THE MHS boy’s swim team picked up a win in their season opener over Lowell. Pictured are members of the team from last season. (file photo)
After press time:
Melrose falls to Reading 96-72 (Dec. 15)
Melrose falls to Arlington/Watertown 94-77
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MALDEN—Don’t look now but the Melrose High boys swim team opened their season with a winning effort and a message to rivals: don’t tread water on us.
Melrose took a season opening win against Lowell on Tuesday at their home base at Malden High by a score of 89-47.
Melrose head coach Alex Pennachio was thrilled by their effort. “We had a lot of good swims across the board, and we’re feeling confident going into the rest of the season that we will be competitive.”
Leading the pack was Melrose’s Jos Barayani who qualified for States in both the 50 free and 100 free. Overall, Melrose swept 4 events and placed first in every event but one.
This season Melrose will be led by captain Ben Terentiyev, a standout All Star and school record holder. Says Pennachio, “Ben has been instrumental in how much the team has improved over the past few seasons. He has shown the team how to push themselves at practice and hold themselves to high standards, and that by doing so breeds results throughout the season at meets.”
Melrose has a strong lineup of experienced starting swimmers who include Jos Baranyi, Owen Erelli, Gabe Hunnicutt, Zach Hunnicutt, Nik Johansson, William Lowe, Owen Molway, Dan Muller. Rounding out the roster are Gabe Dixon, Yash Gulrajani, Sam Haseltine and Joe Parmet.
These swimmers will be counted to compete in a variety of strokes over the season. Expect Barayani to be their main freestyle swimmer. He is coming off a season in which he qualified for States. Other swimmers who will lead in these events are Dan Muller, Joe Parmet and Zach Hunnicutt. In backstroke and butterfly look for Gabe Hunnicutt and Owen Molway to lead. In breaststroke, expect to see Terentiyev, Sam Hasletine, Zach Hunnicutt and Ryan McAndrew finish strong.
Relay should be a strong suit as well. “So far our early relay teams have looked really great,” reports Pennachio. “One of our major goals this season will be to get all three relays to qualify for the two postseason meets (North Sectionals and Div II States). Since taking over the team in 2019 we haven’t been able to get one relay to qualify, but this year all three relays have a good chance.”
Look for distances races to be manned by Will Lowe and Owen Erelli. “Both swimmers have made a lot of progress over the off season and I am excited to see them compete as an upperclassmen. And Nik Johansson showed a lot of promise in the 500 at the first meet this season and will definitely be given more opportunities throughout the season.”
As their early season gets underway, Melrose knows the importance of hard work in practice with a focus on swimming with speed. “Seems like an obvious answer but there are so many little things in swimming to work on to improve your strokes, that it can be easy to forget to practice swimming fast,” says Pennachio. “Your stroke changes when you are swimming faster and if you don’t swim fast in practice it can impact your starts, turns, and finishes at a meet.”
As always, a focus on personal improvements remains a large focus. “Our biggest goal every year is to help every swimmer improve their strokes and their times. And bring more swimmers to States.”
This Friday evening Melrose travels to the Burbank YMCA to take on Reading at 7:00 p.m. Another league meet they look forward to it Burlington. Says Pennachio, “The Burlington meet is always circled on our calendar. Me and Coach Meegan both swam for Burlington from 2005-2009 and were captains in our senior year. This even matched rivalry goes as far back as then.”
