Classical defeats English in the pool

It was an electric atmosphere inside the Peter Sawin Natatorium at Tech Thursday as the annual battle between crosstown rivals English and Classical drew a packed house.
The Rams and Bulldogs both came in looking to get some momentum with the Lynn City Swim on tap a week from Saturday, and that?s exactly what Classical got. The Rams? depth paid huge dividends as they swept the relays and all but three individual events in a 98-80 win over the Bulldogs.
?My kids swam phenomenal,” Classical coach Denise Silva said. “But it was great to see such enthusiasm for Lynn swimming from everyone there. This was a team victory because everyone had to dig deep to get the job done.”
Classical (3-3) set the tone for its day right off the bat as Sarah Sirois won the diving competition and qualified for the state finals with a score of 196.30 points. Teammate Bobby Choquette was right behind in second.
After that, it was Classical?s depth that paid huge dividends.
The Bulldogs (3-5) got another brilliant performance from junior captain Matt Bruno as he won the 100 butterfly (1:02.09) and 200 IM (1:08.31) races. His win in the butterfly was one of the best races of the day as he barely out touched Classical?s Kevin Chasse by a tenth of a second.
?Matt really has had a super year,” English coach Lisa Trahant said. “Every event that I put him in, he does the job. He?s such a hard worker and his times have shown that.”
Problem for the Bulldogs was that every time they?d win an event, Classical would gain enough points to stay even or even extend its lead.
The Rams put the meet away with their dominance in the relays, where they had a 36-6 advantage over the Bulldogs thanks to a trio of 1-2 finishes.
Simon Kaczmierczk, Cam Marcinko, Erinn Daly and Alex Pedro won the 200 medley relay in 2:05.69 with Alysha Dunnigan, Eli Bakas, Mehi Dakouch and Chasse in second (2:09.81).
Pedro joined Micah Dublin, Craig Mordant and Eric Maccori on the winning 200 free relay with Choquette, Dhimo Bitri, Jesus Contreras and Josh Page taking second (1:56.11).
Daly, Maccori, Kaczmierczk and Chasse also won the 400 free relay in 4:15.15. Page, Pedro, Mordaunt and Dunnigan were behind them in second (4:29.72).
It wasn?t just in the relays where the Rams excelled on Wednesday.
Daly won the 200 IM (2:29.94) with Dunnigan in second (2:41.24) and then added a win in the 500 free (6:00.47) ahead of English?s Danielle Carney (6:26.86).
Classical also swept the top three places in the 50 free behind Chasse (24.90), Pedro (28.55) and Dublin (29.60). The Rams other win came from Marcinko in the 100 breaststroke (1:21.00).
The Bulldogs other event win was by Jesse Freeman in the 100 free (1:00.02).?Classical has been swimming well all season,” Trahant said. “(Denise) has a great group of kids and they had a great meet.”