Manchester High boys swim past East Catholic

MHS team member Josue Diaz prepares for his dive. Photos by Martha Marteney.

MANCHESTER -

The ManchesterHigh Schoolboys’ swim team took on the East Catholic boys’ swim team at MHS on Jan. 25.

“This is the best group I’ve ever coached,” said East Catholic swim team coach Andrew Tyler, noting that of the 17 swimmers, four have already qualified for the state tournament, and he expects several more will qualify, as well.

This was the first year for the boys’ swim team since 1985. Tylercredited the reestablishment of the team to a small group of parents who have been working on the team’s behalf for several years. “We’ve done well enough this year to warrant bringing it back,” he said.

This was also the first year as the ManchesterHigh Schoolboys’ swim team coach for Mel Siebold, who also coaches the girls’ team.

Ezequiel “Memo” Alejandro has been the MHS diving coach for five years. He noted that this year’s team is comprised of two juniors, both of whom are completely new to diving, and one senior, who started diving last year. Junior Jose Rosado has qualified for the state tournament. Due to the difficulty level of the dives, junior Josue Diaz took first place at the Jan. 25 meet, despite his near-miss with the diving board that caused the judges and crowd to gasp.

According to Tyler, East Catholic’s one diver was not able to participate at the swim meet against MHS.

Both teams were well-represented with fans, cheering on the teams and keeping the energy level high.

Several of the 11 races were very close, especially the freestyle races.

In the 100-yard freestyle race, MHS had the lead until the final lap, when East Catholic pulled ahead to win the race. For the 500-yard freestyle, both the fans and the teams cheered on each swimmer until all had finished the race.

The final score for the meet was MHS 98, East Catholic 83.

For more information about the teams and for their complete schedules, visit the website cascais.org.

Coach’s Corner:

ManchesterHigh SchoolDiving Coach Ezequiel “Memo” Alejandro

About the team: “They are very gutsy and have a lot of potential,” said diving coach Ezequiel “Memo” Alejandro about his three divers.

EastCatholicHigh SchoolSwim Team Coach Andrew Tyler

About the team: “We’ve done well enough this year to warrant bringing it back,” said coach Andrew Tyler about the first year reestablishment of the boys’ swim team.