From School Records to State Podiums, Burlington’s Winter Athletes Deliver
Burlington's winter athletes broke records, claimed state titles, and quietly built something bigger than any single performance. Here's what this season meant.
"Chasing the Clock" Contributed by Chase Wissler, Endicott College Journalism Student
Burlington’s winter athletes didn’t just compete this season — they advanced.
Both boys’ and girls’ basketball and hockey teams qualified for the state tournament. Swimmers and track & field athletes set countless personal records. Two sophomore wrestlers stood atop the Division 2 podium before earning All-State medals. Across programs, individual performances stacked up to build something larger.
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Chasing the Clock
On a winter afternoon at the MIT pool, amid the Division 2 State Championship high school swim meet, the clock stopped at 48.75 seconds. Rich Kennedy’s 46-year-old Burlington High School record quietly fell.
For junior swimmer Shay Woodbury, the moment was both personal and historic. With his 100-yard freestyle performance, Woodbury had edged past the previous mark of 49.88 seconds and cemented his name in the Burlington record books, continuing a family legacy of standout results in the pool.
And this was only the most recent record Woodbury had broken. Earlier in the season, at a meet against Arlington, he and his teammates Dillon Floyd, Nathan Alba, and Branden Ruiz broke Burlington’s 200 freestyle relay school record – a mark previously set in 2000 by a team that included Woodbury’s father, Josh.
The quartet didn’t just break the record once. They did it three times, most recently finishing with a time of 1:50.21 at Sectionals.
Woodbury’s momentum started when he set a school record in the 100-yard backstroke back when he was just a freshman; he went on to break it again in the same season. This event remains one of Woodbury’s strongest; at the Division 2 Championship, he earned a state medal, placing sixth overall.
“I [have] been a part of the record books since my freshman year,” Woodbury said. “To add on two more this year with members of my team, it really created a great sense of accomplishment.”
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Woodbury’s record-breaking season reflects years of training, starting long before high school. He swims year-round for Aces Aquatics, and during the fall, he trains six days a week. Once the high school season begins in the winter, his schedule can reach eight practices a week.
The drive to improve is fueled as much by the people around him as the competition in the water, says Woodbury.
“Shay has such a love for swimming as well as the Burlington High School men’s swim team,” said his mother, Fallon Woodbury, adding that he looks up to his dad.
Dad Josh Woodbury, for his part, is elated by his son’s success. “We’re so incredibly proud of Shay’s hard work in the pool and also the leader that he’s becoming on the team,” Josh said.
Woodbury says he has found a strong support system with his teammates throughout their training and competitions together.
He also credits his coaches, Steve Papagno and Vito Costa, and said his teammates make the long hours worthwhile. “Part of the reason I enjoy swimming is because of the people around me,” he said. “They make practices enjoyable and make me want to improve.”
For Woodbury, the records are personal — but the goal is bigger. "Currently, my goal is to swim at the next level," he said. “I’d love to find somewhere that not only fits me, but somewhere with a great sense of community.” If the past few seasons are any indication, the Burlington record books may not be finished with his name just yet.
Leading from the Mat
Shay Woodbury wasn’t the only athlete making waves this winter. On the mat, sophomore captains Cameron Bonnell and Maximillian Shvartsman capped years of steady development with breakthrough postseason performances, earning Division 2 state titles and punching their tickets to New Englands.
Max and Cam have been wrestling since early elementary school, said coach Paul Shvartsman, and they formed part of a new middle school team when they were in seventh grade. Those years of experience helped the two, along with junior captain Josh Leavitt, grow into strong leaders for the team.
“Cam’s great at leading by example,” said Shvartsman. “He always does the right thing. He's always working as hard as possible.”
Max’s leadership secret lies in his depth of knowledge of the sport. “Max knows the sport better than anyone on the team, because he's been around it since he could walk,” said Shvartsman. Still, cultivating his practice took effort – and having Dad as the coach added another layer. “It’s satisfying because we both put in a lot of work and sacrifice,” Coach Shvartsman said. “It kind of clicked with him this year.”
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Both wrestlers notched pin after pin this season in a schedule Shvartsman said is intentionally intensive, claiming Division 2 state titles in their weight classes before finishing second (Max) and fourth (Cam) at All-States.
While Max and Cam went far in the postseason, said Shvartsman, the team as a whole posted its first winning record since before the pandemic, finishing 14–13–1 after going 6–20 just last year. With 25 wrestlers on the roster — all but one returning next season — the growth feels structural, not temporary.
Now the team looks ahead to the regional championships, where Cam and Max will face the best wrestlers in all of New England. Beyond that, Shvartsman said, he hopes to see team members continue working during the off-season with camps and club wrestling, building even more buy-in and reinforcing the strong foundation they’ve begun to lay. "Between now and next year, if they put the work in, we could be one of the favorites to win sectionals and states.”
Cam, Max, and Shay weren’t alone. From basketball’s Matty Gray, who scored his 1,000th career point and was named League MVP, to Ava Eldridge, who shaved more than a minute off her 2-mile personal record, athletes across programs turned steady effort into measurable gains.
What may matter more than the records and banners achieved this season is what’s building underneath — young rosters gaining experience, athletes investing in off-season work, and hard work paying off in big ways.
If this winter proved anything, it’s that Burlington’s success isn’t arriving out of nowhere. It’s been quietly and consistently building.
