By Simon Chen
In an all-Brooklyn PSAL Boys Swimming Championship final last week, emotions ran high between Brooklyn rivals – the Fort Hamilton Tigers and the Brooklyn Tech Engineers. In their one and only meet between the teams previously, Fort Hamilton came out victors in a 55-47 defeat of the Engineers on January 16. But in the championship, held February 14 at St. Francis College, Fort Hamilton couldn’t do it again, and this time with much more at stake. The Engineers claimed the title in a “neck-and-neck” four-by-four 400 yard relay, where they edged Fort Hamilton, 54-48 to capture the 2007-2008 PSAL Swimming Championship. “I had faith in this kid [Team Captain Dimitrios Xanthos]; I told him that he was going to make it for us. I knew that he was going to win it for us,” said Brookyln Tech swimmer Frederic Cheung. Cheung was referring to the “winner-take-all” anchor swim by Engineers team captain, Dimitrios Xanthos, who was a tenth-of-a-second faster than his closest competitor. “I felt pretty sick getting on the starting block, but I knew that I had to win it for the team, no matter how sick I was,” said Xanthos. “It was the matter of who wanted it the most was going to win [the relay].” “The pressure is finally off,” said Brooklyn Tech Head Coach Maureen O’Hara after getting tossed in the pool by her championship squad. “Feeling wet is the best feeling in the world. I told them that the [400 yard freestyle] relay was where all the points were.” On the loosing end, Fort Hamilton’s Head Coach Shawn Forthofer didn’t hang his head on the loss; rather, he was extremely optimistic about next season and making another championship run. “It was an unbelievable season, we were riding the momentum. We thought we were going to come here and make a statement. But we’ll be back next year,” said Forthofer. The following are the names of the 2007-2008 PSAL Boys Swimming Champions, of Brooklyn Tech: Sohrab Andaz, Allen Bekker, Warren Benfield, Joseph Boo, Bobby Chan, Frederic Cheung, Kenton Chik, Karol Drozdzal, Allen Farberov, Kryspin Gumiela, Dennis Huang, Ronald Lam, Hunt Lau, Eoghan Leddy, Elan Lutinger, Hosea Mak, Robert Mattera, Gene Pesola, Joshua Suzuki, Kai Yin Tam, Jonathan Tran, Neil Valtoonkiat, Thomas Wadolowski, Christopher Xanthos, Team Captain Dimitrios Xanthos, and Kevin Yuan.
