Finishing with a powerful stroke into the wall, Christian Alberga ’17 secured a first-place finish for his relay team in the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay by a ten second margin, beating both the school and pool records. Andover Boys Swimming routed Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) to extend its undefeated record to 4-0. Although the official score was 88-49, the score was not recorded toward the end of the meet as it became clear that Andover would win by a large margin.
Although Andover posted many victories, the highlight of the meet was the record-breaking 200-Yard Freestyle Relay. Co-Captains Marcello Rossi ’16 and Darren Ty ’16, Nick Isenhower ’18 and Alberga won in a record time of 1:25.30 minutes. The relay finished less than a second away from the New England league record, despite not being tapered or rested, for the meet.
Rossi said, “We broke the pool record, then we got another one. We’ll keep on riding on the journey to more success.”
Competing against NMH, swimmers were placed in events that they would not typically race during the season. In spite of swimming different events, Andover still clinched first, second and third place in almost every event.
In an email to The Phillipian, Ty wrote, “During this meet, we swam events we would not typically do, giving us the opportunity to better understand our depth. We created a rivalry between ourselves, and since it was the last home meet, it was just fun to go out and race our fastest after another week’s worth of hard practices.”
In the 200-Yard Medley Relay, Thomas Choi ’16, Michael Najem ’16, Sarp Orgul ’16 and Ty brought home a first-place finish with a time of 1:43.23 minutes.
With times of 1:49.28, 1:59.35 and 2:00.00, respectively, Ty, Jonathan Xue ’17 and Alberga took first, second and third places in the 200-Yard Freestyle. Racing in the 200-Yard Individual Medley, Rossi snagged a first-place finish by over eight seconds.
After a successful meet against NMH, the team is looking forward to competing against Deerfield this Saturday.
Alberga said, “I am extremely proud of how we performed and am excited for the rest of the season. This week we can expect a hard week of training before Deerfield, who are our biggest competitors. I am confident that we will beat them and win New England’s.”
Xue said, “The meet was a great confidence-booster for the whole team as we prepare for Deerfield. All the guys are pumped for the meet next weekend.”
Andover Boys Swimming will face off against Deerfield, the 2015 Division I New England Preparatory School Athletic Council champions, this Saturday at Deerfield.
