On January 20th, Needham and Wellesley boys’ swim and dive teams faced each other as the regular season was drawing to a close. Last year, the Wellesley Raiders were triumphant over the Rockets with a score of 112 to Needham’s 74.
The first event went to Wellesley, when Ethan Korakas, Kevin Di, Adrian Deng, and Mason Chou took the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:48.43. Rockets Liam Ni, Nick Lee, Dennis Shvarts, and Jack Reilly came in second with 1:51.14, and Wellesley took third with Alex Chen, Ben Mahoney, Jackson Miller, and Connor McCullough at 1:58.88.
The Rockets responded when Eithan Kogan placed first in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:57:04, followed by Raiders Noah Rogers with a 1:58:31 and Henry Altenbach at 1:59:71.
In the 200 yard individual medley, Wellesley’s Aidan Abazaj and Ben Mahoney were neck and neck, taking the first two spots with times of 2:15.72 and 2:15.77 respectively. Rocket Ian Zeylikman was not far behind, earning third place with a time of 2:17.26.
Needham then won the 50 yard freestyle when Daniil Landau finished in first with a time of 23.49. Raider Ethan Korakas earned second with 24.34, and Rocket Jack Reilly placed third at 24.89.
The fifth event was 1 meter diving, which went to Needham’s Andrew Call, who earned a score of 221.90. Raiders Jackson Wade and Avi Oppenheim came in second and third with scores of 150.60 and 135.70 respectively.
Needham got another first place in the 100 yard butterfly, with Ian Zeyliman finishing with a time of 59.67, followed by Wellesley’s Aidan Abazaj and Jackson Miller with 1:03:00 and 1:04:92.
In the 100 yard freestyle, Rocket Daniil Landau came in first with a time of 50.79. Raiders Noah Rogers and Mason Chou earned times of 52.49 and 53.14, with teammate Kevin Di just 0.1 second behind Chou.
Wellesley’s Ben Mahoney won the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:13.48. Rocket Eithan Kogan came in second at 5:16.79, and Raider Austin Xu in third at 5:27.71.
In the 200 yard freestyle relay, Raiders Kevin Di, Noah Rogers, Aidan Abazaj, and Adrian Deng earned first with a time of 1:37.98. The Rockets took second and third with Ian Zeylikman, Jack Reilly, Shawn Yu, Simeon Piralkov with a time of 1:38:49 and Daniil Landau, Jonatan Fleisher, Ishan Kelkar, and Eithan Kogan with 1:39.82.
Wellesley’s Ethan Korakas took the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 57.95, Needham’s Liam Ni came in second at 1:00.23, and Wellesley’s Mason Chou earned third at 1:00.81.
The 100 yard breaststroke also went to the Raiders, with Kevin Di finishing at 1:09.40, but Rockets Nick Lee and Quinn Collins taking second and third at 1:10.22 and 1:12.27.
The final event was the 400 yard freestyle. Rockets Ian Zeylikman, Simeon Piralkov, Eithan Kogan, and Daniil Landau earned first with a time of 3:36.99, while Raiders Noah Rogers, Aidan Abazaj, Ben Mahoney, and Mason Chou came in second at 3:39.74, and Austin Xu, Henry Altenbach, Nati Oppenheim, and Ethan Korakas finished in third with a time of 3:53.12.
The final score was a win for Wellesley, 103.5–79.5.
