Local Swim Team Doing Great
The Holliston-Medway swim team has come a long way in one season. For the 2013-14 season the team consisted of 26 swimmers from Holliston and Medway High Schools. This year, that number has jumped to 40. This spike was influenced not only by a new crop of freshman participating but also because of past team members spreading the word about their positive experiences being part of this team. Even though the athletes come from two different schools you would never know that by watching the interactions between everyone. The support of each other regardless of their sending school is great to see.
The Holliston Medway swim team trains at the Keefe Tech pool.
Last season was one that could have been seen as very frustrating considering only one dual meet win. While swimmers were not able to enjoy as much team success as they would have liked, they instead focused on other positives like team camaraderie and personal best times. That same focus has carried over to this season with one exception. That exception would be the fact that the Holliston-Medway swim team sits atop the Tri-Valley League with a perfect 6-0 record.
Marc Plumb is preparing to dive, with teammates Will Hein and Sanjay Sekar watching.
What has contributed to this fantastic record is the ability to place swimmers in a variety of events. The team does not have to rely on just a few individuals time and again. All of the swimmers are willing to swim the different events and step up in places that the team needs them to. This is not to say that we don’t have some stand out performances. The second meet of the year saw three team records and one league record broken. Medway sophomore Corinne Carbone broke her own 100 yard butterfly team and league record (which she would later best two more times), Holliston freshman Will Hein broke the team record in the 100 yard breaststroke, and the 400 yard freestyle relay team of Holliston freshmen Sanjay Sekar, George Savino, sophomore Marc Plumb, and Medway senior Nick Dunne broke the team record. Not to stop there, a trio of Holliston freshman, Sekar, Hein, and Savino, and one sophomore, Plumb broke the 200 medley relay team record and once again took down the 400 yard freestyle relay mark. In addition to our swimmers the team has two divers who earn crucial points every meet. For the divers it is either their first or second year in that role. You would not guess that by watching what they do on that board every week. It is not an easy feat to step up on that diving board and be the center of attention while trying to complete a difficult dive you might have just learned.
Jackie Dunne of Medway is ready for a half twist dive.
As the assistant coach of the team I compile all swimmer and diver stats and present them on our team website. When putting in the different times and scores I am so impressed with how almost all of our swimmers and divers consistently improve. While swimming can be a game measured in hundredths of a second and getting a best time even by such a small amount is considered a victory, we are seeing times improving by three and even five seconds at a time. This can all be attributed to the time and dedication that the athletes are putting into being part of this team.
At the time of this article the entire team has one dual meet left against Canton at their pool and then the TVL championship being held at Wheaton college. I know that at both of these events we will continue to see the successes that have been had all season long. In addition to these meets some swimmers will have or already have qualified for the Sectional and State championships being held at Wellesley College and MIT.