Malden High coed swim team posts GBL wins over Medford and Lynn Classical

Hot start for Golden Tornados in the pool with a perfect 3-0 record to start the season

  They liked the opening meet result so much, a convincing non-league victory over the Fenwick Crusaders, that they went out and did it two more times. This time it was in league competition, as the Malden High School coed swim team posted two more victories – both on the road – over Medford High School (85-74) and Lynn Classical High School (79-50), to improve to a perfect 3-0 overall.

  The Medford High meet was the Greater Boston League opener and came on December 20, with the Lynn Classical meet victory on December 22. The wins over Medford and Classical were both in Greater Boston League competition, so Malden is off to a great start in defending its GBL title for the third year, its fifth year as a league champion overall.

  “We are working hard as a team and it was great to see the results as we opened up our league schedule,” Malden fourth-year Co-Ed Swim Head Coach Jess Bisson said. “We have a lot of newer swimmers as well and they are improving quickly.”

Malden tops Lynn Classical with a 79-50 win

  On the road at Lynn Classical, Malden swimmers placed first in all seven of the events to start the meet to jump out to a commanding lead. They also swept all three places, 1-2-3, in those events. The last three events were run unofficially, and Malden won all three of those as well.

  Sophomore Joslyn Nguyen had a big day, placing first in both events she swam individually, the 50-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle, and also swimming a leg of the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet for Malden.

  Malden started strong when the relay team of senior Allen Xiao, seventh-grader Sophie Tran, sophomore Joslyn Nguyen and senior Steven Leung won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:16.94. It was the first time competing in that event for all but Nguyen. Malden also took second place in the event at 2:42.89 with the foursome of sophomore Stephanie Wong, freshman Christina Mui, sophomore James Zhou and senior Leo Chen. Nathan Nguyen, David Xu, Liam Bloom and Nimon Jusufi swam a 1:58.63 unofficially in the event.

  Malden sophomore Karim Ammar won the 200-yard freestyle at 2:37.28. It was a 1-2-3 sweep with freshman Danielle Harrington taking second at 2:46.77 and junior Joao Victor Santos third at 2:54.28.

  Senior captain Nathan Nguyen won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:27.44. Sophomore Hailey Tran was second (2:34.09) and seventh-grader Sophie Tran third for another 1-2-3 sweep for Malden.

  Joselyn Nguyen won the 50-yard freestyle (29.95 seconds); junior Joyce Zhou was second (32.54); and sophomore Gordon Zeng third (33.52).

  Senior Liam Bloom won the 100-yard butterfly (1:09.57); senior Kyle Lee was second (1:11.01); and Steven Leung was third (1:22.34).

  Hailey Tran placed first in the 100-yard freestyle event at 1:02.83. Karim Ammar was second (1:08.46) and James Zhou third (1:11.65).

  Joslyn Nguyen won her second event of the day, the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 6:16.53. Junior Tiffany Pham was second (7:26.13) and Nimon Jusufi third (7:29.38).

  Sophomore David Xu and seniors Kyle Lee, Liam Bloom and Nathan Nguyen were first in the 200 freestyle relay event at 1:49.15. The foursome of senior Wara Ramirez Morales, Joslyn Nguyen, Sophie Tran and Hailey Tran was second at 2:01.75 and third was the team of junior Justina Lim, freshman Sophia Huynh, junior Stanley Yip and Christina Mui at 2:37.52.

  Senior Allen Xiao won his first meet as a Tornado with a time of 1:26.85 in the 100-yard backstroke. Wara Ramirez Morales was second at 1:32.25.

  Sophomore David Xu won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:16.38. Kyle Lee was second at 1:20.18. Sophie Tran was third (1:33.65).

  The foursome of Allen Xiao, Joyce Zhou, Tiffany Pham and Karim Ammar were the winners in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 4:51.83. Joao Victor Santos, Danielle Harrington, Lanyu Liang and Wara Ramirez Morales were second-place finishers (5:08.45). Third was the team of freshman Aya Alazizi and sophomores Gordon Zeng, Kevin Lin and Stephanie Wong.

Tornado swim team won GBL opener at Medford, 85-74

  Malden High coed swim won their first of two straight GBL victories at Medford High on December 20. Malden won six of eight contested events and then swam unofficially in the last three events; after clinching the team win early, Tornado swimmers came in first in all three of the unofficial events at the end.

  Malden Head Coach Jess Bisson noted that in the six wins in the first eight events for the visitors, they were from six different Tornado swimmers. “It was excellent balance in the finishes, as both experienced varsity swimmers and inexperienced ones claimed firsts or seconds,” Coach Bisson said. “It was nice to see.”

  Malden got off to an excellent start, going 1-2 in the first event, the 200-yard medley relay. The four of Nathan Nguyen, Kyle Lee, Nimon Jusufi and David Xu won the event with a time of 1:59.53.

  Second place went to Malden’s team of Joslyn Nguyen, Sophie Tran, Hailey Tran and Wara Ramirez Morales (2:13.10). Fourth place was the foursome of Gordon Zeng, Tiffany Pham, Joao Victor Santos and Stanley Yip, who came in at 2:32.57.

  Hailey Tran won the 200 freestyle at 2:19.40. Nimon Jusufi was fourth (2:43.63 and James Zhou placed fifth (2:54.83). Danielle Harrington won the 200 individual medley, at 2:43.63; Joslyn Nguyen was second (2:53.47) and Joyce Zhou was third (3:00.78) for a 1-2-3 finish and sweep for Malden.

  Seniors Nathan Nguyen (26.13, 2nd) and Kyle Lee (27.94, third) went 2-3 in the 50 freestyle sprint, and Allen Xiao was fourth at 13.04 seconds.

  Seventh grader Sophie Tran was a winner in the 100 butterfly (1:07.24) with David Xu second (1:09.00) and Wara Ramirez Morales fourth (1:30.92).

  Following are some more results from the Medford meet win for Malden swimmers:

  100 freestyle: Hailey Tran (2nd, 1:10.83); Kyle Lee (3rd, 1:06.54); Tiffany Pham (4th, 1:08.39).

  500 freestyle: Nathan Nguyen (winner, 6:09.77); Sophie Tran (3rd, 7:16.69); Karim Ammar (4th, 7:44.70).

  200 freestyle relay: foursome – Jusufi, Ammar, Victor Santos, Lee (Winner); Jos. Nguyen, Ramirez Morales, Hailey Tran, Sophie Tran (3rd place), Alazizi, Leo Chen, Justina Lim, Kevin Lin (4th place).

  100 backstroke: Joslyn Nguyen (Winner, 1:15.15); W. Ramirez Morales (2nd, 1:21.11); Allen Xiao (4th, 1:28.43).

  100 breaststroke: David Xu (Winner, 1:15.88); Jusufi (2nd, 1:25.09); Harrington (3rd, 1:34.50).

  400 freestyle relay: Nathan Nguyen, Ammar, Pham, Xu (Winner, 4:27.37); Allen Xiao, Jam. Zhou, Lanyu Liang, Joy. Zhou (3rd, 5:07.80); Alazizi, Kevin Lin, Marie Cheng, Zeng (5th, 6:09.11).

*****

MHS coed swim team has two home meets next week

  The Malden High coed swim team is practicing during this vacation week, but does not return to competition until Tuesday, January 3 when the Tornados host the Somerville Highlanders in a GBL meet at 4:00 p.m. at the Barry Fitzpatrick Pool/Malden High School. It will be a busy home week for Malden, as the coed swim team hosts Lynn English on Thursday, January 5 at 4:00 p.m. at the same site.