By CHARLES GAGNE
PEABODY — The undefeated Wakefield/Lynnfield cooperative boys’ swim team was more than ready for its biggest meet of the year on Jan. 28: the Cape Ann League Championship. This meet includes the six teams in the league and the Wakefield/Lynnfield swimmers showed they were up to the challenge as they ended up winning in blowout fashion. The team racked up a total of 613 points, while the next closest team, Triton, finished with 466.
In terms of preparation for this meet, the team was locked in from the start.
When head coach Jeff Boyd was asked about the pregame attitude, he replied, “The boys were laser focused for this meet. Even on the bus they were saying that they were ‘all business today.’ I knew we were in for something big.”
There were multiple heats in each of the relay and individual events and one event had more than 30 swimmers competing. There were points awarded for placements all the way up to 16th place and all relay points were double those of individual events.
The meet started with the 200-yard medley relay in which captain Cooper Davis, Marc Gagne and two Lynnfield swimmers finished in second place, earning a quick 34 points for the team.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Wakefield had two huge performances from James Cook and Christopher Meadows, who earned second and fourth place respectively.
Next was the 50-yard freestyle, a super exciting race in which Wakefield really excelled and had three finishers in the top five out of 36 competitors. Henry Brown finished in second place, senior captain Evan Chan finished third and Marc Gagne finished fifth. The top three finishers were all within .06 seconds of one another and only .01 seconds separated Brown and Chan. The Wakefield/Lynnfield teammates were thrilled with these results, and this paved the way for confidence throughout the rest of the night.
In the 100-yard butterfly, two of Wakefield’s exemplary seniors tallied important scores for the team, as Robert Brown placed second and Cooper Davis placed fourth.
Following this was the 100-yard freestyle, another very exciting and fast-paced race in which Henry Brown and Chan placed first and second out of 14 swimmers, with a time difference of only .06 seconds between them. This was another huge boost for the team, and things looked bright heading into the second half of the meet.
Next, Davis showed up again with a third-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle and Cook and Robert Brown turned in excellent performances in the 100-yard backstroke, clocking in at second and fourth place.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the same four who have been achieving milestones all season long set both a new school and a new Cape Ann League record, earning 40 points for the team. Of course, this team consisted of the Brown brothers, Cook and Chan. The Cape Ann League record for this event had held since 2019 and the Wakefield swimmers smashed it by almost three seconds. Gagne and three Lynnfield swimmers came in third in this event, which included 11 relay teams.
The team’s star swimmers also managed to break their own school record in the 400-yard freestyle relay, placing second in this event behind a talented Triton relay team.
Lastly, Gagne placed first in the diving, as he has at every regular season meet and earned Cape Ann League Diver of the Year and a spot in the upcoming sectionals.
Coach Boyd was incredibly pleased with the team’s performance and had this to say following the impressive victory.
“Our goal from day one back in November was to go undefeated and win the CAL meet. We’ve accomplished all of our goals and broken records along the way. Based on all of our success, I’d consider this the best team our program has ever had.”
Two additional honorary achievements were earned and presented to members of the Wakefield/Lynnfield swim program during this championship league meet. First, senior captain Chan was named Cape Ann League Swimmer of the Year, a tremendous accomplishment.
“I’m so proud of Evan,” said Boyd. “He works so hard and is such a great competitor. It’s great to see that his efforts did not go unnoticed.”
Along with Chan being recognized, Boyd was also named Cape Ann League Coach of the Year.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by your peers for the work you do,” coach Boyd stated. “We are in a league full of great coaches, so to be chosen for this award is a tremendous honor.”
For Swimmer and Diver of the Year, the league coaches nominate those they believe are deserving based on athletic achievement, sportsmanship, and impact on their team. The coaches then vote for winners. All league coaches vote on Coach of the Year as well.
Two nights after the league championship meet concluded, the team had one additional regular season meet to finish up and beat Manchester-Essex by a score of 44-22. This ended up being a fun meet during which Boyd picked some names out of a hat for various events so that swimmers competed in strokes they weren’t used to, and relay teams were mixed up.
All Wakefield boys ended up placing in the top three in at least one event in this final meet. A couple of swimmers were also using this meet as their last chance to make a sectionals time and Gagne reached that goal, qualifying for the 50-yard freestyle.
The North Sectionals meet will be next for this team on Feb. 11, 9 a.m. at WPI. The team will have a number of individual and relay competitors in this sectionals meet, so those swimmers will continue working hard until that time and the whole team will continue to savor its championship victory and accomplishments during this record-breaking season.