Lynnfield Swimmers are Cape Ann League Champions

Last night the Lynnfield Pioneers demonstrated that if you want something bad enough and if you work hard, you get it.  In an extremely exciting meet that came down to the last event, Lynnfield walked away as the Cape Ann League Champions.

An Important Message

Coming in the Pioneers had a 5-0 record, but they knew it would be a tough meet.  They faced North Andover, a team with a 4-1 record.  North Andover had lost to Masconomet only, a team Lynnfield had defeated in January.  A win for Lynnfield would make them the Cape Ann League Champions.  A loss would mean a three way tie between Lynnfield, Masconomet and North Andover.

Before the meet began, the team got together for a motivational talk.  “Lorraine Sacco came to speak with the kids, which was awesome,” Coach Jeff Boyd said.  “It was great to have her.”  Sacco is the mother of Reid Sacco, who got the Lynnfield team underway in its beginning stages of co-op with North Reading.  Reid passed away in 2005 after a two year battle with cancer, but has left a legacy as a strong and dedicated swimmer and a positive and inspirational person.

Behind Early

In the first heat, the 200 Yard Medley Relay Alexandra Kartsounis took the lead early and the rest of her team continued to hold that lead.  Mike Dillon, Thure Wester and Jeff Cook all swam strong and the team finished with a time of 1:54.97.

However, after the first heat Lynnfield fell behind and stayed behind most of the night.  Boyd said, “I knew North Andover’s coach was a master strategist and the night would be a mind game between us.”  Particularly, the 200 Yard Individual Medley and the 200 Yard Free Style took Boyd by surprise.  North Andover took first place in both these events. 

By the end of the diving competition (placed about halfway through the swimming heats) Lynnfield was down by 6.  The team began to gain momentum.  Cook placed first in the 100 Yard Butterfly, Wester followed up with another first place finish in the 100 Yard Freestyle.  When Cook swam again, placing first in the 500 Yard Free Style, well ahead of any of his competitors, the Pioneers had closed the gap to 4 points.

The Final Events

Another strong first place finish came from Kartsounis in the 100 Yard Backstroke, who finished in 1:07.96.  This event was followed up by a strong performance from Dillon and Rich Palumbo in the 100 Yard Breaststroke.  While a North Andover swimmer would ultimately take first in this event, Dillon and Palumbo placed second and third, earning key points for the team.  Palumbo finished in 1:19.00, just ahead of the fourth place swimmer from North Andover (1:20.22).

With one event left, the 400 Yard Free Relay, Lynnfield was down by 6.  “I stacked my strongest team,” Boyd said, “so I wasn’t concerned about taking first place.”  Without a doubt with Thure, Tim Tsui, Dillon and Cook together Lynnfield had a formidable team.  Thure took the lead right away and had a dependable group to maintain it.  All four swam strong, finishing in 3:47, far ahead of North Andover’s team (4:01.44), who would take second.

“We really needed to take third place as well in order to catch up to North Andover,” Boyd said, “and those guys really pulled through.”  With Mike Welter leading off, the Pioneers had a strong start and he, with Tim Martindale, Alison Council and Matt DeVito finished the event in 4:08.03 to take third place.

Awaiting the Results

At the completion of the final event, the pool area, which had been filled with excitement and cheering from both teams, became silent as the numbers were tallied.  Finally, it was announced Lynnfield and North Andover had tied at 93 points. 

This meant Lynnfield held the strongest record in the Cape Ann League, leaving them with the title of Cape Ann League Champions.  “The seniors were the freshman when the team first started,” Boyd said, “this was our goal for them from the beginning.”

The excitement of the team was felt throughout the pool area and the team celebrated with high fives, a lot of cheering and tossing each other (and Coach Boyd) into the pool. 

With a strong regular season behind them, the Pioneers look ahead to States and Sectionals in the coming weeks.

Download the movie

Download the movie