On Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 4:30 p.m., the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School men’s and women’s swim teams hosted their Senior Night swim meet against J.P. Taravella High School at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center. Both teams ended up placing first in 20 out of 24 events that night.
“It went really well,” coach Lauren Rubenstein said. “It was the last meet of the season, and we had a lot of swimmers swimming events they hadn’t competed in before, and they did really well.”
The seniors especially shined that night, with men’s swim team captain Alexander Nichols coming in first in multiple events. He competed in the boy’s 200-yard freestyle, putting up a time of 1:53.60. He also competed in the boy’s 100-yard butterfly, where he missed coming in second by 0.04 of a second, with a time of 55.78.
“It was a strong meet for me personally, and I’m proud of my performance,” Nichols said. “I felt confident in my strokes and my timing off the blocks, but there’s always room for improvement–especially in my turns.”
The last event Nichols placed first in was the boy’s 200-yard medley relay, where he competed with freshman Joseph Villalobos, junior Maxim Georgiev and junior Blake Balkcom. The group put up a final time of 1:54.40, which was about five seconds faster than the second-place group, who were also from MSD.
“Being in my last year on the team is bittersweet,” Nichols said. “I am going to miss the practices, meets and that sense of camaraderie, but I feel like we’ve built something strong.”
Additionally, senior Allyson Lake won four events for the women’s swim team that evening. She swam a pace of 2:34.37 in the girl’s 200-yard individual medley, as well as a 1:06.50 during the girl’s 100-yard backstroke. Her other wins were during team relays.
One of the two relays was the girl’s 200-yard medley relay, where Lake, Hope Suther, Carly Chin and Sophia El Chantiry set a pace of 2:02.06. The other was the girl’s 400-yard freestyle relay, where she competed with Isabella Perez, Giann Sands, and Alexa Anthony for a combined time of 4:13.81.
After the meet ended, students and their parents made their way over to the posters of the senior athletes that had been hung up. After taking pictures with their families, seniors went to the Coral Springs Aquatic Center, where they were given personalized posters and gift baskets by their underclassmen teammates.
Having a total of 15 seniors, underclassmen teammates were assigned to a couple seniors to create gifts to celebrate their years on the team. Groups of seniors were called up one by one and given their presents.
Then, seniors Xyen Walker, Rhania Suarez, Selah Rogers, Isabella Perez, Allyson Lake, Hope Suther, Alexander Nichols, Brittany Bean, Kayleigh Didovic, Matias Gold, Yotam Shanun, Macell Chafloque, Keith Bronson, Giann Sands and Lorenzo Herek all had the chance to take a picture with coaches Lauren Rubenstein and David Berke.
“We’re definitely going to miss them; some of them are still working to be able to swim in college and I’m looking forward to seeing them [compete],” Rubenstein said.
This meet marked the end of the regular season; however, a few athletes will continue to compete in the district competition on Tuesday, Oct. 22.
“I’m hoping we perform well,” Rubenstein said. “It was moved, so we’re seeing a lot of teams we haven’t seen yet. Last year, my boys’ team won districts and girls were runner-ups.”
The Eagles competing in districts are eagerly preparing and hoping for the best. Senior Night was a night to remember and underclassmen on the women’s and men’s swim teams are looking to do their seniors justice as they continue competing next year and beyond.
