The 200 Medley Relay team of Co-Captain Derrick Choi ’12, Didi Peng ’12, Tim Wynter ’14 and Michael Camarda ’14 opened last Saturday’s meet against Loomis Chaffee with style by swimming 1:47.87 to break the previous New England and pool records set in 2004.
Michael Camarda said, “When Coach [David] Fox told us we had a chance to break the pool and New England record for the [200 Medley Relay], we all got really excited. Loomis was our only chance of the season to break the meter record, so we knew that we had to give it our all. It was insane, everyone swam their fastest splits. We motivated each other to do the best we could, and we really came together as a team.”
This electrifying performance set the tone for the rest of the meet as Andover defeated Loomis 99-73.
Andover managed to overcome its annual challenge of competing in a 25-meter, rather than the standard 25-yard, pool. The different measurement added on about seven feet to the length that Andover was accustomed to.
Head Coach David Fox said, “Because Andover swims short-course meters only once a year, it is difficult to gauge [the] performances, yet [coach Washburn and I] are confident that the boys are swimming well for the middle of January and in the midst of heavy training.”
Choi said, “Although we swam in a meter pool [at Loomis], which is different from our usual yard pools, I think our team responded really well by posting a lot of personal bests.”
Also competing in the 200 Medley Relay, Andover’s relay of Co-Captain Lorenzo Conte ’12, Andrew Wilson ’12, David Cho ’14 and Justin Wang ’13 placed second in 1:58.03, and the relay of Andrew Yang ’14, Nick Camarda ’12, Alex Li ’15, and Andrew Xuan ’13 placed fourth in 1:59.01.
Jun Oh ’12 then challenged his own New England record in the 200 Freestyle, which he set last year at Choate but fell just short of breaking it. However, he still managed to break a 30-year-old pool record in 1:54.58.
Eric Benca ’12 finished second in the 200 Freestyle in 2:04.04 and Travis Bouscaren ’14 finished third in 2:04.96.
Andover proceeded to sweep the 200 Individual Medley with Wynter winning in 2:18.50. Peng placed second in 2:25.23, and Wang followed in third in 2:26.01. Michael Camarda prevailed in the 50 Freestyle in 24.92, with Xuan and Chris Li ’15 finishing in fourth and fifth with times of 26.93 and 27.86, respectively.
In his first career diving competition, Kade Call ’14 placed second, and Andover led Loomis 51-21 when the meet returned to swimming.
With an impressive time of 1:00.74, Joe Faller ’14 won the 100 Butterfly, and he was followed by Cho in second and Connor Fraser ’13 in fourth. In the 100 Freestyle, Heson Oh ’14 earned the first win of his Andover career with 56.15, and David Cao ’14 and Li finished in second and fifth, respectively.
In the 400 Freestyle, Oh again fell just short of breaking one of his own New England records but set another pool record in 4:04.62.
Andover secured victory with yet another sweep in the 200 Free Relay.
One Andover squad featured Peng, Nick Camarda, Fraser and Faller and finished in 1:44.78, and the other included Chris Li, Wang, Bouscaren, and Heson Oh, a squad which completed the race in 1:46.60.
After this domination, the score was 99-35. For the remaining couple of events, Andover swimmers received official times, but they couldn’t earn points.
Andover will look for its third straight victory at home against Northfield Mount Hermon this Saturday.
