Lincoln-Sudbury Boys Take Second in North Sectional Swim Meet

The Lincoln-Sudbury boys swim and dive team earned 198 points Saturday during the MIAA Boys North Sectional Swimming and Diving Championships at the Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center at M.I.T., good enough for second place.

St. John's Prep who won with a score of 268.

The following 12 L-S boys earned sectional qualifying times this season: seniors Sam Gyory, Ryan Shelley, Tim Storer, Justin Tse; juniors Ian Carlson, Ryan Fleming, Bryan Johnson, Ryan Kenney, Sam Mackie, Joe Merullo; sophomore Eddie Hurtig; and freshman Tom Edwards.

The meet started with a roll call of all senior swimmers who walked past the 1 through 8 numbered podium and around the pool to be honored at their last high school sectional meet. A total of 40 teams participated in the event.  L-S had a strong showing of support by parents, grandparents, siblings and the tie-dyed shirted L-S girls team which openly cheered their teammates on.  

The meet started off with a competitive 200 medley relay. Swimmers and spectators had to look at the result board to see who finished first. The L-S team of Gyory, Mackie, Storer and Fleming set an L-S record breaking time of 1:37:09, but it wasn't enough to beat St. John's Prep (1:36:82).  

The 200 freestyle was another race that was so close you had to look at the score board to see who grabbed the gold. The time between first and second place was 0.06 seconds. Tse swam a hard-fought race coming in second with a time of 1:44:29, which broke his own L-S record. Johnson swam his hardest and took 14th (1:53:46) while Edwards placed 20th (1:55:50).

The 200 IM was another hard-fought battle with St. John's Prep. Storer knocked three seconds off his personal best time with a second-place finish (1:56:79), coming very close to breaking the L-S record. Mackie finished fifth (2:01:39) and knocked two seconds off his best time.

In the 50 freestyle, the first seven swimmers were within .30 seconds of each other. Fleming sprinted all out to a fourth-place finish with the time of 22:16.

The boys 1-meter diving competition wasn't the same this year. Shelley missed the event but will compete at the State Meet.

In the 100 butterfly, Reading swimmer Connor Daly placed first (52:12). Gyory's incredible speed and technique earned him a third-place finish (53:00) followed by  Storer's personal-best time of 54:20, which earned him a fifth-place spot on the podium.   

In the 100 freestyle, Tse took second on the podium with a phenomenal time of 48.35. Fleming swam his best time of 49:24 for the bronze. Edwards finished with  an impressive time of 53:10.  

In the 500 freestyle, Johnson started strong and had his best ever finish with a time of 5:10:67 and placed 14th in this 40-team competition.  

Johnson got back in the pool and swam the 200 freestyle relay with teammates Tse, Fleming and Merullo.  They placed third with a time of 1:30:99, just shy of the L-S record of 1:30:56 set in 2009.  

Gyory won the 100 backstroke with an amazing finish of 52:44.  His last name will enrich the leaderboard at Atkinson Pool with this record-breaking performance. Hurtig had an outstanding performance in this race and swam his best-ever time of 58:61, beating his old mark by three seconds.

The L-S crowd pleaser of the day was the 100 breastsroke. Mackie swam his best time of 1:00:88 and came in third. Kenney wowed the crowd with his best performance, coming in 13th with a time of 1:04:71, which qualified him to swim at States.

The final event of the day was a record breaking performance for an L-S 400 freestyle relay team. Gyory, Mackie, Storer and Tse brought home the silver and crushed the L-S record by three seconds with a time of 3:14:47.  St. John's Prep took first (3:13:49).

The State Meet will be held Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m., at Harvard.