Lowe, Rocky Point Once Again Claim FCSL Gold

fcsl-8-15
Riverside Yacht Club competes in the butterfly event during the Fairfield County Swim League championship. (John Ferris Robben photo)
Riverside Yacht Club competes in the butterfly event during the Fairfield County Swim League championship. (John Ferris Robben photo)

 

By Evan Triantafilidis
Sentinel Correspondent

For a fourth consecutive summer, Greenwich’s Rocky Point Marlins captured a Fairfield County Swimming League championship, competing as one of a dozen Greenwich-based teams at the competition held in Stamford on Saturday.

Rocky Point (1,211 points) defended their title against Stamford’s Roxbury Swim & Tennis (960.5) in a repeat one-two finish from last year.

“I’m very pleased with our performances,” head coach Terry Lowe said. “We really stepped it up. We knew with our qualifying situation, we were in control of the final outcome, but the real question was would we step up and have some excellent performances like we had.”

Rocky Point Country Club was one of several local teams that competed in the Fairfield County Swim League championship. They also won the title with 1,211 points. (John Ferris Robben photo)
Rocky Point Country Club was one of several local teams that competed in the Fairfield County Swim League championship. They also won the title with 1,211 points. (John Ferris Robben photo)

Shore and Country Club took third with 633 points, while Newfield Swim and Tennis finished fourth with 608.5 points.

Rounding out the top five was Roton Point Association, as they had 550.5 points and finished fifth overall in the championships.

Lowe, in his 37th year of coaching, praised the young swimmers on his team as well as their superb 13-year-old Alex Walsh.

Walsh went 3-0 in her individual races, including setting FCSL records in the girls individual medley at 1:05:35 and in the girls 50-meter backstroke at 30.46 seconds.

“It’s a very strong team effort,” Lowe added. “Everybody supports each other and they want to perform well as a team because they know they are defending our team title and they do a great job. I couldn’t ask for more.”

Other teams competing from the town included Innis Arden Golf Club (467.5, 8th), Riverside Yacht Club (409, 9th), Greenwich Country Club (290, 11th) Millbrook (235.5, 13th), Greenwich Water Club, Belle Haven, Burning Tree Country Club, Stanwich, Bailiwick, Field Club of Greenwich and Tamarack Country Club.

Shore and Country Club in Norwalk placed third, Newfield Swim and Tennis Club from Stamford came in fourth and Norwalk’s Roton Point Association rounded out the top five team scores.

In girls 17-and-under relays, Rocky Point’s Ainsleigh Winget, Lauren McCormack, Zoe Sorensen and Gretchen Walsh won the 200-meter medley, beating out Innis Arden Golf Club’s team of Kate Ennis, Riley Ennis, Claire Michalik and Ellie Johnson for first place, while also setting a new FCSL record.

Rocky Point’s group of Thomas Cass, Jack Kerwin, Noah Sorensen and Patrick Mullen placed third in the boy’s 17-and-under 200-meter medley with a time of 2:11:87.

FCSL3-8-15Kerwin, one of the Marlins’ graduating members, has been on the team since he was six and competed in his final FCSL tournament Saturday.

“I grew up at Rocky and right away, you either play water polo, swim or sail,” Kerwin said. “The comradery of the little kids and how they all look up to you is all progression through the program. These little kids look up to me now, but in ten years these kids will have somebody looking up to them. It’s just like a big family.”

The graduate will be playing division I water polo at George Washington University in the fall.

Assistant coach Noreen Haggerty echoed Kerwin’s words of family, as she’s coached for 11 years and has known Kerwin since he was born.

“We’ve watched and known some of these kids since they were born,” Haggerty said. “Our program develops them when they’re really young. It’s really nice to see how much they’ve progressed and grown throughout the years, especially our seniors.”

Riverside’s Taylor Schinto, another competitor since the age of six, placed second in the girls 17-and-under 50-meter butterfly with a time of 31.38 seconds.

“Starting so young, it gets you excited about swimming,” Schinto said following her second-place finish and while cheering on teammates. “Then you are swimming year round and that’s how you get so good.”

In the 17-and-under boys 50-meter breaststroke, Riverside Yacht Club’s Aedan Lewis and Innis Arden Golf Club’s Kevin Lydon finished first and second, respectively.

With the title all but clinched, Rocky Point capped the day with a first place finish in the boys 17-and-under 200-meter freestyle relay. The group of Patrick Mullen, Alex Plavoukos, Matthew Freeman and Russell Winget clocked in at 1:56:29.

Greenwich Country Club’s Kate Hazlett set a new FCSL record in the girls 14-and-under backstroke clocking in at 30.39 seconds and also tied the record in the girls 14-and-under 50-meter freestyle competition at 26.82 seconds.

“It’s a great event every summer,” said Greenwich C.C’s head coach Jeremy Cochran. “We moved up from Division III to Division II and overall I’d have to say that it’s been a very positive experience for the kids.”

Rocky Point’s Gretchen Walsh and Patrick Mullen also set FCSL records in the girls 12-and-under 50-meter freestyle and the boys 10-and-under 50-meter freestyle, respectively.

FCSL president Laurie Orem congratulated swimmers across the county for qualifying for Olympic Trials. Included in the group are Rocky Point’s Alex Walsh, Greenwich Country Club’s Thomas Dillinger, Millbrook’s Alex Lewis and Belle Haven’s Eric Ronda.

Orem also read a poem out loud titled “Little Eye Upon You” which highlighted the age difference in the pool.

“There’s very few sports where you have an eight-year-old in the pool with 17-year-olds,” Orem said. “It’s a beautiful day, the kids are having fun and it’s my favorite time of year.”

Related Posts
Loading...