minutes and 33 seconds, one second from a top ten finish and less than 30 seconds off the winning time of 16:06 set by King Philip Regional’s Mike Griffin.

It has been a stellar year for the senior capped by capturing the Middlesex League Championships title on Oct. 28 at Woburn Country Club as he broke away in the final stretch to out kick Lexington’s Adam Bernstein to win in 16:09.24, and being named Middlesex League Runner of the season.

In November, Carvalho paced the Marauders to a 16th place finish at the Division 2 championships in Wrentham. Once again placing 11th in 16:19.9, Carvalho was followed by junior Zach Gillette (17:25.7), sophomore Trevor Smith (17:34.6), junior Henry Yang (17:53.22), junior Alexan Athanasiou (18:07.50) and sophomore Lot Bates in 18:16.34.

The Belmont Girls’ X-C finished the season coming in 12th in the Division 2 finals. Junior Isabel Burger was the first Marauder across the finishing line in 45th place in 20:27.54. Junior Victoria Meringer (20:46.02), senior Joy He (21:05.65), senior Soleil Tseng (21:23.7), junior Matilda Hamer (22:20.4) and sophomore Zoe Dill (22:28.01) rounded out the runners from Belmont.

Running on opponents courses and riding the bus to meets, the Girls team finished with a 3-3 record and 2-3 in the Middlesex League while the Boys were 2-4 overall and 1-4 in the league.

Girls’ Swimming Score In DII Finals

Late evening practices at an undersized pool at the Belmont Country Club and weekends in Wellesley did not detour the efforts of the 4-6 Belmont’s Girls’ Swimming from a strong performance in the season-ending championship meets.

Belmont continued to show its decade long prowess in the 100-yard breaststroke as Katarina Chen led a trio of juniors into the top 15 at the Division 2 State Swimming and Diving Championship held at Boston University on Sunday, Nov. 17.

Chen erased nearly a second off her seeded time to power home in third place in l minute, 11.55 seconds. Alicia Lugovskoy came in fifth in 1:12.17 while Elena Li took more than a second off her season-best to finish 13th in 1:15.76 as Belmont took 34 points from the event.

And another group of third-year performers left their marks at the diving venue. Marina Cataldo took fourth in the one-meter event receiving 424.10 points. Sophie Cormier garnered 315.30 points for 11th while Samantha Burge survived the prelims and semi-final rounds to place 16th with 228.25 points.

Other Marauders in individual events included:

• Junior Samantha Fogel, 16th in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:05.10.
• Sophomore Alexandra Zarkadas, 100-yard backstroke.
• First Year Alique Stepanian, 50 and 100-yard freestyle.

Belmont was represented in each of the relays contested at the meet:

• In the 200 Yard Medley Relay: Zarkadas, Chen, Fogel and senior Meredith Chasse finished 9th in 1:58.73.
• 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: Chen, Fogel, senior Chloe Park and Chasse came in 11th in 1:48.09.
• 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: Zarkadas, First Year Clara Blagwati, Park and Lugovskoy finished 12th in 4:05.71.

Belmont finished the meet in 11th with 93 points. Wellesley took the title with 430 points.