Co-op boys’ swim team concludes historic season at states

By CHARLES GAGNE

CAMBRIDGE — At the MIT aquatic complex on Sunday, Feb. 18, the Lynnfield/Wakefield cooperative swim team faced its final challenge of the year: the all-important Division 2 state finals meet. The team came away with an impressive 14^th place finish out of 38 teams, a huge improvement from the year before when the team didn’t score a single point.

The Division 2 state meet was extremely competitive this year, to the point that in eight out of 11 events, the top Division 2 swimmers/divers performed better than the top Division 1 athletes who competed earlier that same day at MIT. Several of the Warriors kept up with these elite swimmers and their accomplishments were nothing short of remarkable.

Junior Henry Brown placed 15^th in the 50-yard freestyle and earned two points toward the team’s overall effort. 

Freshman star James Cook managed to place 15^th in the 100-yard and also had a stellar showing in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 8^th and winning a medal. Brown and Cook earned a combined 13 points toward the team’s total score, further boosting their successful evening.

The team really shined in both the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relay events. The four-man squad of captain Evan Chan, Henry Brown, Robert Brown and Cook were able to rack up massive points, earning 28 for 5^th place in the 200-yard relay and 14 for 10^th place in the 400-yard relay. The 200-yard relay missed 4^th place by only .01.

Though they didn’t earn points, the following swimmers competed well in their individual and relay events: Henry Brown in the 100-yard freestyle; Evan Chan in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events and captain Cooper Davis, Marc Gagne, and Lynnfield swimmers Nick DeGennaro and Ashkrit Mahajan in the 200-yard medley relay.

When asked about the team’s success at states and what it meant to the program, coach Jeff Boyd replied, “It’s always great to wrap up the season with an appearance at states. It’s even better when you can be competitive with the best teams in the state. It was our best team performance at states and was a great way to cap off the best season in our program’s history. Hopefully this momentum will carry into next season and we can draw in even more swimmers.”