English
Spanish
Portuguese
Arabic
Haitian Creole
Chinese (Traditional)
By Emily Brennan
The Mystic Valley Regional Charter School boys swim team recently concluded their season at the MIAA Division 2 State Championships. The Eagles faced great competition around the state and finished 10th overall with 100 points.
Leading off the meet, the team of Dylan Phan, Thomas Sodeyama-Cardoso, Kevin Sodeyama-Cardoso and Lucas Freitas dropped almost a full second off their 200-medley relay best time to earn an 11th place finish at 1:45.0. Sophomore Jaden Anthony followed in the 200 Freestyle scoring while placing 15th at 1:50.48. Anthony also swam the 100 freestyle later in the day but finished out of the scoring with a time of 50.6.
In the next event, the 200 Individual Medley, in which the swimmer swims two lengths of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, Mystic Valley senior captain Jason Yan finished 10th in a personal best time at 2:04.05, just ahead of teammates and sophomores Kevin Sodeyama-Cardoso and Christian Antonucci finishing 11th and 12th, respectively in 2:04.44 and 2:05.62. It is rare to have three swimmers score in any event.
Thomas and Kevin Sodeyama-Cardoso took home 9th and 13th place, respectively, scoring valuable points in the 500-yard freestyle. Thomas finished just shy of a podium appearance with a time of 5:02.13. Kevin dropped almost 5 seconds from his lifetime best to finish 13th in 5:07.61.
With an 11th place time of 2:04.44, Kevin Sodeyama-Cardoso slashed seconds off his 200 IM for another personal best. Sodeyama-Cardoso was followed by Christian Antonucci, who finished 12th in 2:05.62. The Eagles’ strongest swim of the event came from senior captain Jason Yan, who added a 10th place finish to the Eagles’ score card with a time of 2:04.05.
Mystic Valley’s 200 freestyle relay team of Anthony, Yan, Lucas Freitas and Antonucci turned in a solid 8th place performance and a podium appearance and medal in a time of 1:33.57. As all four are underclassmen, it points to an excellent future.
After the podium appearance, sophomore Antonucci was back in the water for another fantastic swim and did not disappoint, dropping nearly two seconds from his previous best time and finishing 10th in the 100 breaststroke at 1:01.8. Antonucci’s time makes him the 3rd fastest in the event in Eagles history.
In the final event of the day, Antonucci teamed up with Yan, Anthony and Kevin Sodeyama-Cardoso to produce a sixth-place finish, the teams highest of the day, in the 400-free relay with a time of 3:24.7.
With the 2023-24 season in the rearview mirror, fifth-year Head Coach Andrew DiGiacomo has high hopes for the 2024-25 season and looks to the future of the program with great excitement and anticipation. “After coming in 3rd last year, and the number of seniors we lost to graduation, we came into this meet with expectations to set the stage for a young group of swimmers over the next couple of years,” said coach DiGiacomo. “Overall, it was a very good meet and as a team we will use this as a learning experience to continue to aim for a state championship in the coming years.”
