The Tigers made history on Monday, winning the Lynn All-City Meet for the first time in 10 years. In front of a packed house, Tech (150 points) beat both English (89 points) and Classical (79 points).
“All around, it was a total team performance today,” Tech head coach John Hogan said. “We didn’t get all the firsts today, but we got a lot of seconds and thirds when we needed it.”
English began the meet flying, picking up back-to-back firsts in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle. Overall, English head coach Michelle Kurkul said she was impressed with her swimmers.
“I was impressed with Justin Gatlin in the 100-backstroke, Eamon McHale in the 100-breaststroke [and] the 200-medley relay – which was phenomenal – and McHale and Brendan Bushway in the 200-freestyle,” Kurkul said.
The Tigers kept pace with English early, placing second in the first two events.
“The performance from Zakariya Bidoudane – him winning the 200 IM and the 500-yard freestyle was impressive. Isabella Celona winning the 100-butterfly too,” Hogan said. “Even some of the second places were huge in us winning. Addison Brown picked up second place in the 200-yard freestyle [and] came up big.”
Despite finishing in third place, Classical’s Ava Anderson won the diving competition with a score of 217.60.
“She’s a sectional and state qualifier – I’m incredibly proud of her,” Classical head coach Denise Silva said.
After the second event, English had 25 points compared to Classical’s 15 and Tech’s 24. That said, after that event, it was all Tech. In the final nine swim events, the Tigers had two swimmers finish in the top three eight times to help them secure the victory.
When asked what they loved about all of the Lynn schools competing together, the three coaches focused on a similar theme: community.
“At the beginning of the meet, they asked everyone in attendance to stand if they swam in Lynn and to see a good portion of the crowd standing was fun to see. It’s fun to see the community come and support.” Kurkul said.
“We all get along; all the coaches get along. We all went through the program and want the best for each other. We still want to win, but I still want the best for both English and Tech,” Silva said.
It was more of the same from Hogan.
“The tradition. Most of the coaches swam for Lynn and, at one point, swam with each other. The crowd was unbelievable [and] people from Lynn came back to watch this event,” Hogan said.
The pool was 100 percent occupied with supporters from all three schools represented. As soon as the buzzer went off, there was always non-stop cheering.
“We thoroughly loved it. It can get so loud in here,” Silva said.
