Andover Boys Swimming & Diving secured its tenth Nepsac Championship Title in 13 years on March 8 after winning its second consecutive Easterns Championship just three weeks prior. The win was highlighted by personal best times in 47 out of 49 events and top-eight finishes from each member of the class of 2020.
According to Hank Yang ’22, supporting one another—especially Seniors—in their last Andover swims took priority over winning. The team placed emphasis on performing well individually, rather than competing for placement.
Yang said, “During the competition, we definitely focused on how we and our teammates were performing individually rather than stressing over rankings. I think it’s really special that we don’t have to stress over big meets and we can just support each other, and even our coach said that the main goal was for everyone to get personal best times overall and we did that.”
The team altered the event lineup from Easterns to allow people to train for and compete in new events, according to Christopher Xia ’23.
Xia said, “I felt that at Easterns, a lot of people already did their best in their favorite or best events and Nepsac was a great chance for everyone to train in or try competing in something new. It just mixed up training and competition a little bit for the last bit of the season and also added motivation to do well in the new event.”
Zack Peng ’21, who won the Nepsac diving competition on March 4 and surpassed his former school record, noted that the time between Easterns and Nepsacs was brief but still allowed for improvement. Peng believed that the energy at the Nepsac diving competition was much more relaxed than that of Easterns and led to improved performances.
Peng said, “Before Easterns, everyone was just really focused on what was ahead and getting our 11 dives down and then after Easterns, we celebrated and got through all that, and then we had to start training again for New Englands. It was a quick window, but we still got a lot of stuff done. [At Nepsacs], we had a competitive mindset, but everyone was still relaxed and we were all ready to do our best regardless of the outcome, and that was most important.”
