BEVERLY — During the regular season, the Wakefield/Lynnfield cooperative swim team rejoiced in beating rival Triton by four points, 49-45, but the Vikings turned the tables in the recent Cape Ann League (“CAL”) Championship meet, besting the Warriors/Pioneers by a score of 597-593. Despite the near miss, the Wakefield/Lynnfield swimmers came away with much to celebrate and look forward to as the sectional and state meets approach.
Throughout each event in the CAL Championship meet on Jan. 26 at the Beverly YMCA, the Warriors/Pioneers and the Vikings traded positions as top dog amongst the multiple teams competing.
And, as with their dual meet, the final result came down to the last race: the 400-yard freestyle relay.
The meet opened with the 200-yard medley relay and the foursome that has been making waves all year: James Cook swimming backstroke, Malcolm Kelton swimming breaststroke, Lynnfield’s
Nick DeGennaro swimming butterfly and senior captain Henry Brown swimming the freestyle anchor leg. This group came in second out of eight teams to Triton. With relays counting for double the points of individual races, Triton was off to a head start, with Wakefield/Lynnfield close behind.
A Triton swimmer won the next race, the 200-yard freestyle, but points in this championship meet are awarded for finishers one through five, and Wakefield’s Cook and Kelton finished third and fourth in this event. This kept the rivals close still.
Lynnfield swimmer Sam Childress finished fourth in the 200-yard individual medley, however, a Triton swimmer finished first in this event, widening the lead for the Vikings.
Wakefield/Lynnfield roared back with the next event, the always exciting 50-yard freestyle race. Out of 28 competitors, Kelton and Brown finished in first and second place and Marc Gagne finished fifth, all scoring points for the team and thus pulling ahead of Triton. Kelton qualified for sectionals and states in this event with his impressive time of 22.8.
The score remained close between the rivals through the next two events after DeGennaro and senior captain Hudson Little finished third and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly, while a Triton swimmer finished second. In the 100-yard freestyle race, Brown finished first and Gagne fifth out of 15 swimmers, while Triton swimmers placed third and fourth.
Triton pulled ahead once again with first and third place finishes in the grueling 500-yard freestyle race, with Lynnfield swimmers coming in fifth and sixth place and freshman Michael Brown placing seventh.
Wakefield/Lynnfield kept hopes alive during the exciting 200-yard freestyle relay event. Triton was threatening to finish first and second out of 12 relay teams, but Gagne, swimming the anchor leg for the Warriors/Pioneers, overtook a Triton swimmer so that Wakefield/Lynnfield grabbed second place in the end by one second.
The Warriors/Pioneers were thrilled to see that they were ahead after the 100-yard backstroke event when Cook placed first and DeGennaro placed third, while Triton swimmers finished fifth and sixth.
During the 100-yard breaststroke race, the Vikings came roaring back, however, with first, fourth and fifth place finishes and nobody in the top five for Wakefield/Lynnfield.
Down to the final race, Wakefield/Lynnfield’s Cook, Kelton, DeGennaro and Henry Brown placed first in the 400-yard freestyle relay event, but even their 40 points earned for this finish were not enough. Triton placed third in this event and came away with the league meet win, scoring 597 points to Wakefield/Lynnfield’s 593.
Despite the disappointment, senior captain Hudson Little found some silver linings and reasons to celebrate.
“We trained hard all year for CALs but we just barely fell short to a tough Triton team. Beating Triton, during the regular season and at their own pool during their senior night is a huge accomplishment—it shows the kind of grit and talent we have as a team.
“At CALs, all the guys really put in a strong effort and I’m proud of all our races. Our relays always step up when it’s time and that was seen with Marc’s in the 200 free relay. That relay of Marc, Kaiden, Ashkrit and myself really shocked everyone with our second-place finish in that event behind Triton, taking home a silver medal. Malcolm and Henry going 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the 50 free was very beneficial for us and those guys deserved it. Henry’s been a great co-captain to work with this year and Malcolm has been dominating for his freshmen year.
“It’s tough because Triton has the depth in events that we simply don’t have people to fill. That being said, we gave it everything we had, and that’s something to be proud of. We’ve got the grit to keep pushing forward, and now it’s time for us to focus on sectionals and states.”
From here, seven of the Warrior/Pioneer swimmers are participating in the sectional and state meets. Five of those swimmers are from Wakefield: senior captains Brown and Little and also Cook, Kelton and Gagne.
The North Sectionals took place on Sunday at MIT and Div. 2 states will be this Sunday, Feb. 16, 1:20 p.m. at Boston University. Full stories will appear at a later date.