Opening strong, the Malden High School swim team plans to spend this winter rebuilding their team while striving for greatness as athletes prepare to go to States and beyond.
Currently, the team has gone 4-1, triumphing over Medford, Lynn Classical and Somerville, but suffering a humbling defeat against Melrose. The team is constantly improving, with commitment and a strong sense of community. Although the team has had a hole to fill with the departure of 11 seniors, captains Joao Santos, Joyce Zhou, and Larissa Retamero Granja have run clinics, captains practices, and have been setting precedents to keep the team at full speed.
Santos commented on the state of the team, saying “I think that each of the people who were selected to join are wonderful, amazing human beings!” adding that “Everyone is very good. We've all gotten faster, we've all gotten better, and I think everyone is very committed to this team. We've built a strong community here at Malden.” Santos plans to enhance his mindset and dedication so he can lead the team to a brighter future.
Up until Friday, January 5th, the team had gone undefeated until going up against Melrose. Junior Marie Cheng commented, “Melrose trains at our pool. It was basically a home meet for both of us.” With a hard meet ahead of them, Malden recognized the challenge and went in to win. Throughout the meet, Malden swam their best, but Melrose claimed fastest time in every event besides the 100-yard butterfly where Sophie Tran achieved a time of 1:04.67 beating Melrose by almost 3 seconds.
Bisson commented on the loss stating how “The Greater Boston League is a smaller league with teams that are often less experienced and Malden has always been able to work hard and swim amazingly against the GBL teams. She continued saying “Unfortunately, when our team was up against a stronger and more experienced team , I saw my swimmers become scared.”
Taking any loss can be tough, but Bisson knows the team will continue to grow. “It is so important for my swimmers to realize that there is a fine line between nervous energy that can help us go faster and being so nervous that they tighten up and lose all of their technique.” She continued saying “I told my swimmers that if they go into a meet defeated, they will come out defeated, and that is what they did on Friday against Melrose.”
While the loss of key seniors certainly played into the loss, Malden vowed to train harder than ever and snagged a key win against Somerville on January 9th. With important areas of focus, like technique, head coach Jessica Bisson emphasized how much easier it was this year to individualize and work with sections, helping each athlete become their best selves at their respective events.
When asked about the selection of captains, Bisson spoke passionately, saying “I love them, they are amazing and what they have done to enhance the environment and the overall practice in games shows that they are just an amazing group of individuals who really try to put the team together,” emphasizing the camaraderie of the team and their work ethic.
Key swimmers like Joslyn Nguyen, Tiffany Pham, Hailey and Sophie Tran have already made sectionals, with Hailey and Sophie qualifying for States.
Bisson concluded saying, “The more they work their technique and strive to push hard consistently in practice, the more prepared they will be for every meet and the better they will swim. It is time for Malden swimmers to show teams outside of the GBL what we can do!”
