Andrew Frey Just Keeps Swimming

As far back as he can remember, Andrew Frey found himself in the water on a regular basis. At a young age, he was part of a low commitment swimming rec team out of Holliston, where he got to not only swim with his friends, but also hone his craft in the water. Now as a junior, he is swimming for the Holliston-Medway High School team and enjoying every minute of it.
“To me, swimming is a lot of fun and a sport unlike any other,” the Holliston junior said. “Swimming was something that I always knew I wanted to do once I got into high school, and I found myself loving the team once the season began.”
As a freshman, he swam under then Coach Julia McAdams, a very tough and disciplinary coach. Although he had swum for years, Frey found he was not that strong of a swimmer on the high school level, so at the encouragement of other teammates, he joined the Kingfish Swim Club out of Medfield following his freshman campaign.
“My freshman year, there were a lot of strong swimmers on the team, so my presence didn’t make that much of an impact,” he said. “Looking to improve, I joined the Kingfish after the season, but if I thought that high school was tough, the Kingfish was worse. I was getting beat up daily, but it only fed my motivation to swim better.”
While he didn’t exactly see his freshman campaign to be a success, Frey was part of the Holliston-Medway 4 X 100 freestyle relay, where he swam the second leg in the States.
“I wouldn’t really say I was a big part of the relay team as I was basically carried there by my teammates. I was pressured to swim my best, I was hoping for a sub one minute in my 100, while not letting the others down,” Frey said. “Participating on the state level allowed me to see the best swimmers that Massachusetts has to offer and gave me motivation to do better.”
The team didn’t place all that high at the Division 1 State Tournament, but it was an eye-opener for the freshman.
Frey, who enjoys swimming the shorter distances like the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle, found that participating in the off-season program truly helped his cause. When he showed up for the beginning of his sophomore season in the pool, he found he was ready and the practices were not as difficult as he had found just a year earlier. He also felt that he was able to contribute the team that year while posting personal best times in the 50 freestyle (25 seconds) and the 100 freestyle (53 seconds).
Lauren Doerrman, now in her second year as the Holliston-Medway head coach, has seen quite an improvement from last winter in Frey’s swimming.
“Coming into the season, the other swimmers were telling me how much work Andrew did in the off-season. That was exciting to hear, and I couldn’t wait to see it for myself,” the Coach said. “He improved his swimming drastically since last year, and in only a few meets this year has already qualified for the states in a few events.”
Between his sophomore and junior seasons with the high school, Frey moved up from the junior to senior team for the Kingfish. According to the Holliston junior, the jump incorporated more swimming as well as dryland, or out of water, exercises thus improving his skills.
Coming into this season, Frey was hoping to qualify for the States in five different events and as of the time of this writing, he had already crossed of four of them. With still a lot of swimming to be done, the Holliston swimmer has qualified for the states in the 50 free with a time of 23 seconds, the 100 free (50.5 seconds), the 200 free (1:53.5) and the 200 IM (2:08). He has yet to qualify in the breast stroke, where he currently has a best time of 1:07 and needs to be at 1:06. Once he gets to the State Tournament, he is hoping to place in the top 20 of whatever events he chooses.
“He has always been a solid swimmer that you can rely on, but he seems to have taken off this season,” Doerrman said. “To see his work ethic in the pool is amazing. He is a great role model to the other athletes, especially the younger ones.”
While his personal goals are going well, his biggest goal is to help the team capture a Tri-Valley League Championship.