CAMBRIDGE – St. John’s Prep found themselves in an unfamiliar position in this year’s Div. 1 swim championships, having to dethrone the reigning champs rather than defend their own title.

Historically, the Eagles had owned the meet, winning 15 of the last 17 titles since 2006, with Westford Academy taking the crown in 2023. Sunday at MIT, the Prep reclaimed their position atop Div. 1, beating out the Ghosts 239-212 to win the Boys Swim and Dive state championship for the 16th time in program history.

“It was a different situation for us… This is probably one of the smallest teams we have ever won this with,” said Prep head coach Jeff Fiore. “We knew looking at the psyche sheets if we could just move up in all of our races, we would have a really good shot.”

The Eagles had two top-five finishers in Matthew Church (4:44.25) and Brian Story (4:52.85) in the 500 Free, which staked them to a 142-111 lead through eight events.

Said Fiore: “Church had an excellent day, he had some personal best times, and moved up in rank in both of his events.”

The Ghosts could not keep up with the quantity of swimmers who qualified for St. John’s Prep down the stretch, as the Eagles pulled away earning points in the three of the final four events, and tacking on 19 points in the 1 Meter Diving.

Prep took a 209-179 lead into the final event, the 400 Freestyle Relay. The Eagles finished fourth in the event to finish out the meet with 239, ahead of Westford’s 212. Lincoln-Sudbury finished in third with 165 points.

“These guys are expected to perform their best one day of the year, and they did, they stepped up,” Fiore said. “We came here with six swimmers and two divers… We’ve had 20-plus in previous years. We were able to move some guys around in some events and it helped us out majorly.”

The Eagles won the title despite not placing first in any events, a result of having qualified to swim in 18 heats throughout 12 events.

Senior captain Flynn McDonell provided a big boost for Prep, improving many of his scores to give the Eagles an edge.

“McDonell dropped a ton of time,” Fiore said. “He was such a great leader this whole year and he stepped up when we needed it most.”

Behind through six events, Westford Academy sophomore Aiden Gouldson won the 100 Freestyle with a time of 47.84 to tie the score with St. John’s Prep at 111-111 with five events to go.

Gouldson collected two first place finishes, also winning the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1:43.70.

In one of the more impressive individual performances of the day, senior Jack Maron from Sharon qualified for All-American consideration in two events, swimming a 1:50.01 in the 200 IM, and a 4:31.48 in the 500 Freestyle.

Senior Ryan Connors from Attleboro had three wins, as part of the 200 Medley Relay (1:38.53) and the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:29.29), while winning the 100 Butterfly (51.05), helping his team to a fourth place finish.