Latin Academy easily captures Boston City League swimming championship
BOSTON – It was a complete display of excellence for the Latin Academy swim team at the Boston City League championship.
The Dragons were able to emerge victorious in seven of the 11 events at the meet, totaling 124 points en route to the championship victory over programs from East Boston and O’Bryant.
“It feels great,” said Dragons’ swimmer Jeremy Bradley. “I love my team. I really think this meet has a lot of energy and a lot of people in it. Our team was really coordinated at this meet and we had a lot of fun.”
The Dragons started out hot right from the first race, which was the 200-yard medley relay. A finish in a swift time of 1:58.32 helped them coast to the victory and take a quick lead.
However, O’Bryant put up quite the fight in the next two events. Yiorgo Katsompenakis took the victory in the mixed 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:24.50, and Marquis Francois followed that up with a victory in the mixed 200-yard individual medley.
East Boston’s Brian Munoz took second in the 200-yard freestyle and the Dragons nabbed second and third place in the 200 IM. Following this, Latin Academy really erupted.
Jack Mogan took home wins in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle, while Bradley earned a victory in the 100-yard butterfly. The Dragons’ depth came up huge in these rounds as well, as the team earned top three finishes in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly and swept the podium in the 100-yard freestyle.
Bradley attributed the excellent performance to the buy-in from the team as a whole and the school’s commitment to the program.
“It just shows how much passion BLA has for swimming and how much passion the BLA swimmers have,” Bradley said.
Katsompenakis captured the 500-yard freestyle, putting O’Bryant at the top of the podium again. Francois did the same in the 100 yard breaststroke, but other than these performances the Dragons continued to run the table.
This included the 100-yard backstroke, which was one by junior Melinda Field. She said she was motivated by it being her older teammates final meet, and her desire for them to finish as city champions.
“Being with girls that I have grown up with my whole life and it being their last meet, I felt like I had to do it for them,” Field said.
She also expressed pride with how hard the team worked and said that winning the championship made all that effort worth it.
“I love this team and I really feel like we pushed ourselves this season,” Field said. “I’m just really proud of everyone.”
