Exeter Swim Triumphs at NEPSAC
The girls and boys swim teams pose for victory shots while the coaches are caught celebrating the sweet moment. Courtesy of @exeterathletics
By ERIN HAN and LAUREN LEE
Over the weekend of March 2-3, the Big Red swim team competed in the Division 1 New England Preparatory School Athletics Council (NEPSAC) meet, held this year at Phillips Academy.
At the end of the day, the girls’ team was crowned the Division 1 champion—beginning a streak from last year’s win—and the boys’ team secured second place in New England. Lower Mena Boardman set a New England record with a time of 51.62 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly, and upper Ethan Guo set a pool record of 49.07 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke.
Captain Michael Yang described the team’s preparation for the meet. “Leading into Easterns, the team had a quick drop taper: a short rest period followed by training right up until a few days before the meet. But for Interschols, we had almost a full two-week taper, so everyone was feeling pretty fresh and ready to go come race time.”
“Expectations going into the meet were pretty high all around, especially coming off good performances at E/A and Easterns Championships. As a team, our goal was to place second overall in points and to try and challenge Andover for the team title,” upper Rudd Day said, who hoped that the team would continue the momentum they had built up throughout the season.
Senior and captain Audrey Zhang further detailed the mentality of the team. “Our goal for the girls’ team, in particular, was to repeat our team championship from last year. We had the strongest team out of the league on paper and even though we’d won against Andover the previous week, their team had a lot of depth and strength. So I knew everyone needed to show up when it would count.”
Though the team was excited to put out great performances across the board, Coach Meg Blitzshaw recognized that “everyone would need to perform well, and each and every opportunity to score points would be important.”
Yang described the boy’s team’s strong performance throughout the entire weekend. “The highlight of the meet for me was when I, along with Ethan Guo, Lang Gou, and Rudd Day broke the school record by more than half a second in the 200-medley relay. Rudd Day had a crazy 19.94 split to close out the relay, even though we got edged out by Deerfield to get second overall in the race. It was surreal to know that my name was going up on the record board at the pool, a goal I had since the day I stepped onto our pool deck.”
He added, “The boys got the runner-up position, which, while not the championship title, was the highest placement the boys’ team have achieved since the start of the pandemic.”
Prep Henry Wise also commented on Day’s stellar finish. “A highlight of the meet was definitely watching Rudd Day go below 20 seconds in the 50 free on his relay. It was a very exciting moment for everyone.”
Day himself mentioned the team’s performance in the 200-yard medley relay and the record-breaking times that the team showed in the category. “One highlight for me was our 200 medley relay on the last day. We had been trying to break the school record in that relay for 2 years now, and we finally got it and ended up placing second in the race, scoring big points for the team.”
Yang also expressed his congratulations for the girl’s team’s success. “It was amazing to see the girls’ team absolutely dominate and repeat as New England Champions. Also shoutout Mena Boardman for her out-of-this-world swims in the 50 freestyle and 100 fly.”
Boardman shared that her success was an exciting surprise, and that she owes much of it to the support from her teammates and family. “Going into prelims I definitely did not think I was going to be that fast. That was easily the fastest time I’ve ever gone in prelims before. I know that I normally drop a significant amount of time in finals, so I knew I was gonna go fast, but didn’t think I was gonna go that fast in the finals.”
She added, “Just having everyone there at the meet—it was really great hearing teammates cheering for me, and my parents and my grandparents were also there.”
Blitzshaw highlighted a surprise that closed out the meet. “Not only did [Principal Rawson] come to Andover to watch the events on Sunday afternoon, he jumped into the pool with the girls’ team as a part of the celebrations! I’m not sure any other schools can say that their head of school would do such a thing!”
“He didn’t just jump into the pool, he practically flipped into the pool,” Yang added. “I was shocked he did not hit the lane line with his head. Almost every team on the pool deck was in awe and cheering.”
This year’s NEPSAC meet marked a successful finish to a strong season. Yang described the season definitively. “Two words for this past season describe Exeter’s swim team: unified and energetic. The energy was a standout to me this season.”
He continued, “Our guys’ team had six dedicated preps, whom I give credit to for bringing the energy. They are all goofy in their own way, and when you bring them together for a dual meet, they help spread their contagious energy with the rest of the team.”
“Championships are not won by individuals—they require everyone to step up and consistently put in the effort to accomplish such a feat,” Blitzshaw said. “A true testament to the efforts of all the athletes.”
