Wayland’s Maya Pereira stars at North sectional swimming championships

WELLESLEY – Her pink fingernails touched the wall first each time.

Wayland sophomore Maya Pereira gained two particular person occasions and swam on two successful relays for the Warriors at Friday’s North Sectional Championships on the Boston Sports Institute. She was first within the 50-yard freestyle in 24.26 seconds and the 100 freestyle in 54.37 seconds. Pereira added one other 50 free within the 200 free relay (1:40.02) and swam butterfly on the Warriors first-place medley relay (1:51.71).

She doesn’t overwhelm with physicality as a sprinter however generates highly effective drive regardless of her slight body.

“She’s got a super strong kick behind her,” Wayland coach Mike Foley mentioned. “Even though she’s not 6-5 or whatever, she has this innate ability, she catches good water, which is a hard thing, one of those natural things you can do.”

Pereira began swimming at age 8 however joined the Warriors storied program (10 state championships, seven sectional championships) this season after beginning her profession at Ursuline Academy.

“It was a bit intimidating, but I used it to my advantage,” Pereira mentioned. “I have a lot of competition here, and I have a lot of teammates that push me, and I wasn’t getting that.”

She’s removed from adversarial, although. Pereira purchased in to the Warriors’ tradition as an outgoing supporter. She is without doubt one of the pool deck’s loudest voices whether or not in a relay or on the facet.

“She’s a super outgoing, fun-loving girl,” Foley mentioned. “Outside of her swimming she brings a lot of character and charisma throughout her life.”

Pereira tries to maintain an excellent keel whether or not she’s profitable on the stopwatch or not.

“At the end of the day, you have to be confident in yourself and the work you put into it,” she mentioned. “If I’m in the right mindset things can go well.”

Pereira swam on the medley relay with senior Cara Hill, fellow sophomore Izzy Irwin and freshman Rinnah Shulman. Junior Grace Oppenheim joined Hill, Pereira and Shulman on the 200 free relay.

“You need everybody to buy in, but you definitely need those kids that are the highest level performers on the team, if they don’t buy in, no one’s going to,” Foley mentioned. “When those relays perform well it’s because they swim for each other and the team.”

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Wayland tied for third with 216 factors. Concord-Carlisle gained the workforce title with 279 factors.

The Warriors will convey a small however decided workforce to the Division 2 state meet Saturday at MIT. They’re aiming for a primary state championship since 2019 regardless of a wealth of challengers.

“This will motivate us going into next week,” mentioned Hill, a senior captain. “Everyone’s mindset is even if they didn’t do as well (at sectionals), they still have next week to do better.”

Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, previously generally known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk