DEYALIN MEDINA competed in the 50 freestyle, the 500 freestyle and the 200 yard medley relay during Wakefield’s win over Melrose last week. (Jen Gentile Photo)
By DAN BYRNE
MALDEN– On Thursday, Oct. 5, the red-hot Wakefield Memorial High School varsity swim team got back into the water to swim this season’s meet against rival Melrose.
The usually evenly-matched sides were out of proportion this season, as the Warriors dominated to the tune of a 98-51 final score.
Although both squads have seen a reduction in total size, the Warriors have been able to produce results by winning their last three meets, improving to 3-2 on the season.
“Melrose has a smaller team than ours so we knew they were not as strong as they have been in the past,” Warriors’ head coach Kathy Byrne said in a recent interview. “We did a little mixing up of the lineup and gave the girls the opportunity to win points for the team and show off their hard work.”
“It was a lot of fun,” admitted Byrne. “We won every event and we scored points in every event.”
Wakefield’s top relay team of Audrey Cook, Lucy Wagner, Allie DeGray and Grace McHugh won the opening event with a 200 Yard Medley Relay time of 2:05.07.
The team’s other entrants, Deyalin Medina, Cara Nishino, Angie Martinez and Natalie Chankhour won points for 3rd place.
“It was great to see people do events they haven’t done before and some girls did their personal bests,” Byrne mentioned.
Emma Santoro won the 200 Yard Freestyle with Sam Bordonaro in second place.
The 200 Yard Individual Medley went to Audrey Cook with Cara Nishino in third place.
“It was nice to see them step up and try different events, like Cara Nishino swam the 2IM, something she had never done before and Sam Bodonaro in the 2Free, something she hadn’t done before,” told coach Byrne. “Sam came in second place and Kara came in third. It was great to see them stretch their skillset, and be successful at it.”
Lucy Wagner won the 50 Yard Freestyle with Daphne Mogan in second and Deyalyn Medina in fourth place.
The 100 Yard Butterfly saw the Warriors claim the top two spots, but Melrose did not enter into the event.
Daphne Mogan won the 100 Yard Freestyle with Sam Bordonaro in second place. Pyper Talent scored points for coming in fourth place in the event.
The 500 Yard Freestyle saw Wakefield take first, third, and fourth place, with Melrose’s lone entrant scoring second place. Emma Santoro touched the wall first for the Warriors, with Deyalin Medina in third and Teagan Norton in fourth place.
The Warriors won first and second place in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with both relay teams finishing nearly a minute ahead of the third place Melrose entry. Mackenzie Grace, Lucy Wagner, Audrey Cook and Grace McHugh took first place with a time of 1:53.90. Allie DeGray, Daphne Mogan, Sam Bordonaro and Emma Santoro made up the second place team, which finished with a time of 1:57.50. Melrose’s entry time was 2:50.55.
The 100 Yard Backstroke saw another 1-2 finish for the Warriors, as Allie DeGray took the win at 1:06.72 followed by Angie Martinez. Pyper Talent went on to take fourth place for the Warriors.
In the 100 Yard Breaststroke, the Warriors took first, third and fifth place as Lucy Wagner came in the victor at 1:18.27. Cara Nishino scored a third place with Teagan Norton in fifth place.
The Warriors once again scored first and second in the meet’s final event, the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay by a large amount of time.
Allie DeGray, Daphne Mogan, Mackenzie Grace and Audrey Cook scored the win with a time of 4:11.78. Emma Santoro, Angie Martinez, Sam Bordonaro and Grace McHugh came in second place.
“All in all a great meet,” concluded coach Byrne.
The Warriors will be in action again this week as they come up against Stoneham on Tuesday and Woburn/Burlington on Thursday. Both will take place at the Malden High pool at 5:30 p.m.