Mystic Valley Girls Make Waves at MIAA D2 Championships, Tie for Fourth with Record-Breaking Performance

By Emily Brennan

The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School girls’ swim team arrived at the 2026 MIAA Division 2 State Championship meet with quiet confidence and a bus full of determined athletes. By the time the final results were posted at the MIT pool in Cambridge, they had turned that confidence into one of the finest team performances in program history—179 points and a tie for fourth place overall.

Weston High School claimed the team title with an impressive 262 points, followed closely by Wayland in second with 257 points. Seekonk rounded out the podium in third with 189 points. Mystic Valley’s 179 points tied them with Dover-Sherborn High School for fourth, marking the second highest team finish in history at the Division 2 state meet.  Last year Mystic Valley was the runner up.

The day’s fireworks began in the very first event. In the 200-yard medley relay, the Eagles exploded onto the blocks and delivered a brand-new team record. They touched the wall in 1:53.20 to claim third place.

Isabella Cirame opened with a blistering backstroke leg, Lucia Antonucci powered through the breaststroke, Isabelle Pennachio flew on the butterfly, and Britney Nayiga brought it home on freestyle.

Cirame continued her stellar day in the 200-yard individual medley, powering to fourth place with a strong 2:16.78 and adding crucial team points early in the meet. Later she stepped up for the 100-yard freestyle and dropped a scorching 54.81—another new Mystic Valley team record breaking a record that stood for sixteen years—to finish fifth overall.

Britney Nayiga matched Isabella’s record-breaking energy. In the 50-yard freestyle she beat the Mystic Valley team record with a 25.30, finishing 11th. Then, in the 100-yard breaststroke, she dropped a lifetime-best 1:09.00 to grab fourth place and another trip to the awards stand. Antonucci stayed right with her, reaching fifth in the same event in 1:09.78 and adding a sixth-place finish in the 200 IM (2:20.46).

Adding to the team’s depth was an impressive performance from 8th-grader Benitah Mwebaza. Despite being one of the youngest competitors in the field, she stepped up in the 100-yard freestyle and placed 12th overall with a time of 57.74, scoring 5 valuable points for the Eagles in a highly competitive event.

Isabelle Pennachio rounded out the individual top ten scorers with a ninth-place performance in the 100-yard butterfly (1:02.97), keeping the Eagles in the mix every time she dove in.

The relays kept delivering as well. The 200-yard freestyle relay— Antonucci, Benitah Mwebaza, Cirame, and Nayiga—blasted to second place in 1:42.35. In the 400-yard freestyle relay freshman Phoebe Curtis, Benitah Mwebaza, Pennachio, and Belinda Mwebaza added ninth-place points to help secure the team’s fourth-place tie.

When the final scoreboard lit up, the Mystic Valley girls had set two new team records, landed four individual top five swims, placed another in the top ten, and stood tall among the state’s elite programs—finishing right behind the top three of Weston, Wayland, and Seekonk. For a charter school that keeps punching above its weight—and with an 8th-grader already contributing at this level—this was another top-notch performance with a bright future.