Varsity diver Haley Williams ’18 completes a reverse dive at the team’s meet versus Deerfield.
Last Saturday, at the Larry Hart Pool, the boys’ and girls’ swim teams took on Deerfield, their foes from the Emerald City. Boys’ Varsity Swimming defeated the Big Green, 97-75. This marked the Boars’ fourth consecutive win of the season. I spoke to Varsity Swimming Head Coach Sara Massa as well as Varsity Diving Coach Benjamin Small to reflect on Choate’s performance.
Joseph Coyne ’19: How do you think your boys swam and dove tonight?
Coach Sara Massa: They were awesome! They were incredibly strong and focused, and they didn’t make any mistakes. They’re not rested yet; they’re not at their top form, but they brought it home. They really wanted to beat Deerfield, and they worked to do it. Mr. Curry did a fantastic lineup that we reviewed together, and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
Coach Benjamin Small: Vincenzo DiNatale ’19 swam very well today in the breaststroke.
SM: DiNatale, Alan Luo ’18, Dan Shao ’18, and George McCabe ’20 — even though he was in exposition — all had incredible swims.
BS: Calvin Carmichael ’18 went to the Women’s March in Hartford; he came back without any time to warm up, went right out onto the diving board, and dove great. Matt Lee ’20, in his second meet, had a personal best and scored 158 points, coming in fifth place. Kobe Tray ’19 was one point off his own school record.
SM: Scott Romeyn ’18, Tristan So ’17, and Thomas Issa ’17 all swam excellent. Tristan and Scott were very close to breaking some more school records, and were looking forward to those swims.
JC: You guys seemed to be the first off the blocks in a lot of the races. Was that a focus in practice this week or this season?
SM: I’m actually not happy with the way we do that yet, but I’m glad that you noticed how we have progressed in it. It is definitely something that I try to get my swimmers to focus on. We need more improvement in turns and technical than we do in training. That’s the responsibility, and the boys and girls have to be more accountable.
JC: Any last comments about the meet?
BS: It feels good to beat Deerfield.
SM: It feels awesome!
I also spoke with varsity swimmer Oliver Chessen ’19 to get a team member’s perspective on Saturday’s meet.
JC: How do you think you guys swam today?
Oliver Chessen ’19: For the boys, it was a tremendous day. We came out and swam hard from the get-go.
JC: How was the coaching?
OC: Obviously, a multitude of factors contributed to the win, but I think the most critical factor was the coaching. I also think we were especially motivated this meet. At halftime, when the divers went, Coach Sarah brought us in and said, “Look, we’re up by five points.” She said, “You guys need to win. You guys have got to hang on to this. You have got to race.” That really got us motivated and got us going. She does such a good job of motivating people. I think that, with her continued presence behind us, we have bright things in our future.”
