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Montgomery Sweeps Somerville in the Pool, Girls Dominate While Boys Roll Behind Depth

January 9, 2026

Nicholas Mistretta

MHS ’79 Cougar Sports Correspondent

Montgomery’s swim program turned in a commanding night at the Montgomery High School pool on January 8, as both the girls’ and boys’ teams posted decisive victories over Somerville in a dual meet.

The Cougar girls controlled the meet from the opening relay on their way to a 116–52 win, while the boys used depth and strong relay finishes to pull away in a 106–63 victory. With the sweep, the girls evened their record at 3–3; the boys improved to 2–3.

Girls: Cougars Control from Start to Finish

The Montgomery girls set the tone immediately in the 200-yard medley relay and never let up, winning eight of 11 events and piling up points with multiple sweeps and 1–2–3 finishes.

In the 200 medley relay, the A relay of Zoe Bitterman, Juliet Boulos, Vedika Gupta, and Katerina Kondratyev touched first in 2:08.05. The B relay of Jessica Wang, Averie Wu, Eden Ristuccia, and Catherine Morris added a third-place finish in 2:13.91, giving Montgomery an early scoring cushion.

Somerville answered with a win from Sophia Rocks in the 200 freestyle (2:07.65), but Montgomery’s depth quickly showed. Angela Liu(2:22.75), Josephine Chen (2:26.67), and Zoey Alessandro (2:27.64) finished 2–3–4, keeping the Cougars firmly in control on the scoreboard.

Montgomery then delivered a near-swe ep in the 200 individual medley. Bitterman powered to a first-place finish in 2:25.32, with Leah Zong (2:46.15) and Gupta (2:49.52) taking second and third. Somerville’s entries trailed well behind, and the event essentially broke the meet open for the Cougars.

In the 50 freestyle, Boulos added another win, out-touching Somerville’s sprinters in 28.67. Kondratyev (30.38) and Katherine Karam (31.00) helped secure more points as Montgomery continued to build its lead.

Somerville’s Rocks picked up her second win of the night in the 100 butterfly (1:05.81), but again Montgomery stacked the middle of the results. Gupta was second in 1:09.90, with Karam (1:24.21) and Samidha Parambath (1:29.35) closing out the Cougar scoring.

The meet effectively turned into a runaway in the middle-distance and sprint free events:

  • In the 100 freestyle, Montgomery swept the top three:
    • Wu won in 1:04.05,
    • Alessandro was second in 1:05.05,
    • Morris took third in 1:10.51.
  • In the 500 freestyle, the Cougars completed another sweep:
    • Chen claimed first in 6:30.89,
    • Kondratyev finished second in 6:37.31,
    • Zong was third in 6:58.33.

With those back-to-back sweeps, Montgomery removed any doubt about the outcome.

The Cougars’ relays were just as sharp. In the 200 freestyle relay, Montgomery went 1–2, with the B relay of Alessandro, Zong, Chen, and Bitterman actually taking the win in 1:59.20, just ahead of the A relay of Gupta, Karam, Kondratyev, and Liu (1:59.53). Somerville settled for third.

Somerville did grab a win in the 100 backstroke, but Boulos (1:16.11) and Morris (1:22.93) finished 2–3. Montgomery answered immediately in the 100 breaststroke, where Wu (1:14.63) and Ristuccia (1:20.88) went 1–2, and Wang added a fourth-place finish (1:29.12).

Montgomery closed the meet with another relay victory, as the 400 freestyle relay team of Alessandro, Liu, Wu, and Ristuccia stopped the clock in 4:32.29, well ahead of Somerville’s top quartet. The Cougar B relay finished third.

From top-end speed in the relays to distance strength and IM depth, the girls’ lineup was balanced throughout the night.

Boys: Depth and Distance Carry Montgomery Past Somerville

On the boys’ side, Somerville managed to claim several individual wins but could not match Montgomery’s depth across the lineup. The Cougars stacked points in nearly every event, particularly in the middle and distance freestyles, and controlled the relays late to secure the 106–63 victory.

Somerville opened with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:45.88), but Montgomery immediately countered with its own depth. The A relay of Kobe Solivan, Winston Shih, Arhan Kondala, and Eric Qian took second in 1:51.18, while the B relay of Allen Qin, Yusuf Shaikh, Monit Jain, and Greg Heden claimed third (1:59.10). The C relay finished fourth, ensuring the Cougars still came out of the first event with a solid point haul.

In the 200 freestyle, Somerville’s Domingo Gatti touched first in 1:48.93, but Montgomery again swept the next three spots:

  • Liam McWha – 2nd, 1:54.20
  • Lars Harrison – 3rd, 2:02.33
  • Elves Huang – 4th, 2:03.25

The same pattern continued in the 200 IM, where Somerville won the event but Montgomery dominated the middle of the pack. Siddharth Parambath (2:22.77), Shih (2:24.62), and Saksham Prasad (2:29.07) finished 2–3–4, minimizing Somerville’s advantage.

The Cougars picked up their first individual win of the night in the 50 freestyle, where Qian (23.53) edged Somerville’s top sprinter. Nicholas Paradizov (24.17) and Ryan La (25.17) finished 3–4, giving Montgomery a key scoring swing in the sprint.

Somerville’s Gabriel Mendez-Castilla took the 100 butterfly in 54.62, but once again the Cougars answered with depth. McWha (55.92), Kondala (1:02.49), and Jain (1:07.32) went 2–3–4, keeping the overall point margin firmly in Montgomery’s favor.

The turning point came in the 100 freestyle, where Montgomery swept the top three places:

  • Qian – 1st, 52.27
  • Paradizov – 2nd, 53.53
  • Solivan – 3rd, 53.75

That 1–2–3 finish gave the Cougars a commanding lead, and the distance crew promptly put the meet out of reach.

In the 500 freestyle, Montgomery dominated with another sweep:

  • Huang – 1st, 5:34.52
  • Harrison – 2nd, 5:39.63
  • Heden – 3rd, 5:48.49

Somerville’s entries followed more than half a minute behind the Cougar trio.

Somerville clawed back wins in the 200 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke, and 100 breaststroke, but Montgomery continued to stack points on the second and third lines. In breaststroke, Shih (1:10.34), Shaikh (1:11.94), and Prasad (1:17.51) went 2–3–4 to blunt the impact of Somerville’s victory.

Montgomery then finished the night with a powerful closing statement in the 400 freestyle relay. The A relay of Paradizov, Huang, McWha, and Solivan won in 3:41.72, with the B relay taking second and the C relay third. Somerville’s top group placed fourth.

Photo Credit: Nicholas Mistretta/headlinenewsmontgomery.com