Malden Coed Swim roars back with 3rd straight win, 93-71

Brian Pan, Alden Deronja both record victories in two events vs. Classical

By Steve Freker

The season certainly did not start off the same for the Tornados this year — a setback in its opener — to Greater Boston League rival Medford, no less. The Malden High School Coed Swim Team has since rallied back and got two wins each in individual events from Brian Pan and Alden Deronja to highlight a recent home victory over Lynn Classical at the Barry Fitzpatrick Pool, 93-71. The win kept Malden alive for what would be a sixth straight Greater Boston League Championship and was also its third straight meet win in a row.

Malden got off to a great start by winning the first three events: the 200 Yard Medley Relay, 200 Yard Freestyle and 200 Yard Individual Medley. Katie Rice, Aiden Deronja, Jade Huynh and Danielle Harrington placed first at 2:13.81 in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. Malden also took second in that event with Weiqi Du, Jaden Nguyen, Ivan Zhu and Moe Emam clocking a time of 2:18.73. Malden also got fourth; Tara Villatore, Vivian Zhu, Yingyan Xia and Raph Kinuthia timed at 2:39.91.

Brian Pan won the 200 Yard Freestyle to get Malden started off well in the individual events at 2:36.72. Du placed second at 2:37.74. Malden got a sixth from Sofia Evoras also (3:31.25). Deronja won his first individual ribbon of the day with a 2:3.63 in the 200 Yard Individual Medley. Ivan Zhu (2:48.30) was second and Sade Huynh (3:32.31) was fourth.

Classical came back with a win and a third in the 50 sprint freestyle, but Malden maintained a healthy lead at 40-21 after Katie Rice (second, 28.81 seconds), Jaden Nguyen (4th, 31.43 seconds) and Moe Emam (6th, 34.18 seconds) filled in well. Malden essentially clinched the meet with a dominant 1-2-3 finish in the next event, 100 Yard Butterfly, led by Danielle Harrington, who won with a time of 1:16.91. Finishing 2-3 were Yingyan Xia (second, 1:22.84) and Ivan Zhu (third, 1:25.87).

Pan won his second event, the 100 Yard Freestyle, with a time of 1:08.91. Emam was third (1:18.61) and Arabella Yin fifth (1:20.84). Deronja grinded out his second win of the afternoon with a first-place finish in the 500 Yard Freestyle, a time of 5:33.40. Second-place went to teammate Katie Rice (6:32.64), and Tara Villatore was sixth (9:15.31).

Malden won the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay as Du, Pan, Ivan Zhu and Deronja raced to a 1:56.66 finish. Weiqi Du won the 100 Yard Backstroke (1:15.15); Xia was second (1:21.07), and Evoras fourth (1:58.53). The 100 Yard Breaststroke was run unofficially by Malden. but Harrington was first at 1:26.23; Jaden Nguyen third (1:28.73) and Vivian Zhu fourth (1:37.78). Malden was also unofficial in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, but finished first with Brian Pan, Sade Huynh, Yingyan Xia and Katie Rice timed at 4:54.71.

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Malden won a fourth-straight meet, outdistancing Northeast on Thursday, January 22. The Tornados were scheduled to compete yesterday, Thursday, January 29 at the GBL Championships at Medford High (after Malden Advocate press time).