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BOYS’ SWIMMING SECTIONALS

St. John’s Prep, King Philip win swimming titles

St. John’s Prep, the defending state champions in boys’ swimming, made a huge statement at the North Sectional on Sunday at WPI. The Eagles dominated, placing at least one athlete in the top three for every event as they scored 429 points, beating Westford Academy by 127 points.

“It was a real team effort today and I am so proud of the kids,” said Prep coach Tony Padvaiskas. “Our seniors have really come together this year and developed into excellent leaders.”

Alexander Swaim, part of Prep’s senior leadership, set a meet record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.19 seconds. Another senior, John Bennet, won the 200 freestyle by nearly three seconds with a personal-best time of 1:42.88.

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Westford won 200 medley relay (1:36.56) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:11.79), and came in second in the 200 freestyle relay. (St. John’s Prep took two seconds and a first in the relays.)

The individual standout of the meet was Westford’s Brian Poon. The junior set meet records in the 100 butterfly (49.83) and the 100 breaststroke (57.66).

Poon was also an essential part of the Ghost’s relay teams; they set a meet record in the 200 medley and narrowly missed another meet record in the 400 freestyle. Justin Yao, Jack Koravos, and Jason Jung joined Poon in the 200 medley.

South/Central — No event represented this sectional better than the 400 freestyle relay. The boys’ team from Bishop Feehan led the first two legs of the race, but King Philip’s final two swimmers teamed up for a comeback victory, edging the Shamrocks by .23 seconds.

Just like in the relay, Bishop Feehan got off to a strong start in Sunday’s meet. The Shamrocks led after four events, but King Philip won five of the final seven to capture the title.

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The Warriors, who were 11-0 this season, finished with 218 points. Bishop Feehan was second (189) and Framingham third (155).

Chris DiGiacomo led the way for the Warriors, winning the 100-yard butterfly in 52.59 and the 200 individual medley in 1:56.47. DiGiacomo was also a part of the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:30.78) and the 400 free relay (3:18.35).

Senior Luke Sprague contributed a win in the 100 freestyle and junior Michael Choate took the 100 backstroke.