Mustangs looking to repeat

SANFORD — A year removed from an undefeated season and a dominating performance at Southwesterns, the Massabesic boys swim team is out to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke.

Last season, the Mustangs were reliant on its key core of freshmen and a large team. This season, after a few key departures, the freshmen from a year ago are stepping into an even bigger role.

Of those sophomores looking to impress again are Sam Lariviere and Tyler Wright, who believe that Massabesic has a target on its back this year.

“I’m sure a lot of teams will be out to get us this year, but we’re going to try our hardest to keep everyone off,” Wright said.

By turning in an undefeated season a year ago, it’s going to be hard to ignore this Massabesic team, despite it being relatively young. The key for this team is going to rely on the development of the younger swimmers on the team; something junior Collin Hart believes won’t be a problem.

“A lot of the swimmers swim year round for the most part, so everyone is in good shape for this season,” Hart said.

Coach Kevin Broad has also noticed improvement in a lot of the swimmers over the offseason as well, and has welcomed some other additions to fill the void left by some of the swimmers who have left.

“We’ve got a couple of the second-tier swimmers who have improved so I think that will help quite a bit,” said Broad. “We only lost a couple of seniors, but we replaced them with good freshmen and a few upper classmen who are new to the sport. I think we can [repeat as Southwestern Champions].”

With the key losses from a year ago, many people may look at this team and point out that it is too young to repeat and will not be as big a contender as last season. Lariviere admits that the team lost some swimmers from a year ago, but that’s the way it goes in high school.

“We lost a few guys that were important to the team but we got a few more,” said Lariviere. “Not much is different. We still have a great coach, and we still have a great team.”

After the season Massabesic turned in last year, there are high expectations and with success comes respect, something Lariviere knows Massabesic has now.

“I think we definitely have a target on our back,” said Lariviere. “I think the rest of the state might know who we are now.”