Two years ago, Co-Captain Marcello Rossi ’17 set an Andover record for the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay, finishing in a time of 1:27.05 minutes along with David Cao ’14, Travis Bouscaren ’14 and Christian Alberga ’17. Rossi went on to shatter his own record this season, recording a blistering fast time of 1:25.30 minutes with fellow Co-Captain Darren Ty ’16, Nick Isenhower ’18 and Alberga. Rossi has been an integral part of Andover’s success over the last four years and has perpetuated the team’s success this year. Captaining the team with Ty, Rossi has lead Andover to an undefeated 7-0 league record.
Despite Rossi’s success at Andover, he never planned on pursuing swimming as a child. Prior to Andover. Rossi never imagined himself swimming at a competitive level and captaining the Andover team.
Rossi said, “I wasn’t passionate about it at first to be completely honest and wanted to quit. But as I started getting better and competing more it started to grow on me. I won a couple of regional events when I was young. The competition at those events and being able to rise up to that competition was what kept me motivated to keep on swimming.”
Rossi was able to make an immediate impact as an underclassman at Andover due to his previous success in the sport, most notably in his Lower year.
After a last-minute switch with a Senior on the relay team, Rossi set a personal-record (PR) in the first leg of the 200-Yard Freestyle Relay race, and the relay team went on to shatter the New England record. Rossi recounts this moment as the most memorable of his career. Since then, he broke the record again this year.
An innate hunger for winning and competition fuels Rossi. Rossi said, “Giving my all in practice motivates me. I think that is different between me and some swimmers on the team. A lot of kids will try to rest more during practice so they can perform better during meets, but I like to take the mentality of treating each practice as a competition against myself and my previous times.”
Rossi credits his confidence to his strong work ethic during practice, believing that if he puts in the hard work in practice, his confidence and progress will translate to the stellar performance at his meets. Rossi’s philosophy has led to numerous shattered records and a New England Championship.
Since stepping up for the relay in 2014, he has also emerged as a leader and loyal friend both in and out of the pool.
In an email to The Phillipian, Alberga wrote, “Marcello has been my friend and mentor since my revisit day. Him and Darren have brought this team closer this year than it has ever been before, and I think that will allow us to really step it up for the championships.”
