After accomplishing an undefeated season in the Sunshine League and winning the 13th league title in 14 years, Marlborough’s Varsity Swimming and Diving team won second place overall in the California Interscholastic Federation Division 3 finals on Thursday, May 12 at the Riverside Aquatics Center. While Pasadena Polytechnic won first place with 361 points, Marlborough scored 173.5 points overall without competitors in backstroke, breastroke or diving events. With only 11 swimmers and no pool at the School because of the Arden Project, Marlborough produced its best result since 2010 when the team won first place in CIF finals.
Varsity Swimming Coach Flavio Ribeiro said he was excited about the team’s performance, especially considering the obstacles the swim team faced this season in particular.
“[Head Varsity Swimming Coach] Peter Lambert and I were very happy about the results…The girls did such a really amazing job—they came through with a lot of dedication and effort,” Ribeiro said.
Not only did the swimmers impress Ribeiro and Lambert, but they even went beyond their own expectations for themselves. Zoah Broaddus ‘16 said that she was very impressed by her teammates considering the many challenges they faced this season.
“It was very challenging to get everyone to make every practice, but I think that it was really impressive how well everyone did and the result of getting second place overall was amazing,” Zoah said.
Now completing her senior year, Zoah said she feels lucky to have the same swim coaches throughout the entirety of her Marlborough career. In CIF finals, she won eighth place in the 100 butterfly and was also part of the 200 Medley Relay team that won third place and broke the School record.
Although sad to leave the team behind as she looks ahead to McGill University in the fall, she is grateful she had a memorable last season.
“I could not have asked for a better way to end this season. I was surrounded by a ton of my really close friends on the swim team, and we were all there and just happy together. It’s sad to be leaving and moving on, but luckily I’ll still be swimming in college,” Zoah said.
