LYNN — A thrilling swim season in the city of Lynn came to a thrilling conclusion Sunday afternoon at the Lynn Tech pool, as Camille Mendonca came from behind in the 400 freestyle relay to push the Rams to victory at the annual Lynn City Swim Meet.
“What a wonderful meet and a wonderful way to end the year,” said Classical coach Denise Silva. “It’s been a tough season for everyone with all of the COVID precautions, so what a great way for the city of Lynn to come together and have a great meet to close things out.”
Mendonca — who was the anchor of the 400 freestyle relay team alongside Andrew Moore, Aleana Benedetto and Sydney Finnigan — was behind by more than one full length when she dove into the pool in the final race of the day. But somehow, she managed to muster up the speed to overtake Lynn Tech’s anchor finish with a time of 4:38.77 — giving the Rams enough points to get the win.
Classical scored 136 points to take first place, while Tech scored 132 points and English scored 46 points.
Mendonca also picked up an individual win for the Rams, taking first in the 100 freestyle (1:01.71). Other individual winners for Classical were Daniel Puma in both the 50 freestyle (25.56) and the 100 breaststroke, Finnigan in both the 200 freestyle (2:30.20) and 500 freestyle (6:40.46) and Ava Anderson in diving (187.7 points). The 200 medley relay team of Mendonca, Puma, Finnigan and Yassine Bakhouch also grabbed a win with a time of 2:10.38.
Lynn Tech got wins from Zakariya Bidoudane in both the 100 backstroke and the 200 individual medley (2:32.75) and from Mario Rivera in the 100 butterfly (1:29.44). The 200 freestyle relay team of Jeremiah Arozala, Kyle Lindquist, Colin Donovan and Alberto Gerardo took first with a time of 1:58.19.
For English, the top finisher was Eamonn McHale, who placed second overall in the 100 breaststroke.
