NEW HAVEN – The quality talent, depth, balance, and championship tradition which encompasses the dynasty that is the Greenwich High School boys swimming and diving program shone through yet again.
Coach Terry Lowe’s Greenwich Cardinals won their 38th overall State Open team title in dominant fashion to put the capper on yet another Triple Crown season. They added a State Open championship to the state Class LL and FCIAC championships they previously won this past winter season.
Greenwich’s ninth consecutive Triple Crown season in winning those championships, and New Canaan winning its third straight state Class L title highlighted many top postseason performances by FCIAC swimmers, divers, and teams.
Greenwich senior Aiden Bucaro had a victory and runner-up finish in individual events, his junior teammate Kegan Clark also won a race, and they each were on two winning relay teams as the Cardinals scored 696 points to win the 2023 CIAC Boys Swimming and Diving State Open championship by 243 points on March 18 at Yale University’s Kiphuth Pool.
Greenwich swept all three relay events to score a combined 180 points in them, with 60 team points allotted to the winning relay team.
Ridgefield junior Jack Clancy was one of three swimmers who won two races at the State Open. Clancy swept the two longest freestyle races and swam on runner-up and third-place relay teams to lead the Tigers to second place in team scoring with 393 points.
The FCIAC had the top three teams and four of the top five teams. New Canaan placed third with 263 points and the Norwalk/McMahon cooperative team was fifth with 231.5 points, just four points behind fourth-place Fairfield Prep.
New Canaan’s Rams won the CIAC Boys Swimming and Diving Class L Championship one week before they placed third at the State Open.
Greenwich and Ridgefield placed 1-2 at the state Class LL championship meet, the same order as in the State Open. Greenwich racked up 924 points to win its 47th overall state Class LL championship since the Cardinals won that first one in 1971.
Ridgefield scored 496 points to nip Glastonbury by one point for the runner-up spot. Staples scored 351 points to place seventh with third highest score among FCIAC teams, as conference teams Staples, Norwalk-McMahon (345) and Westhill-Stamford (290) placed 7-9, respectively.
At the State Open, Bucaria won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 56.29 and was runner-up in the 200 individual medley (1:50.14), Clark won the 100-yard freestyle in 46.19, and they teamed up with Felix Flakstad and Liam Flaherty to win the exciting 400-yard freestyle relay (3:05.38) by 0.11 of a second over Ridgefield (3:05.49).
The Cardinals got rolling from the outset in the first event when Flaherty, Bucaria, Evan Belmont and Noah Barrett won the 200 medley relay (1:33.3). Clark led off for the winning 200 free relay team (1:25.53) which included Belmont, Ioane Naglakelidze and Barrett.
Also contributing big points in individual events for Greenwich in the State Open: Barrett was runner-up in the 50 freestyle (21.06), Flaherty placed third in the 200 IM (1:51.94), and diver Whitaker Grover was third with 542.75 points.
The Cardinals won seven of the 12 events while winning the Class LL meet. They swept the three relays, Bucaria won both of his races (200 IM and 100 breaststroke), while Greenwich’s two other individual winners were Grover (diving) and Flaherty (100 backstroke).
Ridgefield’s Clancy won the two longest freestyle races at the Class LL championships and again at the State Open. He won the 200-yard free in 1:39.35 and 500 free with a 4:30.08 at the Class LL meet as those times were slightly faster than his State Open times.
After his two individual victories at the State Open, Clancy teamed up with William Trotman, Marko Katra and Matthew Weiner on Ridgefield’s 200 free relay team (1:26.93) which placed third, and a little bit later Clancy and Weiner were joined by Shaun Li and Max Wolfrenden on the runner-up 400 free relay team (3:05.49). Weiner earlier placed third in the 200 free with a 1:41.23.
Athletes and relay teams from the FCIAC placed first in eight of the 12 events at the State Open as junior Finn Moynahan of the Fairfield cooperative team won the 1-meter diving with 546.6 points to win by a point and a half over Norwalk-McMahon senior Ben Bradley (544.9).
The Norwalk-McMahon co-op team got another runner-up finish from the 200 medley relay team (1:35.89) which consisted of Alex Sharpe, Kalen Anbar, Kris Flores, and Mike Kvashskuk.
New Canaan junior Deacon Mascarinas placed third in the 100 freestyle (47.0) at the State Open the week after he won two races and was on a pair of winning relay teams while leading the Rams to the team title at the state Class L championship meet.
New Canaan totaled 709 points to win by 21 points over runner-up Fairfield Prep (688 points). Amity Regional (414) was third and FCIAC member Darien (327) placed fourth.