By Michael Letendre
The Bristol Boys swimming and diving Coop finished third in CCC, Pod D on Tuesday – earning All-Conference nods in nine out of 12 events.
CCC Pod D championships were won by Gabriel Bartolome (200 Medley Relay, 200 IM, 100 Backstroke and 400 Free Relay), Drew Fries (200 Medley Relay, and 50 Free), Colton Litwinczyk (200 Medley Relay, 200 Free, 100 Breast Stroke and 400 Free Relay), and Mikel Palaj (200 Medley Relay, 100 Butterfly, 500 Free and 400 Free Relay).
“We ended the night with 21 best times, and three new team records,” said Bristol coach Adrienne Bentley. “The team was hungry for it after last year with Colton breaking the 500 free record that stood 12 years.” “We are taking names down”, said Litwincyzk, one of the team’s co-captains.
And on Tuesday night, they did just that.
The 200 Medley relay team of Gabriel Bartolome, Colton Litwincyzk, Mikel Palaj and Drew Fries led off the meet. by breaking their own record from earlier this season – a record that had stood for seven years.
Gabriel Bartolome also broke the team record in the 200 IM which stood for 11 years.
“I really, really wanted, to break the IM record, since freshman year”, said Bartolome.
And Mikel Palaj broke the six-year team record in the 100 butterfly.
Other top 10 finishers included Noah Taylor in the 200 free (seventh) and 500 free (sixth), Davis Kroll in the 200 IM and 100 free (fifth). Other fine performances came from Chris Fiorillo in diving (seventh), Aidan Collins in the 100 Free (seventh), Drew Fries, Aidan Collins, Davis Kroll and Noah Taylor in the 200 Free Relay (fourth) and Drew Fries in the 50 Free (runner-up) and 100 Back (eighth)
“The team was really on fire,” said Bentley. “We, the coaches, asked them to impress us, to show us what they had learned and they did. It was a short season, but I am hopeful that they walked away knowing, even though there are things outside of [their] control, what you bring to the table, what you show up with, is your choice and therefore always, in your control.”
