Led by senior co-captain Vance Petrossi, the Bromfield Ayer Shirley co-op team’s four top swimmers gathered enough points at this year’s Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Boys Division 2 State Swimming Championship to finish 27th among 42 schools drawn from all corners of the commonwealth. The event, which had been postponed a week due to bad weather, was held Saturday, Feb. 22, at Boston University’s competition pool.
Petrossi swam in all four events for which the swimmers had qualified. That included not only the individual 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke, but also the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays. He was joined in the relays by Daniel Belin, Isaac Xu, and Bowen Clarke.
Both relay teams finished among the top 20 in their events. Petrossi himself narrowly missed a spot on the podium in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing ninth with a time of 1 minute, 2.19 seconds, a half-second behind senior James Hein of Holliston Medway (1:01.75).
“Vance … did a great job of leading his team and is a big part of their success,” said Coach James Thomas in an email. “I know I personally learned a lot from him.”
“I am really proud of the boys,” he added. … [N]o matter what was happening, or who was out sick, or changes in meet scheduling, they didn’t let anything get in the way of having the best season they could. Everyone showed up [Feb. 22] ready to compete, no excuses, and no one backed down from the challenge despite the delay in the meet.”
MIAA Boys Division 2 Swimming and Diving Championship, Feb. 22
- 200-yard medley relay: Daniel Belin, Vance Petrossi, Isaac Xu, and Bowen Clarke, 1 minute, 47.69 seconds, 15th
- 100-yard freestyle: Vance Petrossi, 51.40, 24th; Bowen Clarke, 51.79, 26th
- 100-yard breaststroke: Vance Petrossi, 1:02.19, ninth
- 400-yard freestyle relay: Bowen Clarke, Isaac Xu, Daniel Belin, and Vance Petrossi 3:33.21, 14th
