Weston boys swimming is on par with the Celtics in the NBA, the Canadians in the NHL, or the hated Yankees in MLB, with 18 of the last 22 Division 2 state titles going into the Wildcats' trophy case.
In 2010-11, there is a new King.
King Philip secured their first Division 2 State Swimming Championship in the school’s history with a 178-172 win over Weston Saturday night at Blodgett Pool on the campus of Harvard University.
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Weston led by two, 148-146, going into the 12th and final event. But the Wildcats (Ian Delaney, Sam Cekela, Ryan Burrow, Tommy Peacher) placed third in the 400 Freestyle while the Warriors took the top spot with Ryan Palmer, Chris Digiacomo, Kyle Viera, and Patrick Myers placing first overall with a 3:17.33 to allow King Philip to catapult into first place.
The Warriors’ program is only three years old so the victory is that much more impressive over the Wildcats’ juggernaut. Concord Carlisle (111) pulled down the bronze, while two-time defending Division 2 state champion – and cross-town rival - Wayland settled for fourth place with an overall score of 94.
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“Oh, it’s huge”, said King Philip head coach, Heather Tomassian, when asked how it felt about defeating Weston in the final heat. “Weston, for 25 years, has been top dog and it was amazing to come in and do as well as we did.”
Hall of Fame head coach Claude Valle, in his fourth year at Weston and 29th as a high school swim coach, applauded his young team but tipped his capped to the new champ in the locker room.
“We knew we had to have a lead going into that last relay but we swam our hearts out and (King Philip) just out swam us”, said Valle. “King Philip is surely a deserving champion.”
King Philip was anchored by Myers, as the University of North Carolina-bound senior knocked down two meet records in the 100 Butterfly and the 100 backstroke. The All-American knocked down a 30-year record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.31, besting Norm Shippert’s record of 50.82 from 1981 in the sixth event of the night and then followed it up in Event 10 with a time of 49.68 in the 100-yard backstroke taking down Sal Barba’s (St. John’s Shrewsbury) 50.70 from 2004.
But more importantly, Myers outdistanced Weston’s Tommy Peacher in the final leg of the 400 Freestyle and raised his hand triumphantly in his final season with the Warriors.
“You put him in the water and you have a trump card like that at the end is why he is there,” said Valle. “For (King Philip), without a big lead – (Myers) was able to dominate.”
Weston was poised to pull away as the Wildcats won the 200-yard Freestyle in Event 9 with Jack Blyzinskyj, Tyler Lewtan, Delaney, and Peacher as the anchor with a time of 1:28.55. But after Myers snapped his second meet record in Event 10 to keep King Philip in the hunt, Peacher’s brother Nick, the senior captain and emotional leader for the Wildcats, had to follow and placed a respectable fifth overall in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.08 to keep things in Weston's favor.
“We swam way over what we should have swam today and I give all the credit in the world to Nick Peacher,” said Valle. “He gave one of the best inspirational speeches I ever heard on the bus and we gave it all we could.”
Sean O’Brien of Concord-Carlisle smashed his own 1-meter diving state and meet record with an overall score of 639.65, but Myers - especially in the last leg of the fifth and final heat, was the story of the meet.
“(Myers) wanted it so bad for this team and him and his mom were so integral in getting this program started from the beginning,” added Tomassian. “He loved this team, he worked so hard for them, so I’m glad to see him come in because he knew if we were close in that last leg it was going to work out.”
MIAA BOYS STATE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
DIVISION 2 - FINAL RESULTS:
Team Rankings: 1. King Philip 178; 2. Weston 172; 3. Concord-Carlisle 111; 4. Wayland 94; 5. Amherst-Pelham 81; 6. Mystic Valley 68; 7. Bishop Feehan 63; 8. Northampton 56; 9. Monson 51; 10. Hopkinton 45; 11. Milford 42; 12. Norwell 39; 13. Arlington Catholic 33; 14. Coyle & Cassidy 30; 15. Bishop Stang 27; 16. East Longmeadow 26; 17. Medfield 24; 18. Belmont 23; 19. Lynnfield 22; 19. Danvers 22; 21. Westborough 21; 21. Seekonk 21; 23. Longmeadow 20; 24. Hamilton-Wenham 18; 25. Sharon 17.
Event 1 – Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay: 1. King Philip (Aaron Gustafson, Ryan Palmer, Patrick Myers, Kyle Viera), 1:36.94; 2. Weston (Jack Blyzinskyj, Nick Peacher, Tyler Lewtan, Sam Cekela), 1:38.72; 3. Wayland (Doug Curtin, Mike Ren, Ian Stack, Matt Devlin), 1:40.06; 4. Mystic Valley (Shane Kinnon, Colin Kinnon, Patrick Kinnon, Zack Kelso), 1:41.05; 5. Bishop Feehan (Mike Charpentir, Christian Tinory, Chad Schreiber, Ryan Griffin), 1:43.24.
Event 2 – Boys 200 Yard Freestyle: 1. Kevin Bradley (Milford), 1:43.13; 2. Jeff Cook (Lynnfield), 1:45.90; 3. Tommy Peacher (Weston), 1:47.12; 4. Kyle Viera (King Philip), 1:47.46; 5. Kevin McManus (Sharon), 1:48.39.
Event 3 – Boys 200 Yard IM: 1. Ryan Bobianski (East Longmeadow), 1:55.98; 2. Peter McDonald (Norwell), 2:00.47; 3. Ryan Palmer (King Philip) 2:00.53; 4. Ben Kennedy (Belmont), 2:00.58; 5. Graham Beck (Danvers), 2:01.45; 6. Ryan Burrow (Weston), 2:02.39.
Event 4 – Boys 50 Yard Freestyle: 1. Drew Andre (Concord-Carlisle), 21.91; 2. Aaron Gustafson (King Philip), 21.92; 3. Jack Bylzinskyj (Weston), 22.10; 4. Ian Stack (Wayland), 22.29; 5. Mike Fothergill (Arlington Catholic), 22.42; 8. Ian Delaney (Weston), 22.62.
Event 5 – Boys 1M Diving: 1. Sean O’Brien (Concord-Carlisle), 639.65; 2. Micah Rembrandt (Longmeadow), 520.10; 3. Rohan Bhatt (Wellesley), 470.90; 4. Joel Bierwert (Northampton), 397.30; 5. Nate Sylvan (Amherst-Pelham) 380.80; 6. Alex Walder (Manchester-Essex), 374.45; 7. Jamie Packs (Weston), 364.90; 8. Austin Brennan (Wayland), 363.45.
Event 6 – Boys 100 Yard Butterfly: 1. Patrick Myers (King Philip), 49.31; 2. Tyler Lewtan (Weston), 52.90; 3. Ian Stack (Wayland), 53.06; 4. Peter McDonald (Norwell), 54.56; 5. Conor Davis (Medfield), 55.03.
Event 7 – Boys 100 Yard Freestyle: 1. Leo Wright (Amherst-Pelham), 46.48; 2. Drew Andre (Concord-Carlisle), 47.73; 3. Colin Machat (Northhampton) 48.46; 4. Tommy Peacher (Weston), 48.58; 5. Gavin Easton (Monson), 48.79.
Event 8 – Boys 500 Yard Freestyle: 1. Kevin Bradley (Milford), 4:36.36; 2. Robert Owen (Coyle & Cassidy), 4:44.70; 3. Kyle Viera (King Philip) 4:44.90; 4. Connor Haley (Medfield), 4:50.89; 5. Casey Grant (Bishop Feehan), 4:54.86.
Event 9 – Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Weston (Jack Blyzinskyj, Tyler Lewtan, Ian Delaney, Tommy Peacher), 1:28.55; 2. Concord-Carlisle (Drew Andre, Will Banfield, Sebastian Key, Trevor Castrichini), 1:29.06; 3. Wayland (Ian Stack, Matt Devlin, Mark Karlson, Matt Cramer), 1:32.54; 4. Northampton (Joel Bierwert, Jeffrey Lashway, Matthew Weiss, Colin Machat), 1:32.73; 5. Bishop Stang (Charlie Bullis), Max Kearns, Jon Mariner, Nate Desrochers), 1:33.11.
Event 10 – Boys 100 Yard Backstroke: 1. Patrick Myers (King Philip), 49.68; 2. Aaron Gustafson (King Philip), 51.96; 3. Ben Kennedy (Belmont) 53.86; 4. Jack Blyzinskyj (Weston), 54.09; 5. Ryan Bobianski (East Longmeadow), 54.45.
Event 11 – Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. Mike Ren (Wayland), 58.63; Leo Wright (Amherst-Pelham), 1:00.20; 3. Graham Beck (Danvers), 1:00.72; 4. Colin Kinnon (Mystic Valley), 1:01.83; 5. Nick Peacher (Weston), 1:03.08.
Event 12 - Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. King Philip (Ryan Palmer, Chris Digiacomo, Kyle Viera, Patrick Myers), 3:17.33; 2. Concord-Carlisle (Trevor Castrichini, Seth Bird, Sebastian Key, Drew Andre); 3. Weston (Ian Delaney, Sam Cekela, Ryan Burrow, Tommy Peacher), 3:21.01; 4. Bishop Feehan (Ryan Griffin, Grant Casey, Jack Pettine, Chad Schreiber), 3:22.20; 5. Hopkinton (Paul Lagasse, Kevin Lagasse, Alex Carbone, John Lagasse), 3:24.98.
