Lynnfield Swim Team Clinches Cape Ann League Title

The Lynnfield High School Swim Team took the Cape Ann League title on Wednesday night, beating Masconomet 102-81 and moving up to a 5-0 record (4-0 in the CAL).

"This meet epitomizes our team," said Coach Jeff Boyd in an email to Lynnfield Patch "We don't have any individual swimmer that really stands out and is a guaranteed winner in every event like we've had in the past. This is a true team in every sense of the word. Every single one of these kids can really swim, and no single person is more important than another. We took first in only four events, but after Masco's first kid came in we had three of our own right behind him. Our depth is what has been the key to our success this year."

Here is more info from Coach Boyd: Masco took first place in 8 of the 12 events. However, Lynnfield finished 2-3-4 in four of those events to outpoint Masco despite not taking first. Thus, Masco only outpointed Lynnfield in four events. Masco started out in front by winning the 200 Medley Relay and held a 2-point lead heading into the 4th event, the 50 freestyle. Lynnfield then started to take off by going 1-2-3 in the 50 freestyle and outpointed Masco in every event the rest of the way (other than the last relay that Lynnfield did not score because the meet was already decided). Lynnfield's 200 freestyle relay put the meet out of reach for Masco by going 1-2 to establish a 81-59 lead. Lynnfield took 1-2-3 in the 100 backstroke and held a 102-69 lead heading into the final relay (400 free relay) but chose to not score in the event with the meet already decided.

With the win, we clinched at least a share of the league championship. With a win against North Reading on January 29th, we win it outright.

We did all of this without a single boy qualifying for sectionals or states - It kind of exemplifies the type of team we are.

Top Performers:
Matt DeVito - 1st in 50 free (24.78) and 2nd in 100 free (55.23)
Bailey Fanikos - 1st in diving (qualified for sectionals and scored a personal best score) and 4th in 100 breastroke (1:17.15 - sectional qualifying time)
Alexandra Kartsounis - 1st in 100 back (1:07.11) and 2nd in 100 fly (1:10.10)
Tim Tsui - 2nd in 500 freestyle (6:02.28) and 3rd in 200 freestyle (2:07.05)
Mike Lanzillotti - 2nd in 200 freestyle (2:05.32) and 3rd in 500 freestyle (6:04.47)
Susan Yee - 2nd in 200 IM (2:31.74) and 3rd in 100 breast (1:14.64)
Josh Hayden - 2nd in 100 backstroke (1:07.56) and 4th in 200 free (2:17.81)
Joe Maglio - 2nd in 50 freestyle (26.50) and 3rd in 100 freestyle (59.62)
Harry Fogarty - 2nd in 100 breaststroke (1:13.31)
200 Freestyle relay - Joe Maglio, Mike Welter, Mike Lanzillotti, and Matt DeVito took 1st (1:45.25) and Jack Fogarty, Susan Yee, Zach Glowik, and Tim Tsui took 2nd (1:49.59)

"When we won this league a couple of years ago, there was one person's name attached to it (Jeff Cook)," added Coach Boyd. "That was fine, because he really deserved the attention and we honestly would have never won without him. This year is different though. This year we don't have any one person we can point to as the reason we won. You would have to point to all of them. And while the first championship will always be special, I'd much rather win it the way we did this year."