Greenwich High School’s boys swimming and diving team has kept its dynasty cruising along by achieving a Triple Crown year for the eighth consecutive season.
Ryan Jee had a victory and a runner-up finish, Aiden Bucaria won a race and placed third in another, and they were each on two winning relay teams to lead seven-time defending champion Greenwich to the team championship at the 2021-22 CIAC Boys Swimming and Diving State Open.
That championship was the culmination of another Triple Crown season.
Coach Terry Lowe’s Cardinals have won FCIAC, state Class LL and State Open championships during the last eight seasons in which postseason championship meets have taken place from 2013-2022.
The Cardinals accomplished the proverbial Triple Crown feat for seven straight years from 2013-2019. They extended that streak to eight this season after state championship meets were canceled in 2020 and ’21 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ridgefield sophomore Jack Clancy won two races at this year’s State Open which took place March 19 atCornerstone Aquatics Center in West Hartford.
Greenwich won the team title convincingly. The Cardinals swept all three relay events, they had three individual winners, and they racked up 611 points to outscore the competition by a wide margin.
Pomperaug was runner-up with 367 points.
The strength of the FCIAC was confirmed by the conference having four teams in the top five and seven teams among the top 11. New Canaan placed third with 357 points and was followed by Ridgefield (318.5) and fifth-place Darien (272).
The Norwalk/McMahon cooperative team was seventh with 232, the Westhill/Stamford cooperative team was ninth (198.5) and Staples placed 11th (167).
Jee, Bucaria and their teammates won the State Open three days after they won the CIAC Boys Swimming and Diving Class LL Championships on March 16 at Cornerstone Pool.
The FCIAC had two state championship teams in the two largest state class meets. New Canaan won the Class L title with 680.5 points and Darien was runner-up with 606.5.
Jee, Bucaria, and diver Whitaker Grover were Greenwich’s three individual champions at the State Open.
Jee, a senior who plans on swimming at Colgate next year, won the 100-yard butterfly in 49.29 and was second in 200 individual medley (1:49.8) at the State Open. He was previously the Class LL runner-up in both the 100 fly and 200 IM.
Bucaria, a junior, was victorious in the 100breaststroke (56.31) and third in 200 individual medley(1:51.42) at the State Open after he won the breaststroke (56.29) and was third in 200 IM at Class LL.
Grover, a junior, had a score of 565.25 points at the State Open diving competition which took place at Middletown on March 17, three days after he won the Class LL diving (536.05) at the same pool.
Several other Greenwich swimmers placed high in individual events or were members of winning relay teams at both state championship meets.
Felix Flakstad placed fourth in 200 freestyle and fifth in 500 free at the State Open after he was runner-up in the 500 free (4:40.03) and third in 200 free (1:44.22) at Class LL.
Michael Dilascia was fourth in the State Open 100 breaststroke (57.2) after he was the breaststroke runner-up at Class LL.
Liam Flaherty placed fourth in 200 IM (1:51.74) at the State Open.
Jee, Bucaria, Flaherty and Kegan Clark teamed up to win the State Open 400-yard freestyle relay (3:06.74) after the quartet of Flakstad, Clark, Bucaria and Jeewon the 400 free relay at Class LL.
Flaherty, Dilascia, Justin Jacob and Bucaria won the 200-yard medley relay (1:34.7) at the State Open after Jacob, Dilascia, Matthew Hake and Bucaria won the event at Class LL.
Jee, Clark, Dilascia and Andrew Dyment were on Greenwich’s winning State Open 200 free relay team (1:26.56).
Clancy, Ridgefield’s superb sophomore, swept the two longest freestyle races at the Class LL championships and the State Open.
Clancy won the Class LL 200 freestyle (1:40.37) and 500 free (4:32.88) with times which were slightly faster than his winning State Open times three days later.
Matthew Weiner was runner-up in the 200-yardfreestyle (1:42.21) at the Class LL meet and he then placed third in State Open 200 free, while Max Wolfenden won the Class LL 200 individual medley in 1:51.12 and then was fifth in the 200 IM at the State Open for Ridgefield’s Tigers.
Clancy, Weiner, Wolfenden and Kai O’Malley teamed up to place second in both the Class LL 400 freestyle relay and State Open 400 free relay (3:07.85). Derek Yin, Wolfenden, O’Malley and Luke Mignano swam on the runner-up Class LL 200 medley relay (1:35.6).
New Canaan freshman Jack Haley swept the 200 free and 500 free to help lead the defending champion Rams to their fourth state Class L championship in the last five seasons on March 15. Haley was second in 200 free (1:42.41) and fourth in 500 free (4:40.12) fourdays later at the State Open.
Also for New Canaan: Jack Krug was fifth in diving(484.95) at the State Open after he placed third at Class L, Rommin Nicholas Adl won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.72 and was fourth in the 100 free (47.61) at the Class L championships, and Deacon Mascarinas placed third in both the 100 free (47.53) and 100 breastroke(59.26) at the Class L meet.
Haley also anchored New Canaan’s winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:11.48) at the Class L meet after John Greiner, Benjamin Madan, and Rommin Nicholas Adl swam their strong legs and a few days later that same quartet clocked in with a 3:09.8 when it placed third in the State Open 400 free relay.
New Canaan has won Class L titles in 2016, 2017, 2019 and this year. That is four out of the last five seasons because there were no state championship meets the previous two years.
Darien senior Thomas Dupont was a double individual champion who set a new meet record and a member of a winning relay team to lead the Blue Wave to second place at the Class L championship meet.
Dupont first won the 100 butterfly in 50.5 and then set the new 100 breaststroke Class L meet record of 56.74 to break the old record of 56.77 which was set by New Canaan’s Peter Sloan four years ago. Four days later at the State Open, Dupont lowered his 100-yardbreaststroke time down to 56.6 with his runner-up finish and he was fifth in the 100 fly (51.26).
Ryan Roberts was runner-up in the 500 free (4:38.01)at the State Open, while Max Scalise placed third in the 50 free (22.02) at the Class L meet for the Blue Wave.
Jake Dansker, Roberts, Dupont and Scalise teamed up to win the Class L 200-yard medley relay in 1:36.98, and then those four lowered the time to 1:35.79 when they placed second behind Greenwich at the State Open.
The foursome of Dupont, Scalise, Henry Peters and Dansker placed third in the 200 free relay (1:27.03) after finishing runner-up at the Class L meet. That same quartet also placed second in the Class L 200 free relay and third at the State Open 200 free relay (1:217.03).
Finn Moynahan, a sophomore diver for the Fairfield cooperative team, placed third at the State Open with 524.75 points. His diving teammate, John Holland, placed third (470.85) at the Class LL meet.
Norwalk/McMahon sophomore Mike Kvashchuk and Westhill/Stamford senior tied each other for second place in the 50-yard freestyle at the State Open with their identical times of 21.31 a few days after the Class LL meet when Kvashchuk was runner-up with a 21:48 and Frankowski placed third with a 21.77. In the Class LL 100 free, Kvashchuk (47.1) and Frankowski (47.6) were again second and third, respectively.
Norwalk/McMahon also had a pair of juniors place high in both state championship meets.
Ben Bradley fourth in the State Open diving (520.65) after he was runner-up in the Class LL meet.
Junior Kalen Anbar placed second in the Class LL 100 backstroke (51.81) and fifth in the backstroke at the State Open.
Frankowski also delivered a pair of strong anchor legs to help Westhill/Stamford’s 200 free relay team placed second at the Class LL (1:27.28) and State Open (1:26.77) meets. Peter Mottolese, Pete Christian, and Jaden Jang swam the first three legs in both of those races.
Staples unior Riley Twiss was the Class LL 100 freestyle champion with a clocking of 46.58 and then he placed third in the State Open 100 free (46.94).