Scott ’20, So ’20, Tray ’21, and Cronin ’23 set a new school record in the 200 medley relay on Saturday. Photos courtesy of Sam Brown
During their senior day last weekend, Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Swimming and Diving beat the Hotchkiss School. Both Choate teams had winning records entering the meet, and each wanted one more victory before heading into the end-of-the-season championships.
“Our senior day really couldn’t have gone any better,” said Assistant Coach Abby MacCarthy. “Everyone swam very well — especially all of the seniors in their last meet.”
The meet started off exceptionally well for the girls’ team, as they placed first and second place in the 200 Medley Relay event. The winning team of captains Sam Scott ’20 and Isabelle So ’20 with Zoe Tray ’21, and Mealy Cronin ’23 claimed a new school record in the event with a time of 2:03.63. The boys also had a successful start to the meet as they claimed first and third in the 200 IM Relay.
In the next event, the 200-meter freestyle, Grace Zhang ’20 and Martha Chessen ’22 placed first and second. The boys faced tougher competition, but Andrew Chang ’21 swam a fast second half of his race to win the 200-meter freestyle for Choate.
In the 200-meter individual medley (IM) event, Choate took home first place for both girls and boys after strong swims from Tray and Ben Cho ’22.
In the final swimming event before the diving competitions, the 50-meter freestyle, the Choate girls managed to pull off first, second, and fifth place, putting them well ahead of their competition ending the half. The boys finished second, third, and last place but still held a sizable lead of eight points over Hotchkiss.
Hotchkiss had strong divers on their girls’ team and earned first and third place, but freshman Catherine Cronin ’23 secured second for Choate. On the boys’ side, Choate swept in diving, receiving first, second, and third place.
Going into the second half of the meet, both Choate teams were securely ahead of Hotchkiss. However, the Wild Boars didn’t slow down and won the next four events of both boys’ and girls’ 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter freestyle.
In the longest event at the meet, 400-meter freestyle, the Choate girls finished first, third, and fourth, continuing their streak of first-place finishes. Laura Solano-Florez ’20 swam to a season-best of 4:59.11 in the event. The boys managed a third, fifth, and sixth-place finish.
With first-place finishes in the 200-meter freestyle relay, Choate cemented its victory. The girls’ relay of Allison Opuszynski ’20, Zhang, Claire Yuan ’21, and Chessen and the boys’ relay of Parker Scott ’20, Chang, Jack Sun ’21, and Cho both beat the Hotchkiss teams by several seconds.
In the last event of the meet, the 400-meter freestyle relay, the Choate girls’ team was able to finish in first and third, while the boys’ team took second and third place.
The meet ended with the Boys’ Varsity Swimming winning 99-84 and Girls’ Varsity Swimming winning 100-78. The swimmers will use these positive results as momentum as the team prepares for the Founders League and New England Championships on February 29th and March 7-8.
