Coming to an end of this years season, the Malden High swim team managed to pull together a really good season. They swapped to a new league and lost many of their veteraned swimmers, but they still managed to place third and even make it to states, succeeding there as well.
This year was very challenging for the Malden High swim team, when asked about this, Senior Pete Jinapin stated that ”The new league has proved to be more of a challenge compared to the old one, but [the team] fared well considering that [they] had no diving team. [The boys] won the league meet, and [their] overall team placed third at [the Northeastern Conference].”
Before the states this year, the swimmers had broken records and won many awards. Senior Pete Jinapin won the NEC Male Swimmer of the Year, and finished 8th in the 500 freestyle out of 31 competitors, which is a new school record. Junior Kevin Ochoa made 3rd place in 100 fly and 200 freestyle competing against roughly 30 competitors for each. His 200 freestyle lap managed to set a new school record.
The loss of players and the introduction to a new team has posed a challenge for the swim team, but they managed to push through and come in third place for the season. When asked about if the team would be ready for states, Kevin Ochoa stated that “The swimmers have done everything necessary to prepare. [He is] sure [the team will] be fully prepared to compete to [their] highest capacity.”
The new season has posed new challenges for the team, but has also created new goals for the team to set. Kevin Ochoa talked about this saying that “A goal among [the team is] to break as many records as [they] can this year, and to try and place as highly as possible among the other competitors.” and Coach Bisson said that “The goals [for the team] are always to swim best times and to try and win [their] heat so that [they] have the potential to score in the top eight.”
Freshman David Lombardi, Junior Kevin Ochoa, Sophomore Haoxi Wang, and Senior Pete Jinapin managed to come in seventh place out of 16 in the boys 200 yard medley relay. Senior and Captain Pete Jinapin stated that “I was super happy that our relay could pull off that time and a bit surprised. We did really well”
Along with making it to states and performing well, Senior Pete Jinapin also broke the Malden High school record which he had set a few years prior. Pete’s original time was 1:59.74, but his new time is 1:58.29 for the 200 yard individual medley. He also broke the 500 free record, which he also set. His original time was 5:06.34, but his new record is 4:52.24. Pete Jinapin stated that “Beating a school record is always fun.”
Jinapin also managed to come in second place in the division one state championship in the 100 breaststroke. Pete responded to this by stating that “[he] was surprised because [He] was seeded in the event with the second slowest seedtime and then [he] jumped over 30 places to get second. It was a great swim but [he] wishes it could have been a bit faster.” The first place time in the 100 breaststroke was 58.20, while his time was 1:00.24. Junior Kevin Ochoa also managed to win fourth place in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 52.55 seconds
This year’s states were a huge success for the Malden High swim team. Not only did the team make states in a more challenging league, but they did so with a loss of many veteran swimmers. At states they managed to pull together some great times and even break some records.
