Boys’ Swimming Keeps the Streak
Boys’ swimming came away with yet another win this Saturday, defeating Loomis Chaffee 98-85, bringing their record to 5-2. After opening the season with two losses, the boys have picked up the pace with a victory in each of the last five meets.
The confidence of having four straight wins under their belts gave Big Red a significant psychological advantage heading into the meet. “We went into this meet pretty pumped, trying to keep up the same mentality and energy from our past meets,” upper Thomas Gallup said.
“We were on a four game win streak and we wanted to keep up the fast swimming, especially with the New England Championships nearing.”
Lower Joel Lotzkar echoed Gallup’s sentiments about the meet. “We were on a four game win streak and we wanted to keep up the fast swimming, especially with the New England Championships nearing,” he said.
Still, despite their recent success, the boys knew that they had to stay focused on delivering good performances in order to walk away with the win. “We thought that it was going to be a pretty close duel—that every race was going to be a fight,” Gallup said.
Indeed, Loomis Chaffee provided some good competition, bringing out stellar performances from Big Red. Upper Will Belmont had a fantastic meet, out-touching a Loomis competitor to win the 200 yard freestyle and blowing away the field in the 100 yard butterfly, winning by over four seconds.
Upper Graham Hazlett cruised to victory in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles, with Gallup finishing second in the latter to complete a dominating performance from Exeter in that event. Gallup also comfortably won the 100 yard breaststroke.
Seniors Brooks Saltonstall and Andrew Eigner also delivered impressive performances, finishing first and second place, respectively, in the 100 backstroke by an enormous four second margin.
Senior Michael Tuchler acknowledged the respect the athletes on both teams had for each other despite the close competition. “Loomis showed a lot of sportsmanship during the meet. Their swimmers shook our hands after a close race, whether they won or lost,” he said.
The solid times from this meet are impressive, considering that the boys are still in the midst of peak training. “Overall, the team's times were around what we’ve been doing for the past season, and since the meet was after a pretty tough training week, I'd say that the group has definitely been improving. At this rate, the team is shaping up for a great end-of-season,” Hazlett said.
Looking forward to this Saturday, the boys will see if they can keep up their win streak against their greatest rival, Andover. Andover has lost only five meets in the past decade, but they recently tied the same Deerfield team that Big Red defeated by two points, so a win is not out of the question.
The boys will also be starting every swimmer’s favorite part of the season: the beloved taper. Their training volume will go down while maintaining intensity in order to sharpen up in preparation for Interschols. “Coach Mills will make sure we are well rested and mentally ready for the big meet,” Lotzkar said. After a fourth place finish last year, the team will see if they can cap off a successful season with a podium finish.