Melendez caps off historic swim career with double gold

L-R: Adrian Bankowski, Owen Guerini, Sebastian Melendez, Diego Ferstler and Sean Mitchell at the Division 2 state meet (Dennis Mitchell photo)

Melendez caps off historic career with double gold at MIAA state meet

For the second time in as many seasons, CHS swimmer Sebastian Melendez is a two-event state champion after setting new personal bests in both the 200- and 100-meter freestyle at last weekend’s MIAA Division 2 Swimming & Diving Championships held at Boston University.

The senior captain’s final haul, which also included a silver as part of Canton’s sensational 200 freestyle relay performance, gives him seven career top-three finishes at the state level in just a three-year span — including four individual golds — while further cementing his legacy as the greatest swimmer that Canton High School has ever seen.

“It was an incredible feeling, just seeing everything fall into place and seeing all that hard work pay off,” said Melendez of his final state championship performance. “It takes a lot of sacrifice, but to me all the sacrifice was worth it.”

Despite entering as the defending champion in the 200 free, Melendez had begun the day as the No. 2 seed — a half second behind Belchertown’s Benjamin LaClair, who was last year’s runner-up. LaClair was also seeded first in last year’s race, but when it came time to compete, it was Melendez who would once again set the pace as he led wire to wire to finish in 1:40.27 — a new personal-best mark and just .54 seconds off the overall meet record.

Rather than attempt to defend his crown in the 500 free against LaClair, Melendez elected to compete instead in the 100 free, despite having never competed in that event in any prior postseason meet. “This season my 100 times were improving, and I thought it would be a cool experience to hop into a new event and go to states and see what I could do,” he said.

And that decision proved to be a wise one as he not only outswam the field in the 100; he also cleared 46 seconds for the first time in his career (45.85) and came within .16 seconds of a new meet record.

“It was more than satisfying,” he said of the victory in the 100. “I was really nervous going into the 200, and after winning that event it really motivated me and gave me the extra confidence to really step up in the 100 and do what I needed to do.”

According to head coach Cheryl Cavanaugh, Melendez’s gold-medal performances in his two individual events have put him in consideration for All-American status, which does not surprise her in the least.

“He’s just so talented,” said Cavanaugh, a veteran swim coach. “He’s really, really talented. I would have loved to have seen him swim all out in every meet throughout the season, but the bigger meets like sectionals and states, that’s where he really shines.”

Melendez himself acknowledged that the high school swim season is a grind, in large part because he also trains and competes with an elite club team out of Sudbury, Apex Aquatics. But he remains passionate about the sport and was proud to represent CHS for the past three seasons.

Cavanaugh said Melendez was part of a stellar group of senior swimmers who pushed one another and the team to new heights of greatness. That group included captains Sean Mitchell, Owen Guerini, and Diego Ferstler, who helped guide the squad to a first-ever Hockomock Davenport Division championship and a second-place showing at the league meet a few weekends ago.

This year’s team also featured a rising star in freshman Adrian Bankowski, who qualified for states in the 50 free along with Mitchell and Guerini. Of the three, Mitchell was the standout on Sunday, placing eighth overall out of 30 swimmers and besting his seed time by .40 seconds. However, all three swimmers were key contributors in the relays as they teamed with Melendez to take second out of 29 in the 200 free and fifth out of 20 in the 400 free. Those two relay performances alone gave the Canton boys 62 of their 113 total points, and along with Melendez’s two victories and Mitchell’s eighth-place finish, the Bulldogs finished the meet in sixth place overall out of 44 schools.

With several top swimmers set to graduate, Cavanaugh said it will be almost impossible to replicate the success of this year’s squad in 2018. However, it was quite a ride, she said, and she is proud of the fact that a number of her swimmers intend to compete next year at the college level.

Melendez in particular is determined to swim in college and has been in communication with a number of Division 1 schools. He is also in the process of obtaining dual citizenship status in hopes of competing with the Columbian national team and perhaps even qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

“I know I’m not a Michael Phelps and I know I’m not going to make a living as a swimmer,” said Melendez, “but it’s all about being happy and going as far as I can in the sport. And if God gives me the chance to swim in Tokyo in 2020, then I’m going to go for it, for sure.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Feb 24 2017. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.