Boys’ swim and dive blew Framingham out of the water 93-90 Tuesday, Jan. 21 at home, extending its 7-0 winning streak and qualifying for the Bay State Championships.

The Tigers ended the meet with a clutch victory after showing perseverance and electric energy. According to counselor Patrick Manning, the head coach, the meet was incredibly tight and many races were won by fractions of seconds. 

“I thought that the meet went really well, I had some great times and Clarence beat his record and did really good overall. I thought it was the best meet so far,” said junior Braden Friree. 

As the meet began with dives, senior Clarence de Medeiros and Friree took hold of the competition with their motivation and spirit to bring home another win. De Medeiros stunned the audience with a reverse dive that received an 8 and 8.5 from the judges, the highest score given out in the heat. 

According to sophomore Lucy Caputo, the team manager, the divers’ success paved the way for the rest of the meet and inspired teammates to persevere and secure the win.

Although the diving portion of the meet ended on a high note, the odds of winning the overall meet were still unclear as laps began. North and Framingham were neck-in-neck, fighting for control of the scoreboard. The butterfly was especially tense and senior Quinn Caputo won his heat by a tenth of a second, earning a special shoutout from Manning. 

“The relays were won by fingertips, and the effort that they were putting in was unbelievable,” said Manning. “We had some excellent times, they all were so fired up because it was the meet to tell if they were going to championships.” 

The meet came to a close with the freestyle relay, an exciting finish to an even more exciting matchup. Cheers from the crowd could be heard from the other side of the school as the Tigers won the final relay race. Framingham was also undefeated up until this meet which had made the competition all the more intense.

“Framingham was probably the best team we’d gone against so far,” said Lucy Caputo. “There might’ve been some lasting tension between them.”

The Tigers, 7-1, lost in the first round of the Bay State Championship. They will attend a “Last Chance” meet Friday, Jan. 31 at home.