Greenwich, New Canaan performances highlight FCIAC boys swimming and diving season

The 2025 FCIAC boys swimming and diving champions Greenwich Cardinals.

The Greenwich Cardinals continued their seemingly annual tradition of winning the team title at FCIAC and two state championship meets, New Canaan’s Jack Haley won four state championship races to become among the most accomplished high school swimmers in state history, and Haley’s teammate Eric Huang also had an awesome senior season.

Greenwich’s 11 th consecutive Triple Crown season along the New Canaan duo of Haley and Huang each winning two races at the State Open were a few of the many achievements which highlighted another great boys’ swimming and diving season for FCIAC athletes and teams.

The strength of the conference was exhibited once again this year.

Greenwich led a group of three FCIAC teams which placed among the top six in at the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Boys Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18 and four days later Greenwich led the group of four conference teams which placed among the top seven at the CIAC State Open.

Those two state championships for Greenwich’s Cardinals occurred after they won the FCIAC championship for the 18th straight year and for the 54 th time in the last 55 years since 1971.

That is quite the dynasty that has carried on from year to year and decade to decade from about the last quarter of last century through the first quarter of this century. Simply amazing.

When Greenwich won its FCIAC championship at the end of the 1970-71 winter sports season, that title began the streak of 36 consecutive conference crowns from 1971-2006 until the 2007 New Canaan Rams dethroned Greenwich.

The next year coach Terry Lowe’s Cardinals promptly began this current streak of 18 consecutive FCIAC championships from 2007-25 and the program’s conference record is now up to 56 championships.

These 2024-25 Cardinals won title No. 56 with a team score of 521 points, which was 216 more than the Norwalk/Brien McMahon cooperative program which placed second with 305. Ridgefield placed third with 215 points, just two points more than fourth-place New Canaan (213).

And then Greenwich did something which has never been done by being the first team ever to surpass the 1,000-point barrier in team scoring at a CIAC Class LL Boys Swimming and Diving Championships.

Greenwich senior Luke Mendelsohn and Noah Barrett both won two races and they each swam on separate winning relay teams and as the Cardinals racked up the new record of 1,034.5 points and had 390 more points more than runner-up Glastonbury (644.5).

Mendelsohn had a victory and a runner-up finish while Noah Barrett had a victory and a fourth-place finish to lead Greenwich’s Cardinals to their 39th State Open championship with 728 points. Fairfield Prep placed second with 416.5 points and Pomperaug was the third with 307.5.

The Norwalk/Brien McMahon cooperative program (256) finished fourth, Class M runner-up Wilton (220) was fifth and New Canaan (207) placed seventh as the three other FCIAC teams who placed among the top seven at the State Open. Mendelsohn won 200-yard individual medley (1:50.38) and 100 breaststroke (56.35) at the Class LL state championship meet prior to his 200 IM victory and runner-up 100 breaststroke at the State Open.

Noah Barrett won the 50 free and 100 butterfly at Class LL and then won the 50 free (20.66) and placed fourth in the 100 fly (50.94) at the State Open.

Greenwich freshman diver Nikitas Kassaris won two state championships. He won the State Open with 500.35 points. Prior to that there was a 1-2 finish of freshman Greenwich divers at Class LL meet with Matthew McFarlane (407.7) the runner-up behind Kassaris (455.2).

Noland Barrett was runner-up in 200 free (1:41.03) and third in 500 free at the LL meet and he placed third in the 200 free and sixth in the 500 (4:40.00) at the State Open for the Cardinals.

Also for Greenwich: Jake Melley was second at Class LL and fourth at the State Open in the 100 butterfly (51.11), William McCarthy placed second in the Class LL and was fourth in the 100 backstroke (53.3) at the State Open, and Colin Bucaria placed third in the 200 IM (1:55.03) and 100 free (48.39) at the Class LL meet.

There is an elite group of swimmers in state history who can make the claim that they’ve won the same two races two years in a row at the State Open, and Haley is now in that group. And that’s among the reasons why he was named the state’s Swimmer of the Year to headline the 2025 GameTimeCT Boys Swimming and Diving All-State First Team.

Haley was joined by his teammate, Huang; Greenwich’s trio of Noah Barrett, Mendelson and Kassaris; and Michael Ivanov of Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe Co-op as the FCIAC had six of the 11 athletes statewide on that all-state first team.

Haley got his run of success in both state championship meets going when he set two new state Class L meet records of 1:37.86 in the 200 freestyle and 4:27.25 in the 500 freestyle. Four days later Haley swam faster at the State Open when he defended his titles in the 200 free (1:37.06) and 500 free (4:25.64).

Huang got his own state Class L meet record of 49.06 in the 100-yard butterfly before he won his State Open gold medals in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke (50.38).

Ivanov of Warde/Ludlowe won the 100 freestyle (46.06) and was runner-up in the 50 free at the Class LL and then he placed second in the 100 free and fourth in the 50 free (21.1) at the State Open.

The overall quality of the FCIAC was also exemplified by how there were 35 athletes in the state who earned some form of all-state recognition and 16 of them were from the FCIAC.

Noland Barrett and Melley of Greenwich and Darien’s Jake Simon were the three FCIAC athletes selected to the GameTimeCT All-State Second Team which consisted of 12 athletes statewide.

Simon was the Class L diving champion with 466.35 points before he improved up to 482.25 points at the State Open when he was runner-up behind Kassaris. There were seven FCIAC athletes among the dozen total who earned GameTimeCT All-State Honorable Mention. Those seven were Bucaria, McCarthy and McFarlane of Greenwich; Alexander Sharpe and Wyatt Vitiello of Norwalk/McMahon; Berke Ceken of Westhill/Stamford Co-op and Wilton’s Jake

Mercer.

Vitiello won 100-yard backstroke in 51.61 and was runner-up in 200 IM (1:53.86) in the Class LL state championship meet. Sharpe was the Class LL runner-up in the 100 freestyle (47.7) and sixth at the State Open in the 100 free (47.81).

Ceken of the Westhill/Stamford Co-op team placed second in 100 breaststroke (58.49) and fourth in the 100 butterfly (52.16) at the Class LL meet.

Mercer and his Wilton teammates, Hirsh Iyer, Oswald Andrews, and Lucas Fontana led the Warriors to second place at the CIAC Class M state championship meet. Wilton scored 608 team points and Pomperaug won the team title with 819.5 points.

Mercer placed fifth in both the 50 freestyle (22.07) and 100 free (48.74) and he improved his 50 free time to 21.72 in placing eighth at the State Open. Iyer (52.53) and Andrews (54.12) placed 1-2 in the 100-yard backstroke and Iyer was also runner-up in the 200 free (1:42.52) at the Class M meet.

Fontana contributed 51 team points at Class M by placing third in the 100 butterfly (53.12) and fourth in the 200 IM (1:59.16).

Leave a Comment