Published June 4, 2021
By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—The Melrose High boy’s swim team enjoyed a well-earned victory over rival Burlington on Saturday, May 29 by a score of 63-57. It was their first victory of their (virtual season) and the timing couldn’t be better.
“This win means a lot,” says coach Alex Pennachio. “It was a team effort and every swim mattered. On top of all that Coach Meegan and I swam for Burlington under Coach Papagno and were co-captains in 2009. So, this meet has been circled on the calendar all year.”
Just last year Melrose fell in a narrow loss to the Red Devils. Says Pennachio, “Last year Burlington was our first meet of the year and they won but only a few points. Every race was close and had the opportunity to turn the meet into our favor. Everyone had the feeling that if the meet had been later in the season there was a chance we could have won.”
While Melrose took a loss to heavyweight Winchester just a few days before, the incredibly close score of 87-77 was something the coach took pride in. “Winchester is one of the stronger teams in the league, and this was one of the closest meets we’ve ever had against them. A lot of races were close and it is too bad we didn’t get an opportunity to swim them in person. If we had, I think a lot of our swimmers would have done even better having the close competition push them.”
Melrose’s 200 freestyle relay of Ben Terentiyev, Will Burke, Ian Smith, and Andrew DiFiore have come up big, scoring first place in both meets.
Melrose’s distance swimmers have also shown strength in this stretch of the season. “Our main distance swimmer junior Nick Sasso has been doing very well pushing himself throughout the season,” says the coach. “We have been using this season to play around with our lineup and trying new swimmers in the 200 and 500. However with the shorter season and limited practice time it can be tough to get the proper amount of training in for those longer events. Despite this, seniors Ethan Cesar and Nick Dulling had great swims in the 200 freestyle, pushing each other throughout the event.”
Sprinter Junior Andrew DiFiore has had a great season, despite not having swam since before the pandemic, notes his coach. Against Burlington, DiFiore swam a 23.53 in the 50 free and a 52.75 in the 100 free.
Melrose has rotated new swimmers in and out every meet. Says the coach, “This week we saw good swims from freshman Damian Am in the 50 free who dropped 2 second from his last race.”
One swimmer whose versatility shines through is sophomore Ian Smith. “Ian has really impressed me this season swimming the 100 fly and breast after swimming mainly distance last season,” says Pennachio. “A lot of his success comes from his willingness to learn not just from me and Coach Meegan but his peers as well.” Smith has been keeping pace with strong teammates such as Will Burke, who placed first in the 100 fly and freshman standout Ben Terentiyev, who swam an impressive 1:09 in the 100 breast stroke.
Some swimmers have been putting up great state qualifying numbers this year. Freshman Ben Terentiyev and junior Andrew DiFiore have both really stood out in their races. “The’ve been having amazing seasons,” says their coach. “They work hard in practice and their efforts have payed off in meets. They will be a big part of our post season push next year (assuming there are sectionals and states next year).”
Melrose has also enjoyed qualify swims from Anderson Phan and Nikolai Mohan and Adam Drafts Johnson who compete in the 200 medley and freestyle relays and 400 relay.
Melrose has some quality opponents coming up in Reading and Arlington. Thus, the Red Raiders remain focused on improving times. “All we can do is keep getting faster, cleaning up our strokes, and watch our times drop. As long as we do that success will come.”
