The Duxbury boys’ swim team fell to Middleboro last Tuesday, suffering its first loss in six years.  Although finishing first in eight of 12 events, the Dragons unfortunately found themselves on the short end of the 94-85 score. Juniors Mike Connelly, Stephen Tonaszuck and Ian Wilson led the team with two wins apiece. Connelly battled the hardest, just out-touching the competition in both of his events. In the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.32), he beat the second-place finisher by 2/10ths of a second with Matt Griffin taking fourth and Mason Crane finishing sixth. Returning a short time later for the 100 freestyle, Connolly would sprint to a season-low 50.62, winning by 3/10ths of a second. Arthur Su (3rd) and John Coakley (6th) also competed in the event. 

The 200 individual medley saw Tonaszuck (2:12.74) easily make his way to the wall in first place, well ahead of the Sachem swimmers. Later, in the 500-yard distance freestyle, he cruised to a 5:22.47 followed by Griffin (3rd) and Keelan Murphy (6th). Wilson, swimming his signature 100-yard backstroke and butterfly events, crushed the competition in both.  He touched the wall in 1:00.41 in the fly with Ben Zelvis (2nd) and Kevin Coakley (3rd) completing the Dragon sweep. Wilson sprinted his way to first in the backstroke (1:03.39), beating the Middleboro swimmer by 14 seconds. Murphy took fifth and Jared Amodio was sixth for Duxbury.

Su handily won his favorite event, the 100-yard breaststroke, cruising to a season-low, sectional-qualifying time of 1:08.19.  Joining him in that event were Zelvis (4th) and Noah Brayer (6th).   The 50-yard freestyle sprint saw Steven Kravitz take second, while Rielly Crane and Tom Blanchard finished in fifth and sixth, respectively.  

The meet came down to the last relay where the Dragons hoped to finish first and second, but sadly they were defeated. 

“The boys have been working extra hard since their loss to Middleboro” said Coach Jay Craft.  “They are looking to rebound from it and win the Patriot League Championship meet and then it’s on to Sectionals.”  

After their last dual meet last night against Quincy/North Quincy, the team will head to the League Championships on Saturday at the Lincoln-Hancock Pool in Quincy