opened their season against Lexington
Published May 21, 2021
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—It’s been the most unusual spring for the Melrose High boy’s swim team, who kicked off their MIAA season about five months late while enjoying a “Fall 3” (so to speak) spring season that began last week with a virtual meet against Lexington.
What does a virtual meet mean? The Red Raiders will compete independently at home, Lexington the same, and the two team’s official scores are tabulated to determine the victor. The two teams will never have to face each other on the pool deck, all the while remaining socially distanced. Similar to the girls swim season, it’s worked fluidly.
Leading the Red Raider this season are captains William Burke and Anderson Phan, both seniors who return ready to lead Melrose to victory. The Red Raiders returns other swimmers such as Adam Drafts Johnson, Nick Sasso, Jonah Peters, Ian Smith, Ethan Cesar, Nick Dulling, Luke Hoffmann, Nikolai Mohan, and Ben Terentiyev.
According to Melrose coach Alex Pennachio, the team finds itself in a unique position given the switch of season. They normally compete in the winter, but COVID delays provided them with an opportunity to compete this spring at their home base of the Melrose YMCA.
“This has given us a great opportunity for players to compete who may not have otherwise because they played another winter sport,” he says. “It’s been such a pleasure to have new faces on the team. It’s especially a great opportunity for freshmen.”
One freshman has already made his mark. Swimmer Ben Terentiyev has already won several races, showing promise in the 100 breast and 200 IM, beating Lexington’s premiere swimmers with times that are considered state qualifying. Says his coach, “We’re so excited that he joined our team. He’s a club swimmer with lots of experience.”
Junior transfer Andrew DiFiore is also a promising find. The established swimmer has also put up state qualifying times (there will be no state tournament this season.) But according to his coach, DiFiore will make his mark on the program. “We’re lucky to have him and there’s no doubt he will be qualifying for states next winter.”
Melrose battled Lexington last Thursday and fell in a 92-70 loss against a talented Minuteman team. Melrose earned several first place finishes including those in the 100 back, 100 breast, 50 free and 200 IM. Andrew DeFiore picked up a first place win in the 50 free while Ben Terevtiyev was first in the 200 IM and also the 100 breast.
Melrose kicked the meet off with the relay team of Andrew DeFiore, Ben Terentiyev, Will Burke and Ian Smith. Their time of 2:00.04 was good enough for second. Nick Dulling, Nick Sasso and Jonah Peters competed in the 200 free. Adam Drafts Johnson competed in the 100 free. And Melrose put together a relay team of Ian Smith, Anderson Phan, Jonah Peters and Nick Sasso for a solid time of 2:05.93. Melrose was also nicely represented in the 400 free by Nick Sasso, Will Burke, Ben Trentiyev and Andrew DeFiore. This season, expect distance events to be swam by Jonah Peters and Nick Sasso.
Coach Pennachio spoke about the team’s desire to swim competitively and improve times. “Even though we won’t have a Sectional or State meet to strive for, we are measuring ourselves against last year’s established qualifying times as a way to measure progress and prepare ourselves for next winter. We’re just glad these kids didn’t have to wait almost two years to compete. We’re grateful for a season.”
The boys will take on the Winchester Sachems on Wednesday (post deadline).
