Kristina McNaughton, 16, of Dorchester won the Bit of Good Character Award at the second annual Bob McGillicuddy Invite, a three-day, USA swimming invitational hosted by the South Shore YMCA Strypers at the Lincoln-Hancock Pool in Quincy. McNaughton was nominated by her coaches and teammates because she exemplifies the late Coach McGillicuddy, who worked at Sterling Middle School in Quincy for 22 years, earning four state citations and Teacher’s Awards for his exceptional work.

McNaughton, a captain of the Hamilton Dynasty Swim Club, volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester where she started swimming. She also teaches lessons at Hamilton Dynasty and counsels the younger teammates on swimming technique.

McGillicuddy re-invigorated the Quincy/North Quincy swimming and diving high school programs as head coach totaling 61 victories in eight years. The Eastern Massachusetts Interscholastic Swim Coaches Academy gave him their Meritorious Service Award in 2014 and then bestowed its highest honor, the Jack McDonald Award, posthumously (2017) given to those with the qualities of fairness, dedication, and respect for high school swimming. 

Participants in the second annual Bob McGillicuddy Invitational included Dedham Health Hydra, Hamilton Dynasty Swim Club, Inner City Marine YMCA, JCC Sea Serpents, Life Time New England, Marshfield Area Swim Klub, Mei’s Typhoons Swim Club, MetroWest YMCA Stingrays, Sailfish Swim Team, South Shore YMCA Strypers, Webbs Tornadoes Swim Team, West/Nantucket Swimming, YMCA of Greater Nashua Storm, and YMCA of the North Shore.