Mitch Lockwood led St. John’s Prep to its fourth straight MIAA Division 1 boys’ swimming and diving championship Sunday and 14th overall state title for coach Anthony Padvaiskas.
Prep won the first event of the afternoon at Boston University’s Aquatics Center, the 200-yard medley relay, and the last, the 400-yard freestyle relay. In between, Lockwood won the 50 freestyle in a school-record time of 21.35 seconds, was the runnerup in the 100 freestyle and swam a leg on both the 200 individual medley and 400 freestyle relays.
Prep finished with 240 points, topping Chelmsford (169.5) and Natick (147).
“I love every single second of this,” said Lockwood, a senior from Winchester who plans to swim at Connecticut College.
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“We’re a brotherhood over at the Prep, we work together all year round and train constantly. I just wanted to come out here today and fight for my brothers, and I think I did a pretty good job of that today.”
Depth fueled Prep’s victory as the Eagles placed finishers in the top 16 an impressive 18 times.
But even in celebration, Padvaiskas and his swimmers were quick to acknowledge the absence of Acton-Boxborough’s Jeff Johnson, the revered 41-year coach who died at the age 74 on Friday. He had directed A-B to a fifth-place finish at last week’s North sectional meet at MIT.
“Jeff Johnson was a near and dear friend to me,” said Padvaiskas. “I asked these boys to do me a great favor and just race, in the spirit of coach Jeff. They came here today and gave it everything they had.
“We won three relays showing the depth of our team — and truly I just want to thank coach Johnson for everything he’s done for the sport of swimming in Massachusetts.”
Behind the announcer’s table at the BU center, a poster board dedicated to Johnson was hung for friends, athletes, and coaches to write words in his memory.
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Coaches, administrators, and athletes from A-B, as well as a few MIAA officials wore “500 Club” T-shirts that were made for Johnson to commemorate his 500 career dual meet wins that he reached in December 2016 as the boys’ and girls’ coach.
Under Johnson’s leadership, A-B qualified eight swimmers for Sunday’s state final.
“I told these kids before the meet, just getting in the pool today, no matter what — that they’re all state champs in my book,” said Acton-Boxborough athetic director Steve Martin. Assistant coach Gretcher Turner and diving coach Kristi Pucillo led the team at BU.
“I’m just proud of them,’’ Martin added. “I mean it’s a lot to overcome in two days. To know what he’s meant to everyone else helps us get by a little bit.”
Junior Alex Zhang was the top swimmer for A-B, placing seventh in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the 200 freestyle, as well as contributing to the Colonials’ sixth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.
“[Jeff Johnson is] always in our heads. We’re here to swim for him and we know he’s watching us from above,” said Zhang. “We want to do the best we can for him so we’re here swimming in his memory.”
Eric Eastham (West Springfield) was the only double winner, capturing the 100 and 200 freestyles.
Division 2
The Wayland boys’ dominated from start to finish, sealing their third consecutive state title with 368.5 points, and combined with the girls’ team to sweep the Div. 2 state meet at Boston University’ Aquatics Center.
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The Wayland boys sealed the program’s fifth state title for head coach Mike Foley, who recorded his 14th overall title between the boys’ and girls’ programs after finishing ahead of runner-up Nantucket (220) and third-place Weston (186).
Senior captain Nick Smith, who will swim for Middlebury College next year, started off the night anchoring Wayland’s winning relays in the 200-yard medley (1 minute 36.34 seconds) and 200-yard freestyle (). Smith also captured an individual titles in the 50-yard freestyle (21.99 seconds) and recorded a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (49.05).
“It feels great. I’m just glad I did my part and everyone else did their part as well,” said Smith. “[Winning the 50 free] was one of my goals from the beginning of the year. Sean Devlin for our team won it last year, so I just wanted to carry on that mantle and keep that going.”
Despite a standout performance by Smith, the Warriors’ victory was rooted in their depth.
Wayland had an astonishing 30 top-16 finishes in the night’s 12 events, including three relays. Joining Smith as Wayland’s only other individual winner was sophomore Jiming Xu, who swam a leg on both Wayland’s winning relay teams, and won the 100-yard breaststroke (59.05).
“We just preach the teamwork concept all the time with the groups of kids. It’s not all on one guy, we go see what we can get in each event,” said Foley. “Every year they’ve just done a great job of getting freshman to buy in to our program. Everyone has a job, so know your role and do it.
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“It might not be to win, it might be to score one point and that’s what separates us from these other teams.”
Wayland’s dominant performance in the Division 2 state meet marked the second team Foley has presided over a boys’ and girls’ sweep, with the last coming in 2010.
“It makes me so happy and proud for the seniors of both teams,” said Foley, who now has five boys’ titles to go with his nine girls’ championships. “It was two very different days, but for me as a feeling, it’s really just proud and happy for these seniors.”
Nantucket junior Tyler Roethke was the meet’s lone double-winner, placing first in the 200-yard (1:41:69) and 500-yard freestyle (4:38). Roethke also anchored the Whalers’ winning 400-yard freestyle relay (3:13.65) that propelled Nantucket to runners-up behind Wayland.
“I’ve been working for it for a while, so it’s pretty cool to see it all come together,” said Roethke. “Especially in the 200, going 1-2 with my buddy James [Taaffe]. I mean we’ve been dreaming about that since September so that was definitely a dream come true. We kick each other’s butts every night at practice so it’s really cool to do it here on the big stage.”
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MIAA Division 1 championship results
B oston University’s Aquatics Center
200 medley relay — 1. St. John’s Prep, 1:37.42; 2. Chelmsford, 1:38.96; 3. Westfield, 1:39.75; 4. Newton South, 1:42.21; 5. Natick, 1:42.52.
200 freestyle — 1. Eric Eastham, West Springfield, 1:40.86; 2. Scott Spear, Reading, 1:41.4; 3. Kevin Ochoa, Malden, 1:43.93; 4. Ben Schmelmer, Natick, 1:46.12; 5. Connor Quirbach, Chelmsford, 1:46.26.
200 indivdual medley — 1. Aaron Zhu, Chelmsford, 1:53.33; 2. Henry Keegan, Needham, 1:56.09; 3. Antonio Anastasiades, Lynnfield, 1:56.09; 4. Benjamin Cote, Chelmsford, 1:56.55; 5. Pablo Kohlmann-Garcia, Winchester, 1:59.83.
50 freestyle — 1. Mitchell Lockwood, St. John’s Prep, 0:21.35; 2. Tommy Russell, Westfield, 0:21.39; 3. Chase Konstantakos, Minnechaug, 0:21.56; 4. Shama Priedenyuk, Agawam, 0:21.79; 5. Ben Schmelmer, Natick, 0:21.96.
Diving — 1. Charlie Reichle, Concord-Carlisle, 478.450 points; 2. Sam Tonole, Bromfield, 476.700; 3. John R Byers, Newton North, 456.100; 4. Hunter Whitbeck, Acton-Boxborough, 441.850; 5. Jonah Green, Tantasqua, 411.250.
100 butterfly — 1. Kevin Ochoa, Malden, 0:51.87; 2. Scott Spear, Reading, 0:51.93; 3. Benjamin Cote, Chelmsford, 0:52.19; 4. Ethan Mossi, Lincoln-Sudbury, 0:52.56; 5. Chris Anastasiades, Lynnfield, 0:53.09.
100 freestyle — 1. Eric Eastham, West Springfield, 0:46.08; 2. Mitchell Lockwood, St. John’s Prep, 0:46.3; 3. Connor Quirbach, Chelmsford, 0:48.39; 4. Kyle Gray, Oliver Ames, 0:48.53; 5. Antonio Arena, Natick, 0:48.84.
500 freestyle — 1. Chase Konstantakos, Minnechaug, 4:36.07; 2. Colby Vieira, King Philip, 4:42.37; 3. Daniel Vasquez, Central Catholic, 4:43.43; 4. Tyler Stringfellow, King Philip, 4:44.3; 5. Owen Schwab, Westford, 4:49.17.
200 freestyle relay — 1. St. John’s Prep, 1:30.31; 2. Lincoln-Sudbury, 1:30.61; 3. Needham, 1:31.01; 4. Natick, 1:31.45; 5. Westford, 1:31.48.
100 backstroke — 1. Tommy Russell, Westfield, 0:51.56; 2. Chance Yan, Framingham, 0:54.14; 3. Kyle Lo, Newton South, 0:55.28; 4. Colby Vieira, King Philip, 0:55.63; 5. David Lombardi, Malden, 0:55.72.
100 breaststroke — 1. Antonio Anastasiades, Lynnfield, 0:57.69; 2. Aaron Zhu, Chelmsford, 0:57.87; 3. Ray Cerro, Algonquin, 0:58.13; 4. Ethan Mossi, Lincoln-Sudbury, 0:59.28; 5. Pablo Kohlmann-Garcia, Winchester, 1:00.17.
400 freestyle relay — 1. St. John’s Prep, 3:13.65; 2. Chelmsford, 3:15.23; 3. Natick, 3:18.43; 4. Nashoba, 3:18.62; 5. Minnechaug, 3:19.24.
Team results — 1. St. John’s Prep, 240; 2. Chelmsford, 169.5; 3. Natick, 147; 4. Westford, 133; 5. Needham, 130; 6. Westfield, 109; 7. Minnechaug, 108; 8. Lincoln-Sudbury, 104; 9. Newton South, 95; 10. Acton-Boxborough, 86.
MIAA Division 2 championship results
at Boston University’s Aquatics Center
200 medley relay — 1. Wayland, 1 minute 36 seconds; 2. Nantucket, 1:37; 3. Weston, 1:40; 4. Bishop Feehan, 1:41; 5. East Longmeadow, 1:42.
200 freestyle — 1. Tyler Roethke, Nantucket, 1 minute 41 seconds; 2. James Taaffe, Nantucket, 1:44; 3. Alex Pecze, Ashland, 1:45.95; 4. Ben Guzovsky, Weston, 1:45.96; 5. Jake Williams, Mystic Valley, 1:46.
200 individual medley — 1. Justin Papagelis, Westborough, 1 minute 55 seconds; 2. Erik Watka, Bishop Feehan, 1:57; 3. Oliver Schalet, Northampton, 1:58; 4. Anthony Xue, Wayland, 2:00.18; 5. Robert Strycharz, Seekonk, 2:00.4.
50 freestyle — 1. Nick Smith, Wayland, 21.99 seconds; 2. Blake Anderson, Seekonk, 22.13; 3. Grant Beebe, Nantucket, 22.38; 4. Jack Szyluk, Longmeadow, 22.43; 5. Andrew Brogan, Wayland, 22.52.
Diving — 1. Dale Nickerson, Weston, 540.350 points; 2. Zack Lawrence, Dover-Sherborn, 479.900; 3. Kaleb Osborne, Longmeadow, 473.300; 4. Travis Donelon, Longmeadow, 459.900; 5. Sam Cahaly, Wayland, 430.
100 butterfly — 1. Jacob Cuoco, Old Rochester, 50.96 seconds; 2. Grant Beebe, Nantucket, 51.02; 3. Justin Papagelis, Westborough, 51.14; 4. Jake Williams, Mystic Valley, 51.75; 5. Daniel Nee, Wayland, 52.19.
100 freestyle — 1. Oliver Schalet, Northampton, 47.59 seconds; 2. Christopher Chumbley, Belchertown, 47.96; 3. Charles Nascimben, Catholic Memorial, 48.0; 4. Nick Smith, Wayland, 49.0; 5. Matt Grieco, Wayland, 50.0.
500 freestyle — 1. Tyler Roethke, Nantucket, 4 minutes 38 seconds; 2. Dean Spicer, Cohasset, 4:45.2; 3. Ben Guzovsky, Weston, 4:48.49; 4. Noah Fryou, Lexington, ; 4. Nathan Dragon, Belchertown, 4:48.64; 5. Matthew Stelmokas, Belchertown, 4:55.28
200 freestyle relay — 1. Wayland, 1:29; 2. Belchertown, 1:31.24; 3. Longmeadow, 1:31.57; 4. Ashland, 1:31.65; 5. Weston, 1:31.7.
100 backstroke — 1. Alex Pecze, Ashland, 52.74 seconds; 2. Christopher Chumbley, Belchertown, 53.07; 3. Anthony Xue, Wayland, 53.68; 4. James Taaffe, Nantucket, 53.92; 5. Ryan Campbell, Bishop Feehan, 53.97.
100 breaststroke — 1. Jiming Xu, Wayland, 59.05 seconds; 2. Charles Nascimben, Catholic Memorial, 59.34; 3. Joe Cirame, Mystic Valley, 1:01; 4. Noah Bedard, East Longmeadow, 1:02; 5. Robert Strycharz, Seekonk, 1:03.
400 freestyle relay — 1. Nantucket, 3 minutes 13.65 seconds; 2. Wayland, 3:19.0; 3. Belchertown, 3:19.33; 4. Mystic Valley, 3:21.84; 5. Weston, 3:21.96.
Team results — 1. Wayland, 368.5 points; 2. Nantucket, 220; 3. Weston, 186; 4. Belchertown, 162; 5. Longmeadow, 154; 6. Ashland, 144; 7. Bishop Feehan, 141; 8. Mystic Valley, 139; 9. East Longmeadow, 100.5; 10. Seekonk, 82.5.
Thomas Herron can be reached at thomas.herron@globe.com.