CAMBRIDGE – St. John’s Prep discovered themselves in an unfamiliar place on this 12 months’s Div. 1 swim championships, having to dethrone the reigning champs reasonably than defend their very own title.
Historically, the Eagles had owned the meet, profitable 15 of the final 17 titles since 2006, with Westford Academy taking the crown in 2023. Sunday at MIT, the Prep reclaimed their place atop Div. 1, beating out the Ghosts 239-212 to win the Boys Swim and Dive state championship for the sixteenth time in program historical past.
“It was a different situation for us… This is probably one of the smallest teams we have ever won this with,” stated Prep head coach Jeff Fiore. “We knew looking at the psyche sheets if we could just move up in all of our races, we would have a really good shot.”
The Eagles had two top-five finishers in Matthew Church (4:44.25) and Brian Story (4:52.85) within the 500 Free, which staked them to a 142-111 lead by eight occasions.
Said Fiore: “Church had an excellent day, he had some personal best times, and moved up in rank in both of his events.”
The Ghosts couldn’t sustain with the amount of swimmers who certified for St. John’s Prep down the stretch, because the Eagles pulled away incomes factors within the three of the ultimate 4 occasions, and tacking on 19 factors within the 1 Meter Diving.
Prep took a 209-179 lead into the ultimate occasion, the 400 Freestyle Relay. The Eagles completed fourth within the occasion to complete out the meet with 239, forward of Westford’s 212. Lincoln-Sudbury completed in third with 165 factors.
“These guys are expected to perform their best one day of the year, and they did, they stepped up,” Fiore stated. “We came here with six swimmers and two divers… We’ve had 20-plus in previous years. We were able to move some guys around in some events and it helped us out majorly.”
The Eagles received the title regardless of not inserting first in any occasions, a results of having certified to swim in 18 heats all through 12 occasions.
Senior captain Flynn McDonell offered an enormous enhance for Prep, enhancing lots of his scores to present the Eagles an edge.
“McDonell dropped a ton of time,” Fiore stated. “He was such a great leader this whole year and he stepped up when we needed it most.”
Behind by six occasions, Westford Academy sophomore Aiden Gouldson received the 100 Freestyle with a time of 47.84 to tie the rating with St. John’s Prep at 111-111 with 5 occasions to go.
Gouldson collected two first place finishes, additionally profitable the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:43.70.
In one of many extra spectacular particular person performances of the day, senior Jack Maron from Sharon certified for All-American consideration in two occasions, swimming a 1:50.01 within the 200 IM, and a 4:31.48 within the 500 Freestyle.
Senior Ryan Connors from Attleboro had three wins, as a part of the 200 Medley Relay (1:38.53) and the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:29.29), whereas profitable the 100 Butterfly (51.05), serving to his staff to a fourth place end.
Source: www.bostonherald.com