LYNN — It all came down to the final event of the Lynn City Swim Meet Saturday — the 400-meter freestyle relay.
English needed a first and a second to overtake Classical, which had been leading going into the event.
The Bulldogs came through. As a result, English won the meet for the first time since 1996, edging Classical, 137-130. Lynn Tech was third with 56 points.
“It feels great,” said English coach Lisa Trahant. “I have a great group of kids, and they work hard.
“For most of them, in all the schools, when we get them, we have to teach a lot of them to swim,” Trahant said. “To see them progress the way they have is amazing.”
The Rams were leading by eight points heading into the 400 free relay. They had put on a big push early in the meet, changing the order of their competitors in an effort to rack up enough points to be able to compete for what would have been its sixth straight title.
“It was my call,” said coach Denise Silva. “You just have to live with it.”
For English, Caroline Zuffante, Hannah Trahant, Mary Lawlor and Peter Phelan were the first-place finishers, finishing in 4:13.11. Behind them were Andy Nhiv, Shane Carino, Cole Story and Devin Curley. Classical got the third-place finish from Josue Gomez, Adam Mariano, Noah Corbishley and Zach Weston.
“We had a young team,” said Silva. “We graduated a lot of seniors in the last two years, and we had to pretty much start over.
“But I am happy with my kids,” said Silva “Every one of them improved on their times from the beginning of the season, and that’s important. It’s been a good year, even if we finished at 0-8. It doesn’t feel like 0-8.
Aside from coming up just short, Classical got a brilliant performance off the diving board from Sarah Sirois. Earlier this season, Sirois set a girls city record with a 286.60. She eclipsed that score Saturday, rolling up a 291.30. Finishing behind her was Hannah Trahant of English.
For Lynn Tech’s Brad Tilley, whose class built the trophy that goes with the title (and is now called the Brad Tilley Cup), he found the glass half full despite finishing a distant third.
“We had some great kids this season,” said Tilley. “They really wanted to improve, and they did. We’d have optional practices on Saturdays, and quite a few of them showed up. Imagine that, with everything there is to do on a Saturday, they’re in the pool.”
This was the 50th city meet. It was founded by the late Peter Sawin. Along the way, it has developed two traditions, both occurring prior to the start of the meet. Each team pours a bucket of water, dyed with the school’s colors. And the captains of each team jump through a hoop decorated with symbols from the school.
