MHS swimmer Tony Giech performing breaststroke. Photo taken by Carlos Aragon.
Despite the tumultuous year, the swim team has managed to end off the 2021 season quite well, almost going undefeated, losing to Hopkinton during their first meet. It was incredibly challenging due to the issues presenting themselves with COVID and the new format.
The format of the season created many challenges the team had to overcome. The concept of “virtual meets” really made getting into the swim mindset difficult. According to Swimmer Tony Giech, the virtual meet setting made it difficult for him because “it [did not] fully replicate the actual meet environments.” They could not see how the opposite teams were doing, which made the meets much more challenging. Due to the fact that some of the matches were asynchronous, Giech stated that “we usually [did not] even know who won or lost until the next day, or even week.”
Due to the bizarre nature of the season, Coach Jessica Bisson stated that one of their main goals was simply to have fun and have a good time. At the beginning of the season Bisson stated that she was very nervous at the beginning of the season due to the fact that “[she was not] sure how [they] would be able to work together and do everything [they] needed to.” With the virtual format, the seniors who graduated, the swimmers who could not return and new recruits were all presented with challenges that would not be easy to overcome. Despite this, the season also “gave [them] the opportunity to try new things [they had not] done before.” Since there were more open spaces, it gave them the opportunity to put swimmers into events that they would not have been able to if the opposing team was there. Bisson stated that “if you look into the positives that came out of it, [they] really got to build [their] technique and [they] really got to see what everybody could do.”
Captain David Lombardi stated that the team did great despite all of the difficulties of the season. Even though the sense of racing was lacking due to the virtual meets, he said that the team adjusted quite quickly. With this season being his last, he stated that it was quite bittersweet yet he sought to “go out with a bang.” However, he dislocated his knee on the third meet of the season. Despite this, he continued to support his team from the sidelines and once he was cleared, he ended up getting first place in all four of his events and was named a GBL All-Star. While Lombardi will not continue to swim in college, stating that the “MHS pool is where [he] leaves [his] cap and goggles to rest” he added he will definitely remember his four years at MHS and is glad that “[he] made [his] mark on MHS Swimming.”
