By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Northborough – The Algonquin Regional High School co-ed swim team is just one year removed from one of the most renowned consecutive win streaks in area high school sports, and from appearances at the team’s opening meet versus Nashoba Regional High School at Clark University Dec. 13, there is very little slippage from that past accomplishment.
Those achievements consist of 56 consecutive victories dating back to Jan. 29, 2011, 15 new school records set and four consecutive Mid-Wachusett A titles earned. And when the streak ended with the beginning of the 2015-2016 season, it did not conclude with a loss as is the customary manner for when win-streaks are snapped, but rather a competition format change.
The revised format changed from one mixed-gender meet to separate girls’ and boys’ meets. Teams remain co-ed but no longer do boys compete against girls in events. Under the new rules, boys now compete against boys and girls versus girls, a radical shift from the past. The change barely registered, however, as the girls went on to record a stellar 10-1 season with the boys close behind at 8-3.
The team’s matchup with Nashoba was a split decision as the girls were victorious, 96-74, while the boys fell short with a final score of 71-92.
Double winners for the girls included Nicole Saulnier (200 IM, 100 breaststroke), Rachael Shek (50 free, 100 free) and Alexi Wong (200 free, 100 fly) while single-event winners were
Kate Beland (500 free), Caroline Seppa (100 backstroke) and Lizzie Meschisen (one-meter diving). Meschisen’s performance set a new school record.
Sectional qualifiers were Seppa, Saulnier, Shek and Annie Lindgren (200 medley relay); Shek, Tyler Potter, Saulnier, Wong (400 free relay); Shek (50 free); Lindgren (50 free); Julia Labich (50 free); Wong (100 fly); and Saulnier (100 breaststroke). Wong also qualified for States in the 200 free.
Double winners on the boys’ side were Matt Beland (200 free, 500 free) and Ryan Murphy (50 free, 100 free), while single-event victories were notched by Ray Cerro (100 fly) and Nate Scaringi (100 breaststroke). Beland, Scaringi, Cerro and Murphy captured the 200 medley relay.
Beland, Cerro and the 200 Medley Relay team all were sectional qualifiers while Cerro did the same for state competition.
“We came together as a team and we were strong today,” said Labich. “We’re going to have a great season. It’s really important to get off to a fast start as a team because you look at your times in the beginning meets and you see how much you can improve both as a team and individually.”
“This past year we’ve really come together as a team and we support each other at all times,” Scaringi explained. “Myself and the other captains have really stressed being a team. Ultimately, we win and lose as a team and if we do lose as a team we’ll come back stronger the next time. Getting off to a good start is super important because it sets the tone for the team. This team’s awesome and we want to carry on the legacy.”
Equally pleased was head coach Jean Fedak who saw both positives and negatives, but likes the balance between veteran swimmers on the team complementing an influx of young talent eager to one day make their mark on this Tomahawk program.
“First meeting of the season I thought we had a lot of ups and a lot of downs,” she acknowledged. “We definitely have some things to work on but I think we had a very promising start. I think that we saw a lot of progress even from the beginning of last year to this year.
We have a lot of new kids on the team this year so there’s a lot of excitement. We’ll learn from some mistakes we made today.”
“We’re seeing that there’s a lot of shift to the lowerclassmen,” said team co-captain Nick Pierce. “They’ve been very good in practice. They’ve been working very hard and it’s great to see that.”
The 2016-2017 Algonquin Regional High Swimming and Diving Team roster consists of 40 swimmers including seniors Carey Davis, Max Donahue, Gretchen Forbush, Nathan Goddard, Julia Labich, Nick Pierce, Maddie Rawstron, Nate Scaringi, Kelly Slovin, and Julianna Young as well as juniors Allison Berardi, Olivia Hermanspan, Sofie Hopkins and Annie Lindgren.
Labich, Pierce and Scaringi are team captains. Fedak is assisted by Paul Renfrew, Jenna Williams, Mike Fedak and team managers Carolyn Cohen, Farah Djunaedi and Laura Shi.