Wayland completes four-peat
St. John’s Prep wins again
For the fourth consecutive year, Wayland stands supreme.
In front of a rocking crowd at Boston University, the Wayland boys swimming and diving team captured the Division 2 state championship, finishing with a whopping 343 points. Nantucket trailed with 212 points, followed by Belchertown (198), Weston (156) and Ashland (149).
“It always feels great,” said Wayland coach Michael Foley on his team’s fourth straight title. “Been fortunate to have a great crew these last four or five years. They work so hard. They work so well together. They support each other.”
Wayland opened the meet with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing with a new school record of 1:35.26. Meanwhile, Wayland’s diving team secured a huge 41-point windfall in the 1-meter dive, led by Sam Cahaly who finished in second place with a 461.50 final score. Throughout the rest of the meet, the Warriors’ numbers proved to be too much to handle.
“We’ve got a lot of great depth on our team. It’s not one or two guys that wins this individual sport. We’re trying to win a team title and it’s gonna take a whole crew of guys,” said Foley.
For Wayland, the victory continues their dominance in Division 2, starting in 2017 when they toppled Weston’s five year run as state champions.
“We’ve had some great leaders over the last few years, who’ve encouraged everyone to work hard,” said Foley on his team’s run of excellence, “This year, Jack Brown has been a super vocal leader for us, one of our seniors. Sam Cahaly he’s done a great job every year that we’ve had some new divers, kids coming in with no experience diving. Sam has been remarkable taking them under his wing. It’s been a crew of guys that all bring a different element for us.”
Beside Wayland’s stellar team performance, Amherst-Pelham’s Noah Labich broke two meet records, proving himself to be one of the standout individual swimmers at the meet. Labich won the 200-yard individual medley with a 1:50.69, breaking Kevin Bradley’s 2013 meet record of 1:52.81. Two events later, Labich set the 100yard butterfly meet record with a 48.99 final time. His time bested Johnny Williams’ 2016 record of 49.03 and nearly broke Oliver Zmetrovich’s 2018 state record of 48.94.
Meanwhile, Sunday simply became the latest, and arguably greatest chapter of them all for St. John’s Prep. In his first season as head coach, Jeff Fiore and his team reached historic heights at Boston University, capturing their 15th Div. 1 title.
“I’ve been picturing this moment since August, honestly,” Fiore said. “I knew we were capable of doing it, and the season went as close to according to plan as it could’ve. We had an awesome meet last week at sectionals. We ended up losing to Wayland by six points, and that really just showed us that we’ve definitely got what it takes to hopefully, eventually earn that title back, and keep our Division 1 title.”
It was the school’s fifth consecutive championship, and the 14th state title for the Eagles in the last 15 seasons. They impressed the packed crowd early, as the 200yard medley relay team of Jake Thomas, Palmer Randall, Andrew Coady and Kai Zola clocked in at 1:36.59, edging Lincoln-Sudbury by .43 seconds for a first-place finish with a time of 1:36.59.
Junior Will Connolly followed that up by registering a secondplace finish in the ensuing 200 freestyle at 1:43.22, and from there, the Eagles were off and running.
Other impressive performances included Westfield senior Tommy Russell who finished a doublewinner by defending his 100 backstroke title from last year at 51.86, while winning the 50 freestyle (21.19). West Springfield’s Eric Eastham also impressed, placing first overall in the 200 freestyle (1:40.49), and second in the 100 freestyle (46.03). In very similar fashion, Brookline senior Soren Euvrard took first in the 100 freestyle (46.03), and came away with a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle (21.21).
Meanwhile, Chase Konstantakos carried Minnechaug all night, defending his 500 freestyle crown with a time of 4:36.08, besting the rest of the field by over 12 seconds.