LET THE GAMES BEGIN!: Malden High Golden Tornado winter sports begin next week

Defending GBL Champ Coed Swim Teams seeks 7th Straight crown; Boys and Girls Basketball seek rebound years

  It is like the proverbial broken record around the pool on Salem Street. At the end of the season: Splish, splash… It’s another league championship for the Malden High Co-ed Swim Team!

    It’s a long-running trend for the Golden Tornado swimmers, who are guided by fourth-year head coach Jess Bisson.

     Like most years, despite graduating some key contributors, there are plenty of returnees who are expected to help keep Malden High near the top of the heap in the Greater Boston League (GBL).

    Swimming, like the nine other sports programs which start their seasons next week, has been diligently preparing for their opening games.

    Malden’s seventh-year Director of Athletics Charlie Conefrey reports that he is excited about this season for a lot of reasons.

     “We have been coming back from this and coming back from that for several years now, since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020,” Conefrey told The Malden Advocate. “This school year it finally feels as if we are completely back in business when it comes to interscholastic athletics.

    Conefrey said he is glad to see some of the biggest numbers of student-athletes coming out for the various teams in years, these past two weeks of tryouts and preseason practices.

    Some of the teams — including two of the three coed teams Malden is fielding this winter — have seen their biggest turnouts in many years, Conefrey said.

    Coed Wrestling, coached by Rin Van and Coed Gymnastics, coached by Katie Bowdridge, have both seen close to 30 or more student-athletes taking part in preseason drills and practices so far.

    “It has been great to see student-athletes coming out and maybe trying a sport in which they may not have participated before,” Conefrey said. “The preseason practices for all the teams were a good experience and the teams are ready to go next week.

   This winter Malden High is fielding teams in the following Sports:  Boys Varsity, Junior Varsity and Freshman Basketball; Girls Varsity, Junior Varsity and Freshman Basketball; Coed Varsity Wrestling; Coed Varsity Swimming, Coed Varsity Gymnastics; Boys Varsity Indoor Track, Girls Varsity Indoor Track; Boys Varsity Co-op Ice Hockey (with Everett, Mystic Valley and Revere); Girls Varsity Co-op Ice Hockey (with Medford); and Middle School (7th & 8th Grade) Boys Basketball and Middle School Girls Basketball.

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  The first games of the season for Malden High Sports are on Tuesday, December 13 when the Varsity, JV and Freshman Boys Basketball teams are in action at home against Greater Boston League rival Medford and the Varsity and JV Girls Basketball teams hit the road against Medford.

     Freshman Boys Basketball plays at home at 4:00 p.m. at the Ferryway School. JV Boys play at 4:30 p.m. at Malden High Finn Gym and Varsity Boys Basketball plays at the Finn Gym at 6:00 p.m.

Malden High Sports Schedule for the Week of December 10-16

Saturday, December 10

Varsity Boys Co-op Hockey (with Everett) @ Lynn English, 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, December 13    

Freshman Boys Basketball v. Medford, Ferryway School, 4:00 p.m.

JV Boys Basketball v. Medford, Finn Gym, 4:30 p.m.

JV Girls Basketball @ Medford, Medford HS, 4:30 p.m.

Varsity Boys Basketball v. Medford, Finn Gym, 6:00 p.m.

Varsity Girls Basketball @ Medford, 6:00 p.m.

Wednesday, December 14

 Varsity Boys and Girls Indoor Track v. Medford, Sam Fishman Fieldhouse @ Salemwood School, 4:00 p.m.

Middle School Boys Basketball @ Somerville, 5:30 p.m.

Varsity Girls Co-op Hockey (with Medford) @ Masconomet, 8:05 p.m.

Thursday, December 15

Freshman Boys Basketball @ Lynn English, 4:00 p.m.

Varsity Coed Swimming v. Bishop Fenwick, MHS Pool, 4:00 p.m.

JV Girls Basketball v. Lynn English, Finn Gym, 4:30 p.m.

JV Boys Basketball @ Lynn English, 5:30 p.m.

Varsity Girls Basketball v. Lynn English, Finn Gym, 6:00 p.m.

Varsity Boys Basketball @ Lynn English, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, December 16

Middle School 7-8 Grade Girls Basketball v. Everett, Beebe School, Malden, 4:00 p.m.

Middle School 7-8 Grade Boys Basketball, Beebe School, Malden, 5:00 p.m.