L-S Boys Swim Team Grabs 4th in Division 1 Championship Meet

The 2012 Boys State Division 1 Swimming and Diving Championships were held  Friday at the Blodgett Pool at Harvard University. Lincoln-Sudbury placed fourth out of 41 teams.

St. John's Prep was the winner followed by Lowell and Minnechaug. L-S sent 10 swimmers and one diver to compete. The high school seniors were honored by their names being announced as they lined the pool. L-S seniors Ryan Fleming, Bryan Johnson, Ryan Kenney, Sam Mackie and Joey Merullo took part in the final swim for the Warriors.

The first event was the 200-yard medley relay that placed second with the time of 1:38.63. Tom Edwards swam the backstroke, followed by Mackie who worked his magic in the breaststroke. Next up was Johnson who sprinted the butterfly and finishing off the event was Merullo who gave it his all in the freestyle and beat Reading team by .02 seconds. This earned 34 points for the Warriors, who were second to St. Johns Prep.

The next race was the 200 individual medley and Taylor Brown was the only L-S swimmer in this event. Brown swam his best and cut 3.4 seconds off his seed time.

The 50 freestyle event was a tight competition. The top five finishers were all within 0.10 seconds of each other. Fleming placed third with the time of 21.53. Wiktor Karpinski of Minnechaug won the race with a time of 21.38. Mackie and Merullo each swam their personal best times in this overwhelmingly competitive event.

Freshman Tom Novick represented L-S at states in the boys 1 meter diving event.

Fleming, Johnson and Edwards all notched personal-best times in the 100 freestyle race, placing third, 10th and 12th, respectively.

Freshman Chris Wilkins looked great swimming the grueling 500 freestyle race and will be one to watch next season.

The 200 freestyle relay team of Johnson, Edwards, Merullo and Fleming broke an L-S record and swam to a fourth-place finish with the time of 1:29:63. These four swimmer will now have their names placed on the Atkinson Pool record board.

Edwards jumped back into the pool and swam a personal best in the 100 backstroke and placed fourth in the state. Dylan Brown also swam a personal best in this event and freshman Ricky Billig also finished strong.

In the most exciting event of the championship, Mackie finished in a dead heat with Minnechaugs' Michael Normoyle in the 100-yard breaststroke. They both broke the meet record and made All-American consideration and stood together at the top of the podium. Mackie also broke his own L-S record in this event with the time of 57.36. Kenney placed 10th with personal-best time of 1:03.80. Taylor Brown also swam a personal best and placed 16th (1:04.4) earning points for the team.

In order for L-S to come in second they had to beat Minnechaug and Lowell in the final event of the night. St. Johns Prep was already the decided winner so the runners-up spot was open.  

The 400 relay team of Johnson, Merullo, Mackie and Fleming swam their hearts out but the competition was unbeatable. L-S finished sixth.

Under the guidance and direction of coaches Ann Boudrot and Shawn Powers the 2011-2012 L-S boys swim season was a memorable one with all the seniors ending their season with their best swims.