SPRINGFIELD – When the pressure was on, Amalia Guerra delivered.

Northampton’s star senior swimmer earned medalist honors in two events during Saturday’s MIAA Western/Central Sectional girls swim meet at Art Linkletter Natatorium at Springfield College.

Guerra took first in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke, each in convincing fashion. 

During the third event of the meet, Guerra clocked in about four seconds faster than the second place finisher in the 200 IM. The Blue Devils’ speedster touched the timing pad in her first individual event in 2 minutes, 10.94 seconds. Westfield’s Frankie Dolby was next with a time of 2:14.06.

Then later on in the day, Guerra blitzed through the 100 backstroke as the only swimmer to complete the race in under a minute. Northampton’s ace concluded the race in 57.54 seconds.

“I’m really happy with it,” Guerra said on her day’s performance. “Being my senior year, I went into it really wanting to be able to win both of my races and I was just really happy I made that happen. And I’m proud of our whole team. We have a small team but I feel like we’ve done like a really great job this year. It’s a really great group of kids.”

Guerra secured 40 of the Blue Devils’ 71 points, as ’Hamp finished in 12th place as a team.

Guerra also competed in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard free relay for Northampton, but the soon-to-be San Diego Torero’s favorite event was the backstroke.

“It was basically right on my best time so I’m really happy with that,” Guerra – the reigning Division 2 state champion in the backstroke – said.

Guerra was the top seed coming into both of the individual events she raced in, and the Blue Devil beat both entry times by a combined nine seconds.

It’s safe to say Guerra’s sparkling afternoon in the pool at the sectional meet will make her one of the top threats in all of Massachusetts during next week’s MIAA Division 2 state meet at Boston University.

“I’m kind of just going into it with the same goals,” Guerra said. “Hoping that the work that I’ve done has paid off.”

Along with Guerra, Caeil Killip-Leonard also performed well for Northampton. The Blue Devils’ diver came in third with a score of 396.65 points.

AMHERST PUTS IT ALL TOGETHER FOR THIRD – The Hurricanes weren’t just happy to be there, but they also weren’t expecting a top-three team finish on Saturday.

However, Amherst’s 183 points was good enough for third place out of the 26 girls teams that swam. The Hurricanes improved three slots from their sixth-place finish from a year ago and that’s about where head coach Denise Leckenby figured her team would land after the dust settled this time around too.

But strong performances in the three relay events, plus a first-place finish from Bette Sherr-Garcia in the diving competition, dramatically improved Amherst’s overall team score.

“Everything really needed to fall just right for us to hit fourth or fifth,” Leckenby said. “We [had] some significant illnesses on the team this week. We weren’t at our full strength [Saturday] so the fact that we competed as a team and achieved third is really surprising and exciting.”

Sherr-Garcia edged Advanced Math & Science Academy’s Avery Rogers in the diving competition. The Amherst senior received a score of 401.30 points, while Rogers was just behind at 400.00. Sherr-Garcia earned the Hurricanes 20 team points in an upset of sorts as she was originally seeded in the No. 4 spot.

“That and the relays are game-changers,” Leckenby said on the importance of Sherr-Garcia winning the diving competition. “Having the individual events, the dive and the relay events all come together [Saturday] was really fun to watch, so I’m really proud of them.”

The Hurricanes had a top-six finish in each of the three relays, including a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:59.29. Amherst’s tie for sixth in the 200 free relay (1:48.22) and fourth-place finish in the 400 free relay (4:00.14), as well as third place in the opening relay, earned the team 87 points in total.

Hurricanes assistant coach Jane Denenberg said that the team’s fourth-place effort in the final race of the meet, the 400 free relay, pushed Amherst into bronze-medal-winning position.

As far as individual events, Finnley Chambers and Emory Albertson both stepped up for Amherst. Chambers’ best event was the 500-yard freestyle in which she collected second place in 5:23.23, while Albertson obtained fourth place in the 100 backstroke in 1:03.39.

The Hurricanes’ dynamic duo contributed 60 points altogether toward the team score and were each key cogs on their relay squads.

Sadie Cyr made crucial contributions to Amherst’s 400 free relay and 200 free relay teams. Additionally, the Hurricanes’ 12th-grader had a 10th-place finish in the 100 backstroke (1:06.40), her best individual event of the meet.

“[Sherr-Garcia] shining that way, Sadie Cyr, who’s our senior, she just crushed every event she was in [Saturday],” Leckenby said. “Finnley Chambers shined in the 500 and dropped quite a good time...It was an all around lovely day.”

PERRON PACES BELCHERTOWN – Belchertown freshman Grace Perron blew away the competition in the 500 freestyle at Art Linkletter Natatorium.

Perron cruised to a first place finish with a time of 5:10.80 for the Orioles. Not only was it 12 seconds faster than her seed time, it was also nearly 13 seconds faster than second-place finisher Finnley Chambers of Amherst.

“I was super impressed with her race,” Belchertown girls coach Jo Manduley said. “I mean I think that’s her best time this year. She’s a very impressive swimmer. I’m happy to have her on my team.

“I think her best time this year for her club team was a 5:14, so even better [Saturday],” Manduley added.

Perron provided 35 of the Orioles’ 104 team points, which put them sixth place overall. Aubrey Harrington came in sixth place in the 100 backstroke (1:04.40) while Valerie Williams produced a ninth-place finish in the 200 IM (2:27.87) to round out Belchertown’s top swimmers.

“Super proud of the way my team performed today,” Manduley said. “Coming from what we came last year, coming in sixth [this year], I can’t ask for more. We got two more state qualifying times with our relays… super proud of my girls.”

The Orioles’ 200 medley relay team (2:01.84) and their 400 free relay team (4:02.16) also punched their ticket to the state meet on Saturday.

HOLYOKE ECLIPSES TOP 20 – Lauren Brown, Delaney Aldrich and Hannah Raymond highlighted the Purple Knights’ 18th-place finish on Saturday.

Brown took eighth place in the 100-yard butterfly (1:05.05), Aldrich swam to 11th place in the 200 IM (2:29.34) and Raymond recorded ninth place in the 100 backstroke (1:06.39) for Holyoke.

The Purple Knights totaled 53 points as a team.