Two 25-Year-Old School Records Fall in PA Pool

MacRae and Oh go high and low

January 26, 2010 —In a home matchup against Northfield Mount Hermon Saturday, the fans of PA swimming and diving not only saw a pair of Andover team wins in the boys’ and girls’ meets, but also were treated to two splendid record-shattering individual performances. In the boys’ meet, Jun Oh '12 powered his way to a 4:34.90 in the 500-yard freestyle race, shaving more than seven seconds off the long-standing school record of 4:42.28 set by Jon Bernstein '86 in 1985. In the girls’ diving event, Kendall MacRae ’11 also broke a 25-year-old record by scoring 267 points, a PA best since Jenny Greene ’85 posted a 2:51.05 in her senior season.

According to girls’ swim coach Paul Murphy ’84, MacRae, a third-year upper from Sherborn, Mass., was “on fire,” nailing each of her six dives that day. MacRae has only been in the program for two years, said Murphy, but under the guidance of diving coach Belinda Canavan and with a strong off-season training program, she has really been coming on strong.

In addition to breaking the long-distance record, Oh, a new lower from North Andover, Mass., showed his versatility by also winning the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 1:56.52 and anchoring the 400-yard freestyle relay; he and his teammates narrowly missed breaking the 1983 pool record with their time of 3:14.12.

With their team victories, the boys (93-75) and the girls (95-72) each improved their records to 3-0 on the season. They will be back in action Saturday, January 30, at Deerfield.