Page 10 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, February 7, 2020 Malden High co-ed swim team finishes unbeaten season Golden Tornadoes win Greater Boston League Championship By Steve Freker W hat a season it has been for the Malden High School co-ed swim team and first-year Head Coach Jessica Bisson. A strong start led to a solid finish as the Golden Tornadoes squad finished a perfect 8-0 on the regular dual meet season and captured the 2019-20 Greater Boston League (GBL) Championship, capped by a 91-74 victory over league rival Medford at the MHS Pool in its season finale. “We set several goals as a team when the season started, and a major one was to compete for and win the GBL championship,” Coach Bisson said. “When we got off to a strong start, we thought we might have a chance for a special finish like this.” “It’s not easy to win all of your meets in a single season, and sophomores David Lombardi and Tony Giech. The Tornadoes girls placed second in their part of the competition, led by Chloe Akombi and Samantha and Abby Tang. these student-athletes certainly deserve a lot of credit for their achievement,” Coach Bisson added. “It was a true team effort.” In the win over Medford, Malden senior Haoxi Wang and Tornadoes sophomore David Lombardi led the way; each finished with two individual victories and both contributing to Blue and Gold wins in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. Wang won the two sprint events, with a firstMalden High recognized its senior swimmers on Senior Day at its last home meet, a win over Revere. Shown above, left to right, are Tuong “Mike” Nguyen, Alexis Pantojas, Haoxi Wang and Malden first-year head coach Jessica Bisson. (Courtesy Photo) place time of 23.60 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and a winning time of 55.23 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle event. He and Lombardi also swam in the 200 medley relay with Tony Giech and Nathan Nguyen for a 1:56.51 win. Wang and Lombardi also swam with Giech and Ryan Vasili for a 1:41.00 firstplace finish in the 200 freestyle relay. Lombardi was a winner in the 200-yard individual medley with a 2:12.65 time and also came out on top in the 100-yard backstroke. Freshman Nathan Nguyen All five GBL teams competed in the league meet at Medford High School; Malden won the boys meet and placed second in the girls meet. (Courtesy Photo/Malden HS Athletics) won the 500-yard freestyle for Malden with a time of 5:55.32. Tony Giech won the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:09.02. Malden also won the 400-yard freestyle relay with the quartet of Ryan Vasili, Vinicius Ramirez Mendes, Steven Leung and Nathan Nguyen finishing at 4:08.01. Malden took third in the 400 freestyle relay with the four of Tony Luu, Jacob Pettigrew, Igor Souza and Kenny Nguyen’s time of 4:43.35. Abby Tang was second in the 100 breaststroke at 1:14.70. Tony Luu was third in the 100 freestyle at 1:03.39. Malden went 2-3 in the 100-yard butterfly; Abby Tang was second (1:08.21) and Chloe Akombi third (1:08.39). Tony Giech was second in the 200 individual medley (2:27.63). Malden boys win GBL league meet; Tornadoes girls place second The Malden swim team kept the pace rolling when the boys swimmers won the GBL meet, led by senior Haoxi Wang and ~ Malden Neighborhood Basketball League ~ 35th Saturday, Feb. 1 at Ferryway Game 1 – Sonics 55, Celtics 50 The Sonics solved the mystery of the Emerald as these two squads went back n forth all game. Thankfully, J. Dorcena returned to help defeat the undefeated and drop a game-high 20 with teammates Darius Philippe adding 13 and Jose Davila with 10 of his own as the Celtics Sean Kelly scored 15 and Chris Pegueuro added 13 as they fell for the 1st time this season. It was a tough game for them – trailing by 5, 6, 7 each quarter then ultimately by 5 again, to end the contest. Game 2 – Pistons 42, Sixers 31 The Sixers stormed back & cut Season – Week 5 it to 3 after 3, but an 18-8, 4th quarter difference pretty much summed up this game. A. Beshah seemed to get better offensively as the game went on and dropped a game-high of 20 as Sixers Anthony Baires (12) led the team but was also seeking some scoring help along the way but just fell shy of that request. Game 3 – Lakers 36, Hawks 35 The Lakers squeaked by with the victory, but “It doesn’t matter how you win or by how many. As long as you have at least one more point than your opponent – it’s a Victory.” And that’s what they did to end the Saturday games. Tied at 21 at the half, it could’ve gone either way. The Lakers Wesley Johnson led the way with 12 for his team, and the Hawks Y. Kerany had the game high of 16. Sunday, Feb. 2 at Ferryway Game 1 – Bullets 67, Kings 61 OT Another longtime rivalry went into OT as the Boys in Blue outlasted the defending Champions, who are having a tough go so far in 2020. The Bullets C. Molain scored 12 in OT and led all scorers with 31 with N. Soares & J. Mei contributing 11 apiece. The Kings couldn’t find the hoop in the OT period but were led by Dominic Bono & Sammy Solorzano, both scoring 16 as team-leading scorer BASKETBALL | SEE PAGE 12 2020 Team Sonics Celtics Bullets Hawks Kings Sixers Lakers Pistons MALDEN NEIGHBORHOOD BASKETBALL LEAGUE Games Behind Streak W - 2 W - 1 L - 1 W L 7 7 4 4 2 2 2 2 Sat., Feb. 8 Hawks Sixers Celtics Bullets Kings Lakers Pistons Bullets Hawks 1 1 3 3 5 5 6 6 0 0 2.5 2.5 4.5 4.5 5 5 Next Week’s Games Sun., Feb. 9 Kings Sonics Sixers W - 1 L - 1 L - 3 L - 1 L - 1 Malden honors three senior swimmers on Senior Day In the final Malden home swim meet of the season at the MHS Pool, the three senior class members of the Golden Tornadoes team were recognized for their contributions to the season and throughout their careers. Senior Haoxi Wang, Tuong “Mike” Nguyen and Alexis Pantojas all received accolades on Senior Day in a ceremony led by first-year Malden head coach Jessica Bisson. “All three of our seniors showed a lot of character and leadership this year, playing big roles in our team success,” Coach Bisson said. Tornadoes swimmers are ready for the MIAA North Sectionals this weekend A solid contingent of Malden High swimmers is gearing up for this weekend’s MIAA North Sectional Swim Tournament, which will be hosted at MIT in Cambridge beginning at 4:15 p.m. on Sunday. Haoxi Wang, David Lombardi, Tony Giech and Chloe Akombi are all seeded in the top 25 in Division 1 North in their events this weekend, with a Golden Tornadoes relay and other swimmers competing as well.
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