Another year, another standout season in the pool for the Belmont High School boys swim team.
The 2024-25 Marauders went a perfect 10-0, repeated as Middlesex League champions, broke a program record, and saw a handful of student-athletes qualify for the individual North Sectional and Division I State Championship meets.
“It was the largest team we’ve had so far, so a lot of depth led to what we’ve been able to do,” said senior Ben Leger. “We have a ton of people who can swim a ton of events, so we’re not a one trick kind of team.”
Coach Lulu Emmons, who has been the leader of the boys program since 2020 and the girls team since 2016, said the Marauders sent 40 athletes to compete against the other six Middlesex League teams at the conference meet, the league’s largest roster and more than double that of some opponents. Her first team five years ago fielded just 14 competitors. It was also the program’s first year fielding a dive team.
“Every year, we’ve steadily built in numbers for the general team as well as qualifying kids,” Emmons said. “The seniors have been through all that growth and seen it the last four years.”
The seniors tried to cultivate a team community. For example, Alex Wu takes time to meet each freshman individually to help them acclimate to the team. The seniors often hold team dinners.
“Everyone’s so different and we have some unique characters and it definitely makes the experience more enjoyable and interesting,” Thomas Borkowski said. “Even some of the swimmers who might not be as fast, they’re constantly trying to get better and ask the faster swimmers for tips on how to improve.”
All three Belmont relay teams (200-yard medley, 200-yard freestyle, and 4×100-yard freestyle) took first place.
The 200-yard medley relay of Rohan Bhagwati, Lucas Cadet, David Chen, and Thomas Borkowski broke the league record set in 2023.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Leger, Cadet, Ethan Gong, and Benjamin Wu’s time of 1:33.90 broke a 20-year school record by over a second.
Wu, a sophomore, won both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle to capture two League All-Star nods, breaking the school record in the 500 set in 2009 by more than two seconds.
Seniors Borkowski and Cadet, junior Bhagwati, sophomores David Chen and Robert Mitchell and freshmen Hunter Olowinski and Miles Hendriks each secured All-Conference honors for second or third-place finishes in their respective events in the league meet, including both swimming and diving. Bhagwati earned two All-Conference nods for the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard backstroke.
The Marauders finished 10th overall in Saturday’s North Regional at MIT’s Zesiger Center, three spots higher than last year. The medley relay, 200-yard freestyle, and 400-yard freestyle relay all qualified for this coming Sunday’s state championship meet at Boston University.
Cadet qualified in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke, Wu in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle, and Gong and Bhagwati in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Put simply, the team results come as a byproduct of the culture.
“We all like each other and have a great sense of community, even outside the pool,” said senior Sina Rostamnezhad.
