THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, March 1, 2024 Page 11 Mystic Valley girls swimming places 6th at MIAA Division 2 State Championship Meet By Emily Brennan T he MIAA Division 2 girls state swimming championships took place on Saturday, February 17 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The Eagles collected their best result in program history, finishing in sixth place overall. Sydney Cao, Crystal Tang, Isabelle Pennachio and Lana Santos Albuquerque opened the meet with a celebration on the podium in the 200-medley relay. The foursome dropped a full second from their previous best and touched the wall in 1:57.34 to earn a seventh-place finish and a school record. A few minutes later, sophomore Isabella Cirame touched the wall in tenth place in the 200 yard Individual Medley with a swim of 2:18.07. Cirame’s time was not only a lifetime best, but the program’s second fastest ever in the event. Later in the day in the 100 freestyle, Cirame and Cao both broke their lifetime best records. Cirame would finish in ninth place with a time of 55.61 while Cao achieved a 15th place finish in 56.69. With that time Cirame is closing in on the Mystic Valley record. After a short break Mystic Valley’s 200-yard freestyle relay Shown from left to right are Isabelle Pennachio, Nicole Kelso, Khloe Co, Lucia Antonucci, Lana Santos Albuquerque, Brooke Burke, Sydney Cao, Britney Nayiga, Crystal Tang and Isabella Cirame. was arguably the most exciting event of the day, with the team of Cao, Albuquerque, Cirame and Nayiga going neck and neck with four teams for the relay title. With a swim of 1:41.80, Mystic Valley finished in fourth place – three tenths of second behind State Champion Wayland – which finished at 1:41.50. Mystic Valley finished almost two full seconds ahead of the previous record in an amazing photo finish with Wayland, Duxbury and Weston High Schools. Mystic Valley added valuable points in the 100 breaststroke, led by sophomore Lucia Antonucci in 10th place (1:10.71). Britney Nayiga was not far behind, touching the wall in 1:10.77 to drop just over two seconds from her fastest Shown from left to right are Isabelle Pennachio, Lana Santos Albuquerque, Sydney Cao and Crystal Tang. Shown from left to right are Britney Nayiga, Lana Santos Albuquerque, Sydney Cao and Isabella Cirame. Britney Nayiga this year, finishing in 11th place. The 400-freestyle relay team of Cirame, Albuquerque, Antonucci and Nayiga secured another podium appearance with a sixth-place finish in 3:51.25. Most notably, Cirame swam to a 55.56 in her 100-freestyle leg, earning her yet another lifetime best. “I am so proud of this young group of girls to achieve what they did this weekend,” Head ~ Malden Neighborhood Basketball League ~ Week 9 – ‘Then there was 1’ 2024 Malden Neighborhood Basketball League Team Bullets - c 11 Sixers - c 9 Lakers - c 7 Celtics Pistons Kings 4 3 2 W L 1 3 4 9 10 9 Games behind Streak W - 9 W - 4 L - 3 L - 3 L - 1 L - 1 0 2 3.5 7.5 8.5 8.5 c - Clinched playoff spot Tuesday, Feb. 20 at Ferryway Game 1 – Pistons 53, Kings 47 The Pistons took advantage of a 26-14, 2nd half offensive barrage or they could’ve lost this one. It was N. Sullivan that led them with the game-high of 22, followed by the “weekly improving” R. Wallace with 15. But on the other side, Z. Pierre had a nice game himself, ending with 18 – A. Brathwaite chipped in 11 in this close defeat. Game 2 – Bullets 58, Celtics 43 The Emerald played the Bullets tough again, but in the end the boys in blue pulled away behind another strong game from “MVP candidate” L. Guertin (21) – and also in the conversation, his teammate C. Mijar had 18 and yet another dagger 3 in the 4th from G. Biscan. Celts C. Mathely (18) & J. Sweeney (15) each played a great game but needed just a lil more help to finish the game. Saturday, Feb. 24 at Ferryway Game 1 – Kings 43, Pistons 40 The Kings finally got a much-needed victory after hard, rough weeks. The Kings Z. Pierre had a solid game with 15; A. Brathwaite, who was the catalyst in the 1st to get them going, added 13 by game’s end. The Pistons J. Bly led with 16 and R. Wallace had 11 in this unexpected loss. As they could only muster up a total of 2 points in the final frame, that basically made up the overall difference. Game 2 – Sixers 39, Lakers 23 The Crimson surprisingly didn’t shoot 1 free throw the whole game and still won? The Lakers did shoot F.T.’s but only hit 20% of them, and they never were able to score double digits in any of the 4 quarters. This low scoring affair only boasted 2 double-digit scorers: The Pistons’ C. Joseph with 10 and the Lakers “MVP Candidate” S. Warton with 13. Both teams struggled and it showed throughout the game. Sunday, Feb. 25 at Ferryway Game 1 – Sixers 42, Celtics 37 The Sixers beat the defending champs and jumped into 2 places with the victory as well as clinched a playoff spot for the madness. And thanks to this Celtics loss, the Lakers also clinched a playoff spot. C. Joseph carried his team in every quarter and had a Monster Game, dropping 26. The Celts’ J. Sweeney (14) and C. Malave (10) had the big points for their team, which struggled all over the place. As a team they scored just 3 points in the 4th quarter and went 2-15 from the line. Ya’ can’t defend the title shooting like that. Game 2 - Bullets 50, Kings 40 The final game showcased an energized Kings team that played well throughout and even outscored the Bullets in the final frame. But as usual the will & fight of L. Guertin would not be denied – he scored 23 in the game. G. Biscan hit another Big 4th quarter 3 pointer to seal the Win. We can’t say enough on the improvement of A. Brathwaite, who started from the bottom; now he’s here as the team’s leading scorer with 19. The Kings missed 15 free throws, compared to the Bullets’ 3 misses. This Week’s Games Sat., March 2 Sixers Bullets Kings Lakers Sun., March 3 Kings Celtics Pistons Lakers Coach Andrew DiGiacomo said. “What is even more exciting is that we do not graduate a single swimmer from this states team. It was a great end to a great season.”
12 Publizr Home