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Billerica Memorial High School Swimming and Diving

Billerica Memorial High School Swimming and Diving is the swimming and diving program of Billerica Memorial High School. Its teams have trained and swum at the pool of Shawsheen Valley Technical High School since the girls' swim club was founded in the fall of 1977. The girls' team, coached for more than two decades by Anthony Fiore, won Merrimack Valley Conference championships in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2010. A boys' team swam in the winter seasons from 1978-79 to the mid-1980s, and a boys' team competing in the fall season won the MIAA North sectional meet in 2014 and placed third in the Division 2 state meet of 2025.

In 1961 the town recreation department reported that "there is no formal swimming program in town due to the lack of proper facilities," and began a summer swim meet at a local pool. No school team appears in the records of Howe High School. The Warrior of 1978 lists the Girls Swim Club, coached by Susan Hale and Jan Burke, among "the new sports teams this year"; the swimmers "practiced every afternoon at the Shawsheen pool," went 0-4, and sent one swimmer and one diver to the Eastern Massachusetts Swimming and Diving Championship. In its second season the girls' team went 2-6, with two wins and two close meets against teams "that have been established for years," and in 1979 it tied for third in its league at 5-3, 7-4 overall, with a relay at the North Sectional championships.

Jack Stephenson coached both teams for several seasons. The boys' team of 1978-79 had sixteen members, and the 1980-81 team, "the most successful in its history," had its first winning season at 7-4 while setting new school records in the sprint freestyle and relay events. The 1982-83 boys went 5-5 and were third in the Merrimack Valley Conference at 3-2, the 1983-84 team went 2-7-1, and in 1984-85, under Coach Staniewicz, the boys swam against Shawsheen, Lowell, Chelmsford and other area schools in events from the medley relay to the one-meter dive. No boys' team appears in the yearbooks after that season. The girls, whom the yearbooks called the "Indian Natators," had a 9-1 season in the fall of 1980 under Mr. Stephenson and won the North Conference championship of the Eastern Massachusetts Girls Interscholastic Swimming League, with two swimmers and a diver qualifying for the state meet. They went 5-4-1 in 1981, 4-6 in 1982 against a schedule on which five opponents finished among the top eleven teams in the North Sectional, and 4-8 in 1983 with fourteen freshmen.

Christine Craig was the new coach of the girls in 1984. Dottie Blake and Anthony Fiore coached the team in 1987 with a new diving coach, Tom Connors, and the three coached the 3-8 team of 1988. Mr. Fiore was head coach from about 1991, when the team won five meets, four more than the year before, with Bunny MacNeil as his assistant. The roster passed forty swimmers in 1992, and in 1993 the team went 5-7 and sent eleven girls to the North Sectional meet. The 1994 team had more than fifty swimmers, broke four school records, and had a diver place fifth at the state meet, and in 1995 Billerica won the Merrimack Valley small school championship, its "first championship in years," at a league meet it hosted. Two school relay records fell at the state meet of 1996, and in 1997 the team broke a medley relay record that had stood since 1981; that yearbook described the season as "fitting 40 people into a pool," practices at 5 AM on Saturdays, and divers "traveling 30 miles a day to dive."

The 1998 team had the best record in the program's history, with its first wins over Nashua and Lowell. The 2000 team went 8-3 and won the Merrimack Valley Conference, and the 2001 team was undefeated and won the conference again, with Anthony Fiore and Donna Gibson as coaches and a diving coach of its own; a third conference title followed in 2002. The 2004 team won the Division II league meet and sent a relay to the state meet, where it placed twelfth, and in 2006 the team was second at the conference meet to its rival Methuen. The 2007 season was swum "without a pool to swim in" and with a team of mainly freshmen; the 2008 team was back at the Shawsheen Tech pool and finished third in the Merrimack Valley championships under Mr. Fiore and two assistants. Mr. Fiore was head coach again in 2009, and the seniors of 2011 remembered the Merrimack Valley championship of 2010.

In the 2010s the program again included boys, who competed in the MIAA fall swimming season with the girls. The Shawsheen pool remained the "home site for interscholastic high-school swim teams from Billerica, Bedford and Burlington public schools" in 2016. On November 9, 2014 the Billerica boys, coached by Tom Foster, won the North sectional meet at the Keohane Sports Center of Wellesley College with 205 points, ahead of Advanced Math and Science, Methuen, Woburn and St. Peter-Marian. In the fall of 2025 the boys were second in the North sectional meet at MIT, where they won the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays and set a meet record in the 100-yard breaststroke, and then placed third in the MIAA Division 2 state meet with 71 points, behind Milton and Braintree, with a Billerica diver third in the diving.

Billerica Memorial High School swimming and diving by season, from Warrior yearbooks, town reports and meet reports. Girls' seasons are fall seasons; the boys' teams of 1978-79 to 1984-85 swam in the winter. Blank cells are not known, and seasons with no surviving information are omitted.
Season	Team	Head coach	Dual-meet record	League finish	Sectional/state results	Notes
1977	Girls	Susan Hale and Jan Burke	0-4		Eastern Massachusetts championship qualifiers in swimming and diving	First season, as the Girls Swim Club; practiced at the Shawsheen pool
1978	Girls		2-6		Eastern Massachusetts championship qualifiers	Second season
1978-79	Boys	Jack Stephenson				Sixteen members
1979	Girls		7-4 (league 5-3)	Tied for third	North Sectional qualifiers
1980	Girls	Jack Stephenson	9-1	North Conference champion, Eastern Massachusetts Girls Interscholastic Swimming League	State meet qualifiers in swimming and diving
1980-81	Boys	Jack Stephenson	7-4			First winning season; school records in the sprint freestyle and relays
1981	Girls	Jack Stephenson	5-4-1
1982	Girls	Jack Stephenson	4-6			Five opponents among the top eleven North Sectional teams
1982-83	Boys	Jack Stephenson	5-5 (league 3-2)	Third
1983	Girls	Jack Stephenson	4-8			Fourteen freshmen on the team
1983-84	Boys	Jack Stephenson	2-7-1			School record in the medley relay
1984	Girls	Christine Craig				New coach
1984-85	Boys	Mr. Staniewicz				Last boys team in the yearbooks of the 1980s
1986	Girls		6-5
1987	Girls	Dottie Blake and Anthony Fiore				New diving coach Tom Connors
1988	Girls	Dottie Blake	3-8			Coaches Dottie Blake, Tom Connors and Anthony Fiore
1989	Girls		2-8
1991	Girls	Anthony Fiore	5 wins			Assistant Bunny MacNeil
1992	Girls	Anthony Fiore				More than forty swimmers
1993	Girls	Anthony Fiore	5-7		Eleven North Sectional qualifiers
1994	Girls	Anthony Fiore	5 wins		Fifth in diving at the state meet	More than fifty swimmers; four school records
1995	Girls	Anthony Fiore		Merrimack Valley small school champion		Won the MVC meet, hosted by Billerica
1996	Girls	Anthony Fiore			State meet place in diving; two relay records at the state meet	Assistant Mary Robb
1997	Girls	Anthony Fiore			School record in the 400 freestyle relay at the North Sectional	Medley relay record of 1981 broken
1998	Girls	Anthony Fiore				Best record in program history; first wins over Nashua and Lowell
2000	Girls	Anthony Fiore	8-3	Merrimack Valley champion		Best record in program history
2001	Girls	Anthony Fiore	Undefeated	Merrimack Valley champion		Assistant Donna Gibson
2002	Girls			Merrimack Valley champion		Third conference title
2004	Girls			Won the Division II league meet	Relay twelfth at the state meet
2006	Girls			Second
2007	Girls					"Without a pool to swim in"; mainly freshmen
2008	Girls	Anthony Fiore		Third at the MVC championships		Home meets at the Shawsheen Tech pool
2009	Girls	Anthony Fiore
2010	Girls			Merrimack Valley champion
2014	Boys	Tom Foster			North sectional champion, 205 points	November 9 at Wellesley College
2025	Boys				Second in the North sectional (199 points); third in the Division 2 state meet (71 points)	Meet record in the 100-yard breaststroke

Billerica Memorial High School Swimming and Diving

Billerica Memorial High School Swimming and Diving

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