The Bromfield swim team traveled to Clark University to take on last year’s Midland Wachusett League champions on Monday, Jan. 5. In previous years Bromfield has been no match for a large and very talented pool of swimmers from Algonquin Regional High School, a team that has posted 49 straight victories in the league. This time the Trojans fell just short at the end of the day, with a score of 84 points to Algonquin’s 96, the closest meet score in the Bromfield team’s history against Algonquin.
An early lead by Algonquin
The depth of Algonquin’s team was in evidence right from the start with a one-two placing in the 200-meter medley relay and the 200m freestyle. The two Algonquin swimmers had outstanding performances in the 200m freestyle, just ahead of impressive swims from Bromfield newcomer Raymond Li, who posted a time of 2 minutes, 5.95 seconds, and Alyson Codner, who finished in 2:07.01.
Junior Josh Marinelli placed second in the 200m individual medley in a time of 2:13.81, with freshman Jason Magno in fourth. Algonquin’s lead of 33 points to 13 seemed to predict another tough meet, but Bromfield would have none of it.
Captain James Allen led Bromfield’s charge with a victory in the 50m freestyle in a time of 23.04. Ben Church and Trevor Brown placed third in 25.71 and fourth in 26.49, respectively, recouping six points of the deficit.
Staying in contention
Bromfield’s divers, Captain Casey Sherman and Sam Tonole, delivered a one-two punch in the diving event, bringing the score to 34 Bromfield and 38 Algonquin.
The two teams traded points in lock step over the next three events, the 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle, and the 500m freestyle. First, the efforts of Magno, Jamie Barrett in his first-ever butterfly race, and Emily Brown left Bromfield only two points behind at the conclusion of the butterfly event, as they took second, fourth, and fifth place respectively.
In the 100m freestyle Bromfield immediately took back the points Algonquin had gained. Allen dominated the event in a time of 50.29, with Trevor Brown and Ben Church sprinting home for fourth and fifth.
In the 500m freestyle, the tables were turned once again as impressive performances by a pair of Bromfield swimmers put the team back in contention. Codner posted the fastest girls’ time in the league to date with a 5:44.58. Senior Melissa Shea paced newcomer Christopher Clark to an impressive finish and personal best of 6:06.50.
The 200m freestyle was the most exciting contest of the day. Bromfield’s first team of Marinelli, Brown, Church, and Allen took the victory in a time of 1:41.73. But it was the second team that gave undefeated Algonquin its biggest scare. Jamie Barrett, Catherine Cooper, Mia Hopman, and senior anchor Kelly Russell compiled impressive splits and touched out Algonquin’s second relay, bringing the score to a tie.
Bromfield backstrokers tied their opponents. Marinelli placed second with a personal best swim of 1:02.56, and strong performances from Connor O’Shea and Tabitha Gruskowski kept the score tied at 75 for each team.
Algonquin edged Bromfield’s breaststrokers, Li and Jason Lancelotti, who placed second and fifth, respectively, gaining a few points and leaving the outcome of the meet to be decided in the final relay. But in spite of a valiant effort, victory was not in the cards for Bromfield, with Algonquin showing enough depth to pull out the win in the last race of the day, the 400m freestyle relay.
Bromfield’s record for the season now stands at three wins and two losses. Swimmers will be looking to avenge last year’s loss to Shrewsbury on Friday, Jan. 9, at Atkinson Pool in Sudbury at 5:30 p.m.
Julie Nocka is coach of the Bromfield swimming and diving team
