LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield boys and girls swim and dive teams are having a magical season.
Both teams are enjoying undefeated 3-0 seasons, the latest win coming Friday night against Manchester-Essex at the Greater Beverly YMCA. With two league meets to go in the regular season, head coach Jeff Boyd is feeling it.
“It’s been a fun season so far,” he said. “The kids have been preparing harder than ever and I have confidence that they can get the job done heading into every meet. It will be interesting to see how we do at the sectional and state level. I think we’re going to make some noise.”
Boyd, now in his 15th season with the Pioneers, said that while overall participation is down in the Cape Ann League, Lynnfield is seeing a dramatic increase in numbers across the board, particularly with the boys team, which is a co-op with Wakefield. The girls team is composed entirely of Lynnfield swimmers as Wakefield has its own girls team.
“We’re bringing 23 boys to every meet, which is exponentially more than other teams, and we have 14 girls,” Boyd said. “It stinks for league competitions, but the boys are legit. They are winning not just because we outnumber them, but because of the talent. And I am so happy for our girls. They are sometimes overshadowed because of the success of the boys. They are a different kind of 3-0. They just can’t show up; they have had to fight and claw for their wins, they might be from Lynnfield, but they’re all Warriors.”
Boyd said he has “two amazing captains” in seniors Evan Chan and Cooper Davis. Chan swims short-distance freestyle and butterfly, while Davis is a “utility guy” who is capable of competing wherever he is needed.
Seniors Ali Sykes and Megan Woods are captains of the girls squad. Both swimmers are versatile and can swim multiple events.
“Ali is our top breaststroker,” Boyd said. “Her best event is the 100 and Megan is very similar to Cooper in that I can plug her into any event knowing she will do a solid job.”
Another versatile swimmer is sophomore Chloe Cieslewicz.
“She’s another breaststroker who I can plug in a million different places depending on availability and competition,” Boyd said.
The boys team served notice in the first meet of the season that the team was a force to be reckoned with when junior Henry Brown, Jr., freshman James Cook, senior Robert Brown, and Chan shattered a 20-year-old record in the 400 free relay (3:31.6), a record that had been set two years after Lynnfield started swimming as a co-op with Reading.
“Our boys relay is the best we’ve ever had,” Boyd said. “They’ve yet to be challenged and they have the records now to prove it. They’ll have their hands full when we get to Triton next week, but I don’t see many teams out there that can compete with them. Our relays will give a lot of problems to the top relays in the state. The reality is we are loaded with Wakefield boys and the Lynnfield kids are really nice contributors to the team.”
On the girls side, all three relays have qualified for the sectional tournament. Sophia Tramontozzi, Ally Sykes, Cieslewicz, and Isabella Shrewsbury set the qualifying marks in the 200 medley, 200 free, and 400 free relays.
On the boys side, Henry Brown, Cook, Robert Brown, and Chan have qualified for the state meet in all three relays. Individually, Henry Brown (200 free, 50 free), Chan (50 free, 100 free), and Cook (200 free, 100 back) have qualified for states while brothers Henry Brown (100 free) and Robert Brown (100 fly) have qualified for sectionals.
Boyd has had Jan. 17 circled on his calendar for a long time. That day the teams travel to the Newburyport YMCA to take on Triton. The boys team has won two of the last three CAL titles. The boys came up short two years ago to – you guessed it – Triton.
“Our schedule is set up for a final showdown against Triton. It’s a two-team league between us and Triton,” Boyd said. “Last year was a redemption year after losing two years ago. The boys were undefeated and the girls were 2-3. This year girls are in a good position. Last year their goal was to have a winning record, but this year the goal is to win the whole thing (CAL).”
The CAL championship meet has a new look this season with the girls meet set for Jan. 22 and the boys meet taking place on Jan. 28, both at the Beverly YMCA. After that it’s on to the MIAA North Sectional Championship and MIAA Division 2 Championship meet in February (TBD).
