High School 
Bear Cieri/Wicked Local Correspondent
Westwood's Kate Vanasse placed in a pair of individual events at the Division 2 state championship.
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Chiulli claims diving crown
By Tom Fargo/Staff Writer
Wed Dec 02, 2009, 06:56 PM EST
The bar in Division 2 diving has officially been set for the foreseeable future.
Competing in her first state competition, Westwood High freshman Irina Chiulli blew away the field at Harvard’s Blodgett Pool on Saturday to claim the Division 2 1-meter diving crown.
Chiulli racked up 432.70 points in her 11 drives, a staggering 87.10 ahead of runner-up Cara Brown of Bishop Stang.
“She definitely went above and beyond,” said Westwood coach Ashley McGrath. “To win by that margin as a freshman is impressive.”
Chiulli recovered from a slow start at the South sectionals to work her way up to fourth. On Saturday, she led comfortably after both the preliminary and semifinal rounds.
“She did the exact same 11 dives, she just executed better,” said McGrath. “She had some great dives, she had a reverse pike that scored 8.5. Doing that at the state meet, talk about the time and the place.”
Chiulli’s victory helped spur Westwood to a seventh-place finish overall as a team in Division 2 with 79 points. Sophomore Kate Vanasse was the catalyst in the pool, placing twice individually and helping a pair of relays score.
Vanasse was fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and seventh in the 100 free. She also anchored two relays to top-six finishes as she Maddy McDonald, Kelly Steeves and Jackie McDonald were fifth in the 200 free relay (1:47.59) and sixth in the 400 free (3:53.85) both more than two seconds faster than their previous best times.
A 200 medley relay featuring Steeves, Maddie Craig, Annie Shea and Jackie McDonald was 10th.
“I think the relays were where the entire team shined,” said McGrath.
Steeves was the only Wolverines other than Chiulli and Vanasse to place individually as her personal best 1:07.24 was good for 12th in the 100 backstroke.
