January 30, 2026 Story and photos by William Wassersug
Heading into the 2026 swim season, the Cohasset swim team had a big hurdle to face, as their league fell apart and they needed a new home.
Fortunately, when the season started, Cohasset had a new look as neighboring Hingham stepped up and brought them into a co-op swimming team in the very competitive Patriot League.
After six meets, things have gone well, including a Senior Night Friday, Jan. 23, where the team honored their six seniors, who are also captains, Ella Cignetti, Sam DeMello, Kyle Donegan, Lila Johnson, Johnny Appleton, Emma Izmirlic and Bryan Ma.
In that meet, against Silver Lake, the team swept, with the boys winning 92-10 and the girls scoring a 92-52 victory.
“They’re the ones that communicated with each other to kind of connect the team,” said coach George Stamides, who co-coaches with longtime Hingham coach Kait McDonough Kara McGuiness and Jess Hanssens. “They’re two groups of humans who didn’t really know each other, but the captains really spearheaded the connectivity between the two towns.”
Stamides said it was a fairly easy transition.
“At first, change is hard,” he said. “But it has been a really smooth transition.”
While many of the kids didn’t know each other, there were some who have through clubs and competitions, whwrer they would swim against each other.
Combining the two schools helps both sides in the big picture because they have enough depth to fill all the events, with about 40 swimmers.
As for the team’s strengths, Stamides said there are plenty.
“We have some really fast 50 free swimmers and good 100’s, some good butterflies and our relays are top notch,” Stamides said. “There’s really not an event that we don’t do well. We’re much more rounded now that we’re combined.”
The coaches from both sides have meshed well.
“It’s been great,” Stamides said. “It’s great to combine and get some pointers. Kait and Kara have been coaching way more years than I have. This is only my third year coaching at Cohasset. It’s good to see what they do and coordinate as well.”
Through seven meets, including a Wdnesday meet against Quincy, the boys had a 2-5 record, while the girls checked in at 6-1.
Several swimmers have already qualified for the postseason.
The girls 200 medley relay (Izmirlic, Cignetti, Dory Maguire and Asley Wagner) have qualified for both Sectionals and States, while the boys 200 medley relay (Johnny Appleton, Sam DeMello, Wilson Nussbaum and Will DeMello) qualified for States.
The girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay (Izmirlic, Maguire, Cignetti and Wagner) qualified for States, while the boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay (Will DeMello, Sam DeMello, Nussbaum and Appleton qualified for Sectionals.
The girls 200 Free Relay (Callie Granoff, Sam Jesson, Ali Rudnik and Amelia Byrne qualified for States as well.
Individually, Wagner made States in the 100 Freestyle and 50 Freestyle, while Appleton qualified for States in the 200 Freestyle and 500 Freestyle, and Izmirlic made States in the 100 Backstroke.
Nussbaum qualified for States in the 100 Butterfly and 50 Freestyle.
Sam DeMello qualified for Sectionals in the 100 Freestyle and Jesson made the cut for the 100 Backstroke Sectional.
In the Silver Lake meet, Appleton was first in the 200 Freestyle with Teddy Lambert right behind in second. Nussbaum won the 100 Fly, Donegam topped the 200 IM and Bryan Ma was second in the 100 Breaststroke.
For the girls against Silver Lake, Byrne, Maguire and Peyton Phillips took the top three spots in the 200 IM, Granoff won the 100 Freestyle and Cignetti, Izmirlic and Johnson notched the top three spots in the 500 Freestyle and Jesson won the 100 Backstroke.
More recently, Hingham-Cohasset had a meet against Quincy with the girls winning 86-84 and the boys falling 97-68.
Appleton won the 200 and 500 Freestyle, Nussbaum and Sam DeMello were first and second in the 50 Freestyle, while Donegan was second in the 100 Backstroke and Ma finished second in the 100 Breaststroke.
For the girls, Cignetti and Phillips were first and second in the 200 Freestyle, Byrne was first in the 200 IM, Maguire won the 100 Fly and Wagner topped the 100 Freestyle followed by Jesson.
Note: Scores were taken from information @HarbormenNews on X (formerly Twitter).
