By David Fierro
Depth was the deciding factor in Thursday’s ultra-competitive FCIAC Swimming Championships, held at Greenwich High School.
And once again, the team displaying the most depth in the meet featuring outstanding times was Greenwich.
Greenwich finished first in one event, yet was well-represented with several competitors in each race, resulting in plenty of team points. Therefore, the Cardinals continued their decades long dynasty, capturing the team title at the FCIAC Boys Swimming Championships for the 53rd time in 54 seasons with 426.5 team points.
New Canaan, which also enjoyed a standout meet, finished second in the team standings with 363 points, while Norwalk/McMahon, placed a strong third with 335 team points. Ridgefield was fourth in the team standings at the exciting conference championships (269.5 points).
Stellar performances at the FCIAC Championships’ trials on Tuesday set the Cardinals up nicely to claim another conference title.
“Coach told us 99 percent of these meets are won in trials,” said Greenwich senior Kegan Clark, one of the squad’s captains. “We were behind in points going into trials and came out of trials on top. Everybody was dropping times and it was amazing to see where everyone is at now, compared to where they were before – it’s amazing to see.”
New Canaan registered five first-place finishes at the FCIAC Championships, including two individual victories from senior Jack Haley. Kat Munson, New Canaan’s coach, was named the FCIAC Coach of the Year at Thursday’s FCIAC Championships.
“It’s incredible, it’s very exciting for our team,” Munson said of the Rams’ terrific showing at FCIACs. “We went into the season knowing that we had an opportunity to do some big things and to challenge teams like Greenwich and Norwalk, who were really dominant last year – that was what we were training for throughout the season. We’ve got some incredible individual swimmers that generate momentum for us that the rest of the team feeds off of.”
The FCIAC Championships began with New Canaan winning the 200-yard medley relay in an All-American consideration time of 1:34.03. Norwalk placed second (1:34.41), followed by Greenwich (1:37.35). In the 200-yard freestyle, Clancy captured the gold medal, registering a time of 1:39.91 for Ridgefield. Clark gave Greenwich a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle, clocking in at 1:44.18. George Wang, a freshman, was third for New Canaan in 1:45.58 and Norwalk/McMahon’ freshman Noah Mora took fourth in the race.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Haley earned the first-place medal for New Canaan, touching the wall in 1:51.85. Norwalk/McMahon sophomore Wyatt Vitiello was the runner-up (1:51.96 and Greenwich senior Felix Flakstad finished third (1:56.09).
“Coming in here we only had about a 12-point advantage based on the prelims and everybody stepped up across all events, across all classes and grades,” said Flakstad, one of the Cards’ captains. “It was amazing to see. So many kids went from not scoring to ending up in the A final and that’s just what you need to win meets like this.”
Said Greenwich legendary coach Terry Lowe, who has guided the Cardinals to all of their titles since they began their storied run in 1971: “We knew exactly what New Canaan had, their elite guys are awesome. We had a lot of guys in each event – at least three guys in every event. It’s hard to beat that, when you have swimmers in the championship heat and consolation. Overall, I thought we responded pretty well.”
Junior Luke Mendelsohn (1:57.05) and sophomore Colin Bucaria (2:02.98) were sixth and eighth, respectively for GHS in the 200 IM. The FCIAC 50-yard freestyle title went to junior Michael Ivanov of Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde (21.61 seconds). Right behind him were Norwalk/McMahon senior Mike Kvashchuk (21.72) and Wilton junior Jake Mercer (21.96). Hudson Jang, a Westhill/Stamford senior, was fourth (22.12) and junior Jake Melley had Greenwich’s best finish in the 50 freestyle, taking seventh in 22.45.
The 100-yard butterfly race saw New Canaan junior Eric Hugan take top honors, posting a time of 50.06 seconds. Kris Flores (Norwalk/McMahon, senior, 51.70) was the runner-up and Greenwich junior Hadden Wood finished third in 52.91. Junior Jake Melley also gave GHS a seventh-place finish, clocking in at 53.76.
“Starting off the meet with that medley relay win was huge, then having Jack win that 200 IM, followed by Eric winning the 100 fly and then Deacon (Mascarinas) winning the 100 breast and 100 free was great,” Munson noted. “They are incredible athletes and they help to raise the caliber of the rest of the team. When you have a bar that’s set that high, you want to get on board and on that level. It’s really important to have guys like that.”
Mascarinas was the FCIAC 100-yard freestyle champion (46.69). Ridgefield senior Marko Katra was the runner-up (49.81) and Clark claimed third place for the Cards (46.94). Calvin Donat, a junior, was seventh (49.66) for the Cardinals in the 100 freestyle event.
Flakstad referenced Greenwich’s depth for making a significant difference at the championship meet.
“They have so many good kids, especially Jack Haley, George Wang and Eric Wong, all three of those guys are elite swimmers,” Flakstad said of New Canaan. “Depth is the way to win. We have three great top guys on our own team and I couldn’t be happier with our team.”
Clancy of Ridgefield showed his speed and endurance on his way to claiming the gold medal in the 500 freestyle. Leading from the start he touched the wall in an eye-opening time of 4:32.68. New Canaan’s Haley placed second in the 500 (4:39.49), while Flakstad finished third (4:46.10). Greenwich also received a sixth-place showing from sophomore Jack Smith (4:57.06) and an eight-place finish from junior Hadden Wood (5:07.03), which added important team points for the championship team.
“I’m super happy and super proud of everybody on the team,” Greenwich’s Mendelsohn said. “Everyone stepped up and it was super impressive to see the way the team came together.”
Norwalk/McMahon was the 200-yard freestyle relay winner (1:27.08), followed by Greenwich (1:27.24) and Ridgefield (1:28.17). Wyatt Vitiello (Norwalk/McMahon) won the FCIAC title in the 100 backstroke (51.27) and Macarinas (New Canaan) garnered the gold medal in the 100 breaststroke. Hudson of Westhill/Stamford was second in the 100 backstroke (51.51), while Eric Huang from New Canaan took third (52.33). Michael Ivanov of Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde placed second in the 100 breaststroke (58.89), while Mendelsohn (59.07) and sophomore Colin Bucaria (1:02.51) were third and fourth, respectively for Greenwich.
“Everybody swam fast, the competition is so good it’s getting better every year,” Mendelsohn said. “I think we’re in a great place as a team. We had a lot of great swims here, but there’s a lot of great swims still to come.”
Greenwich’s victory at the FCIAC meet came in the final event of the night – the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Cardinals registered a winning time of 3:09.54, while runner-up New Canaan posted a time of 3:11.26.
Up next for Greenwich and their FCIAC rivals are the Class (state) championships and then the biggest meet of the season – the CIAC State Open Championships.
The Class LL Championships, which Greenwich will compete in is scheduled to take place on March 12 at Wesleyan University. New Canaan will take part in the Class L Championships on March 12 at Cornerstone Aquatics Center. The State Open Championships is scheduled to take place on March 16 at Yale University.
“FCIACs is a tough meet, because you want to get up and swim fast, but you’re not resting for it,” Munson said. “The fact that they got up and swam fast is exciting, but our goal and our focus is definitely states. Not only do we want to defend our title from previous years, but states is the prelim for the State Open.”
“We want to be able to qualify as many guys for Opens as we can, so we can be a challenger at the Open Championship as well,” the New Canaan coach continued. “The dynamic of my team right now is one that’s an Open championship team as well. We want to be able to qualify as many guys for Opens as we can, so we can be a challenger at the Open Championship as well. The dynamic of my team right now is one that’s an Open championship team as well.”
Indeed, the Cardinals are aiming to once again, win the Class LL title and qualify as many athletes as possible for the State Open. The Class LL Championships also serves as a qualifier for the State Open.
“It’s a meet about qualifying for the Open,” Clark said of the LL competition. “We have to swim like we did every other meet.”
“That’s the key, that’s the name of the game, getting as many kids as we can to the Open,” Flakstad added. “We have to do that through LL trials, through LL finals for Opens.”
“I think we are looking good where we are right now,” Lowe noted. “We’ll find out at the LL finals how good of a State Open team we are.”