Bruce McLaren and Eric Chang
Boys Swimming kicked off its season on Sunday with the first-ever Andover Invitational, hosted at Phillips Academy. Despite limited practice time and the post-break adjustment, the team had a strong performance.
Jay Wei ’27 acknowledged the team having just four days to prepare for the meet. To overcome this challenge, he noted the team’s focus on conditioning in addition to some skill work.
“We definitely had a quick turnaround from break and we only had one week to train after Thanksgiving break, so we mostly focused on aerobic capacity. I thought that despite some ups and downs, we had a very good attitude and stayed positive throughout the week which prepared us well for the meet. We worked a lot on fitness, sprint endurance, and cleaning up our technique. It definitely paid off because everyone looked solid in the pool, there were some great swims across the board,” said Wei.
Lincoln Tomlinson ’27 emphasized the impact of the team’s camaraderie and enthusiasm on its performance. According to Tomlinson, the encouragement from both teammates and spectators created an energetic environment that boosted morale and fueled strong efforts in the pool.
“The team was really good at supporting each other. Everyone was making sure people were ready for their races, cheering like crazy, and just keeping the energy up, which made a big difference. It was electric. Parents and teammates were super into it, and the cheering was nonstop. The close races especially got everyone hyped and made everyone swim fast,” said Tomilson.
Wei highlighted Ethan Zhu ’26 and Oliver Stabach ’26 for their performances in the 400 Yard Free Relay, even after just competing in the 100 Yard Breaststroke. Wei also expressed excitement for teammates competing for the first time, calling the 100 Butterfly a particularly impressive and thrilling event.
“Ethan Zhu and Oliver Stabach stood out for sure. They did well in the 400 Freestyle Relay, even though they had just finished swimming the 100 Breaststroke, which is really hard. It was inspiring to see them still push through. It was very exciting to see all my friends who hadn’t competed before. For example, the 100 Butterfly was a super good event,” said Wei.
According to Tomlinson, both parents and athletes contributed to the atmosphere of the meet. He commended Captain Daniel Seong ’25 for his chant before the meet, setting the tone for encouragement throughout.
“Our Captain Daniel Seong’s ‘Blue on two’ chant hyped us up before the meet even started. [The atmosphere] was electric. Parents and teammates were super into it, and the cheering was nonstop. The close races especially got everyone hyped,” Tomlinson said.
The team approached the first meet of the season as an opportunity to establish a foundation for future improvement. Cale Barker ’28 praised the team’s performance, acknowledging it as a benchmark to build upon throughout the season, specifically commending Oliver Feng ’25 for his impressive races.
“I thought the team performed well, especially because it was our first meet of the season, so we weren’t expecting to perform at the highest level and there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. This meet is like a benchmark for us, but I wanted to highlight Oliver Feng for his spectacular 50 and 100 Freestyle times,” said Barker.
Wei emphasized the importance of refining starts and turns, noting that limited practice in these fundamentals led to less refined executions of skills. He expressed confidence that addressing these areas and continuing to focus on overall speed would lead to stronger results moving forward.
“I hope we start to work on our starts and turns more as they are fundamental to any swim. We didn’t spend a ton of time on them before the meet, and you could tell some people like myself were rusty. Fixing that will help us a lot next time. Like always we are gonna focus on just getting faster,” said Wei.
Boys swimming will continue its season after winter break, competing away against Choate on January 11.
