Boys' Swimming and Diving Dominate at Milton Meet

EXETER, NH – The boys’ varsity swim team snagged their first victory of the season this past week against Milton Academy. With a final score of 101-82, Big Red crushed the competition, with both the swim team and diving team beating the respective Milton squads.While this meet was not particularly challenging for the varsity swimmers, it was still a good show of competition and presented the team with the opportunity to compete without as much pressure as they may face later in the season.“The meet was not too stressful because they aren't exactly the strongest team. We swam our off events, so we got to practice events which we don't normally swim,” senior captain Joe Shepley said.This experience also provided the boys with a chance to have a little fun in this more relaxed meet.Lower Graham Hazlett said, “It was a fun meet to swim, because the varsity team got to swim their off events, and we still won most of the races, so in the end we won the meet easily.”Although many swam their off events, the team still scored several first place finishes, winning in the 200 freestyle race, the 200 individual medley, the 50 free events and the 400 freestyle relay. Prep Joel Lotzkar weighed in on the overall performance of the team.“All throughout the meet, we had lots of fantastic races by PEA swimmers,” Lotzkar said. “We ended strong with the final 400 free relay and came away with the overall points win.”The boys diving team also performed well in their events, beating out the Milton squad by 18 points.There were a few swimmers who stood out amongst the crowd at this meet, namely Hazlett, Lotzkar and lower David Shepley. Hazlett won the 50 free event by two hundredths of a second, just barely beating Milton's best sprinter.“Dave [Shepley] also swam really well at that meet. It’s really great to see how committed he is to the team,” upper Brooks Saltonstall said.“Joel did especially well,” lower Ernesto Brown added. “He’s a new kid coming onto the team, and to see how great he’s doing is really encouraging. He’s got a lot of potential.” Lotzkar even managed to squeak out a first place finish in the 500 freestyle against Joe Shepley.“I managed to beat him by .21 seconds... I was ahead of him by a body length and a half until the last 100 meters, then he started picking up his pace and after that, it was neck and neck until the finish,” Lotzkar commented on the startling outcome of the race.Although this was the boys’ first meet after the winter break, they still managed to put up a great performance. “The meet against Milton was our first since coming back, and everybody trained a different amount over break so it was a little different,” upper Erick Friis said. However, coach Don Mills was happy with the performance shown by both the diving and swimming teams at the meet.“I am pleased with this great performance coming off of the winter break,” Mills said. “Each meet is a stepping stone towards our ultimate goal of the New England championships.”