The athletes on the Greenwich High School girls swimming and diving team did it again, just as so many swimmers and divers on 14 past GHS teams have done.
The 2023 Cardinals pulled off the Triple Crown feat yet again. That feat of winning FCIAC, state Class LL, and State Open team championships in the same year. This latest feat was the 15th time Greenwich has achieved that since the first time in 1980.
Greenwich’s Triple Crown, Darien winning a state Class L championship, and a very strong Ridgefield team finishing runner-up to Greenwich in all three championship meets were among the many achievements by FCIAC swimmers, divers, and teams during this past fall season.
Ridgefield was the defending champion in the FCIAC, state Class LL, and State Open championship meets.
After Greenwich and Ridgefield had placed 1-2 in the 2023 FCIAC Girls Swimming and Diving Championships and Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL championship meet, Greenwich senior Payton Foster won two races and she swam the anchor leg on the two runner-up freestyle relay teams to lead the Cardinals to the State Open title which secured their Triple Crown at Yale University’s Kiphuth Exhibition Pool on Nov. 19.
Greenwich won the State Open with 633 points. Ridgefield placed second with 539 points and Cheshire was third with 310. There were four FCIAC teams among the top seven as Darien finished fifth with 200 points and Wilton placed seventh with 188.5.
Foster first won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:00.81, she won the 500-yard freestyle in 4:51.89, and she automatically is an All-American via those times. Foster previously won both of those events at the conference and state Class LL championship meets.
There are nine individual events and three relay events in high school swimming, and FCIAC athletes were winners in five of the nine individual events at the State Open. In addition to Foster’s two victories, the three other conference athletes who won their specialties at the State Open were junior Lily Archibald and sophomore Ava Ward of Ridgefield, and New Canaan’s sophomore diver Emma Kelly.
Suffice it to say, the likes of Foster, Archibald, Ward, and Kelly also won or placed very high in plenty of individual events at the previous FCIAC and state class championship meets.
Kelly won the one-meter diving event at the State Open by a very comfortable margin of 65.75 points when she got her season-best score 484.65 points after she won the Class L diving with 471.30 points and the FCIAC with 428.30.
Archibald defended her State Open title in the 100-yard butterfly (54.77), she placed second in the 50-yard freestyle (23.39), and she swam legs on victorious and runner-up relay teams. Ward won the 200 freestyle in 1:51.12, placed third in 500 free (5:02.61) and was on Ridgefield’s two winning relay teams.
Bridget Kelly also scored 53 points in individual events at the State Open by placing second in the 200 free (1:52.16) and third in the 100 free and she swam legs on both winning relay teams for the Tigers.
Archibald, Ward, and Kelly were joined by Keira Giles on the winning 400 free relay team (3:27:04). Madeline Muncy swam the leadoff leg and was followed by Ward, Kelly, and Giles on the victorious 200 free relay team (1:35.79) which nipped Greenwich (1:35.86) by a scant 0.07 of a second. Mairead Luhman, Riley McGerald, Archibald and Muncy were on the 200-yard medley relay (1:46.02) which placed second.
Greenwich coach Brendan Heller could count on several more stellar Cardinals to support Foster’s accomplishments as juniors Sena Bozkurt and Sofie Wang and senior Sydney Jee also combined to score many points in individual races and also swam legs on relay teams for the champion Cardinals at the State Open.
Bozkurt was runner-up in both the 100 butterfly (55.66) and 100 backstroke (56.63). Wang placed second in the 100 free (51.58) and fourth in the 50 free. Jee was fourth in both the 200 IM and 100 backstroke. Wesley Wales finished fourth in the 100 free and Ellison Charette was fourth in the 500 free for Greenwich.
Julia Kozma, Jee, Bozkurt and Wang teamed up to win the 200-yard medley relay (1:45.12) for the Cardinals in the first race of the State Open a few days after the diving competition took place. Wang, Kensie Worden, Wales, and Foster were on the runner-up 200 free relay team (1:35.86); and Charette, Wales, Worden and Foster formed the 400 free relay team (3:33.98) which also placed second.
There were six more FCIAC athletes who achieved the major accomplishment of placing among the top five in their individual events at the State Open.
Ali Kolman of the Norwalk-McMahon cooperative team and Darien’s Megan Hayes placed third and fifth, respectively, in diving; Fairfield Ludlowe’s Ella Gussen was fourth in the 200 free and 100 backstroke; Emmy Beach (200 free) and Maegan Grisanti (500 free) of St. Joseph and Fairfield Ludlowe’s Kathleen Murray (100 butterfly) each placed fifth.
Prior to the State Open, Greenwich’s Foster won both the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle in addition to swimming her strong legs on winning and runner-up relay teams at the FCIAC and state Class LL championship meets.
The Cardinals racked up 925 points en route to their Class LL state title and the runner-up Ridgefield Tigers had 831 points, well ahead of third-place Glastonbury with 434.
There were six FCIAC teams among the top eight teams. Norwalk-McMahon placed fourth with 396 points, Fairfield Ludlowe was fifth with 367, and Trumbull and Staples both scored 352 points to tie for seventh place.
In addition to Foster’s two victories, Bozkurt won the 100 backstroke, Wang placed second in the 100 free, while Jee (200 IM) and Charette (500 free) both placed third for Greenwich.
Ward won the 200 free and was runner-up in the 500 free, Archibald was runner-up in both the 50 free and 100 fly, Kelly placed third in both the 200 free and 100 free, and Kaelyn Talisse was the runner-up diver for Ridgefield.
Greenwich and Ridgefield placed 1-2 in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay events, and it was Ridgefield first and Greenwich second in the 400 free relay.
Ludlowe’s Murray won the 100 butterfly and placed second in the 200 IM, and her teammate Gussen placed second in the 200 free.
Kolman, the Norwalk-McMahon diver, was the other individual winner from the FCIAC in the Class LL meet.
Darien gave an example how a team can utilize depth with many good swimmers and balance to cover all events while winning the CIAC Class L Girls Swimming and Diving Championships for the fourth consecutive year.
Darien may not have had any swimmer, diver or relay team either win or place second in any of the 12 events, but coach Marj Trifone had a lineup of so many Blue Wave girls who placed and picked up points that they won the state title by 53.5 points over runner-up Cheshire.
Darien won with 620 points Cheshire had 566.5. Three FCIAC teams placed among the top four as New Canaan finished third with 434 points and Wilton took fourth with 395.
Darien senior Liisa Jalakas placed third in the 100 free and fourth in the 50 free, her freshman teammate Ilse Fedoronko was sixth in the 200 free and eighth in the 100 butterfly, and those two teamed up with Bridget Moore and Caroline Ward on the 400 free relay team which placed third. Also contributing significant points for the Class L champions, divers Megan Hayes and Annelise Enters placed third and sixth, respectively, and Caroline Gies was sixth in the 200 IM.
Emma Kelly won the diving, and Emma Peloso placed third in the 100 butterfly and fourth in the 200 individual medley to lead New Canaan.
Aanya Kongettira placed first in the 100 freestyle and second in the 50 free, Vedha Kongettira was runner-up in the 100 free and sixth in the 50 free, and Megan Lussier was third in the 50 free and sixth in the 100 free for Wilton.
Adrianna Spelman placed third in the 100 backstroke and fourth in the 200 free to lead Fairfield Warde.
St. Joseph was the only FCIAC team in the state Class M meet. Beach placed second in the 200 free and fourth in the 500 free, and Grisanti was runner-up in the 500 free to lead the Cadets.
The victories and high placings which the top FCIAC swimmers and divers achieved in the state championship meets followed up on similar top performances by mostly the same group of young ladies in the conference championship meet.
Greenwich’s Foster (200 IM and 500 free) and Ludlowe’s Murray (50 free and 100 free) were the two swimmers who won two races at the FCIAC Championships.
Greenwich won the team championship with 465 points and Ridgefield took second with 399. Darien (225), Fairfield Ludlowe (179) and New Canaan (178) completed the top five and they were followed by Trumbull (155), Staples (134), Wilton (129), Fairfield Warde (124), Norwalk-McMahon (115), St. Joseph (111), and Westhill-Stamford (41).