The Greenwich Cardinals achieved a Triple Crown season for the sixth straight year as they recently added the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Boys Swimming and Diving Championships and the CIAC State Open team titles to follow up on their FCIAC championship.
Greenwich and Darien both won team titles in their respective state class championship meets as Darien was the CIAC Class L champion.
Coach Terry Lowe’s Cardinals have won the FCIAC, CIAC Class LL and State Open team titles every year from 2013-18. In 2012 they placed second to Fairfield Prep in both state championship meets.
This year Fairfield Prep was runner-up in both state championship meets.
Greenwich led a showing of three FCIAC teams among the top four and five conference teams among the top seven. The Cardinals won with 487.5 points, Prep had 457 and was followed by FCIAC members Staples (408) and Ridgefield (373). Pomperaug had 302.5 points for fifth place and was followed by FCIAC members Darien (281) and New Canaan (264).
Another big highlight for the FCIAC was Ridgefield’s superb senior Kieran Smith securing his legacy as one of the greatest high school swimmers in state history. He broke is own state and meet records in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle events by a significant amount of seconds and swam his customary strong legs on a pair of runner-up relay teams.
The future Florida Gator swimmer was more than five seconds faster than the runner-up when he won the 200 free with a time of 1 minute, 34.89 seconds to break the old state record (1:35.18) he set this year and the meet record (1:37.28) he set last year.
Later in the meet Smith swam 11.62 seconds faster than the runner-up when he won the 500 free in 4:18.83 to break the state record (4:21.37) he set this year and the meet record (4:24.69) he set last year.
Greenwich utilized its traditional depth and balance to win the State Open.
The Cardinals, who did not have an individual champion, clinched their crown when they won the meet’s final event, the 4×400 free relay, to tack on their final 30 points.
Devon Satir placed third in diving with 504.7 points for Greenwich’s highest individual finish.
Charles Clark was fourth in the 100 free (47.02), Stephan Todorovic tied for fifth in the 100 butterfly (51.7) and those two teamed up with Mackenzie Baxter and Segundo Rienhardt on that winning 4×400 free relay team (3:09.67).
Ridgefield had another individual champion in senior Andrew Bornstein, who won the 200 individual medley in 1:52. Bornstein later placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke (55.19). In the meet’s first event, Smith and Bornstein swam the first two legs while Luke Hruska and William Bryant covered the last two legs on Ridgefield’s runner-up 200 medley relay team (1:32.56).
Ridgefield freshman Connor Hunt placed third in the 500 free (4:36.38), fourth in the 200 free (1:42.78) and was on the runner-up 200 free relay team with (1:25.9) with Bryant, Hruska and Smith.
Ben Feldman, a sophomore on the Westhill/Stamford cooperative team, and Kevin Bradley, a junior on the Norwalk/Brien McMahon cooperative team, were the two other State Open individual champions from the FCIAC.
Feldman won the 100 butterfly in 50.08 and also placed third in the 100 breaststroke with a 56.51.
Bradley accumulated 515.15 points to win the one-meter diving.
John McNab was third in the 100 free (46.98) and Nicolas Ortega took fourth in the 500 free (4:38.86) to lead Staples to third place.
Spencer Erickson placed third in the 100 backstroke (52.1) and fifth in the 200 free (1:43.14) to lead Darien. Also for the Blue Wave, Connor Martin was runner-up in the 100 fly (51.07) and Wiley Schmidt fourth in diving (499.8).
New Canaan was led by a pair of fourth-place finishes from Luke Stewart (100 fly, 51.69) and Peter Sloan (100 breaststroke, 57.48).
The finish in the team race in CIAC Class LL championship meet was not nearly as close as the State Open.
Greenwich racked up 833 points top cruise to victory. Prep took second with 653.5 and was followed by FCIAC teams Staples (593) and Ridgefield (514).
Smith swept the 200 and 500 freestyle and Hunt, his younger teammate, placed second in those two events to lead Ridgefield’s Tigers.
Todorovic won the 200 IM to and was runner-up in the 100 butterfly while Satir took second in the diving to lead the champion Cardinals.
Feldman finished first in the 100 fly and second in the 100 breaststroke while the other Class LL individual champions from the FCIAC were Bradley in the diving and McNab in the 100 free.
Darien captured its Class L crown with 711 points, 60 more than runner-up Pomperaug, and New Canaan was third with 621.
For Darien: Owen Stevens (500.25 points) and Schmidt (489.3) placed 1-2 in the diving while Erickson (100 backstroke) and Martin (100 butterfly) were individual champions.
For New Canaan: Sloan won the 100 breaststroke, Stewart was runner-up in both the IM and fly, Jake Ritz placed second in the 500 free and those three teamed up with Alexander Popov to win the 200 free relay in 1:28.22.
