Malvern Prep Swimming and Diving finished the 2012-2013 season as the most successful swim team that the school has ever had. The Friars culminated their undefeated dual meet eason with a second place finish at the 2013 Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships.
Saturday February 23rd marked the first time that Malvern Prep had a top two finish at the prestigious championship meet which is historically the oldest prep school swim meet in the country. Malvern also succeeded in rewriting the record board with new records set in all three relays (200 medley relay, 200 free relay, 400 free relay), and junior stud CJ Schaeffer setting new team records in the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 yard backstroke. The 200 medley relay and 400 free relay qualitified for automatic All American time while the 200 free relay is in consideration, so approximately 6-8 swimmers are All American this year soley off relays. The official status for indiviual events has not yet been disclosed. The Friars also have six seniors (Stephen Ball, Matthew Cornell, Charles Leasure, Ryan Robinson, MP Salinas and Paul Stockett) who have qualified for Academic All American.
Prior to the weekend, Malvern had hoped to have a top three finish. The Peddie School, known for their stellar swim program and super seniors (post grads), was once again the dominant force in the pool on paper. The playing field after Peddie appeared to be pretty even, Loyola Blake Field (who had beaten the Friars for a first place finish at National Catholics this past year), Andover, and Malvern Prep were evenly matched.
After a day and a half of competition, Peddie pulled ahead significantly, but the race for second place was close. After day one Malvern had the second place spot by less than ten points, with third place trailing by a meager fifteen points. After a strong performance in the breast stroke by the friars on the second day of competition, it was determined that the race for second would come down to last event, the 400 free relay. Malvern (who was seated third in the A final) had to beat Loyola (who was seated fifth) who’s respective seed times were separated by about a second. Once again, the Friars sprinted their way to victory.
The second place finish earned Malvern a trophy and the title of the most successful swim team in school history. For the seniors who swam through Malvern’s three past years of devastating losses and mediocre championship meet finishes, it truly was a storybook ending to cap off their high school swimming careers.
