For a long time now, the battle between the Greenwich and Darien girls swimming & diving team has been one to circle on the schedule. The two teams seem to just bring out the best in each other and Monday afternoon was no exception.
Although the Blue Wave came away with the hard-fought 102-83 victory, the Cardinals were still pleased with their results.
“I am extremely proud of how we swam and dove,” GHS head coach Lorrie Hokayem said. “Our divers had a phenomenal meet and that was fantastic, but overall we really kept ourselves in this meet. Darien is always a top team. They are very well-coached and both sides are always excited for this day. I am really happy that we had some strong performances in swimming events today.”
Leading the way for the Lady Cardinals was Kelly Montesi, as she took top honors in the 100-yard butterfly event. Her time of 59.34 seconds was nearly two seconds faster than Darien’s Isabel Blaze, who grabbed the silver.
“Kelly had a great 100-fly and was right there for the 200-IM,” Hokayem said. “She had two really great swims. She took out the race hard and know you have enough endurance to stay on that pace.”
Teammate Lilly Clisham finished third in the event, posting a time of 1:01.48.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Montesi ended the day third overall, touching the wall with a time of 2:14.00. Teammate Brooke Collins finished the event second on the day with a time of 2:12.50 and was less than two seconds away from Darien’s Pheobe Slaughter for top honors.
“We have been working really hard and this was such a close meet, which is great for the team,” Montesi said. “The support of my team really helped me today to be strong in the water. Swimming against Darien really gets us fired up and ready to go. We seem to swim much faster when we compete against Darien.”
Greenwich also dominated in the diving portion of the event. Kate Russack grabbed first overall, posting 244.75 points. Right behind her was Annabelle Pollack, who took second with 232.05 points.
Darien’s Jenny Schrenker took home the bronze with 222.2 points, but not far behind was Big Red’s Emily Murphy, who ended the diving event fourth with 217.05 points.
“In general, what’s great about our divers this year is that we have six really great divers that are really pushing each other to be better every day,” Hokayem said. “When we get to the meet, there’s not as much pressure on them and they know what they need to do to get the job done.”
In addition to her time in the 200-yard IM, Collins also fared well in the 100-yard breaststroke, taking second overall by touching the wall with a time of 1:10.61. Darien’s Leigh Harrison took the top spot with a time of 1:09.64.
The closest battle took place in the longest event of the afternoon, the 500-yard freestyle. Greenwich’s Sophie Jahan and Darien’s Kate Murrey were going back-and-forth throughout most of the contest. In the end it was Murrey who won by mere inches, posting a time of 5:16.16. Jahan’s time was 5:16.26.
Another close event was the 50-yard freestyle. Greenwich’s Sam Scott netted a second place time of 25.07 and was just beaten out by Darien’s Lauren Rutledge, who finished tops with a time of 24.73.
Scott also struck again in the 100-yard backstroke, placing silver overall with a time of 1:00.24. Darien’s Slughter took first in the event, barely beating out Scott with a time of 1:00.11.
“I think we were very supportive of each other,” said Big Red’s Riley Ennis, who took third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:13.60. “Everybody did their hardest and I think we had a great meet. This type of meet definitely makes us stronger and makes us give 110% of our effort.”
For the past several seasons, the Cards and Wave have gone back and forth with winning the regular season match-ups and have battled neck-in-neck during the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship meet, as well as the state open finals at Yale University.
“This is what high school swimming is all about,” Hokayem said. “I think in the middle of the season you get these little milestone tests that show you where you’re at and that was the case today. We really had to swim above our level today to stay in this meet and I thought the girls did a fantastic job.”
With the defeat, Greenwich picked up its first loss of the year.
“These kinds of meets put a spotlight on all the little things,” Hokayem said. “We still have a very young team and we are composed of a lot of freshmen and sophomores. But we also have some great senior leadership. I think we will take away from this meet the little components in individual events. Tightening up turns, relays starts and stuff like that. We filmed a lot of this, so hopefully we can start looking at it and tweak some things.”
To read more on the Lady Cardinals, check out Friday’s Greenwich Sentinel and flip to the sports section.
