It was a very exciting season for the Roxbury high school boys swim team as they ended the regular season with a record of 6-3. There were many great moments and improvements that were made during the season, such as the great depth the team has and the great chemistry. They also got the closest they have gotten to beating Mountain Lakes in years. Now, let’s take a more in-depth look at how the season went.

The boys swim team has had an incredibly successful regular season finishing with a record of 6-3 with losses coming from great teams such as Randolph, Kinnelon, and the number 19 team in the state, Mountain Lakes. Although the meets ended in losses, the loss from Mountain Lakes was only by 14 points; which is the closest Roxbury has been to beating them in over 10 years and the 18 point loss to Randolph was the closest they have been in 5 years. Last year the team was 2-5-1, only defeating Montville and Morris Hills, so this season was quite the improvement for the Gaels.

One of the biggest strong points for the team: their ability to compete in every race with all three swimmers. When talking to the team, head Coach Gervasio said, “We get compliments from other teams coaches about how every swimmer we put in is able to compete for points”.

It isn’t all about having the best swimmer in every race, it is also about getting 2nd or 3rd or 4th or even 5th. Looking back at the first meet of the season against Mount Olive, Roxbury only got 6th place 1 time out of the 8 individual events, leading them to a 103-67 victory. 

I interviewed captain AJ Guevara and asked him about the improvements that have been made from last season, and this is what he had to say. “Last year we didn’t have many practices because of Covid, we have much more pool time this year which gives everyone more time to improve and get ready to race.”

The Gaels qualified for the state sectional tournament in the North 1 Group B section. The Gaels claimed the 3 seed and a first-round bye for the first time in five seasons. The two teams standing in there a way of a sectional championship, are #2 Randolph and #1 Tenafly. The last time Roxbury was in the sectional tournament was the 2019-20 season where they were the #6 seed and lost in the first round to #7 Wayne Hills. 

The Gaels ended up swimming against #6 Wayne Valley on Friday, February 11th in the quarter-finals and won by a score of 99-71 with that great depth showing up again as they never got below 5th place. That moved Roxbury to the semi-finals to have a rematch against #2 Randolph. The 2 teams were only separated by about 300 power points so it was looking to be another fun meet. 

On Monday, February 14, Roxbury was set to face off Randolph, but before that, I asked sophomore swimmer Aidan Ochoa how he was feeling about the meet. “I’m definitely nervous for the meet, I’ve never been here before and I don’t want to let the team down, but also I know we worked really hard for this so I know we are going to give it our all”.

Unfortunately, the Gaels came up short to Randolph for the 2nd time this season, losing by a score of 110-60. Two very important swimmers to the team were unable to compete, ending their hopes of a sectional championship and bringing the season to an end. The team’s four seniors were Brandon Bang, Michael Saladino, and captains Michael Bang and AJ Guevara. Congratulations to the team on a great season!

Photo by Paulina Zamora