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Greenwich Swimming and Diving Team Crowned FCIAC Champs

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The Greenwich High School boys swimming and diving team captured its 45th FCIAC title in 46 seasons Friday night. (John Ferris Robben photo)
The Greenwich High School boys swimming and diving team captured its 45th FCIAC title in 46 seasons Friday night. (John Ferris Robben photo)

The competition was faster than ever during Friday night’s Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference boys swimming and diving championships. However, Greenwich High School was more than up for the challenge and came away with another conference crown.

The Cardinals came home with another championship and a team score of 457 points. The next closest was Darien High School, which grabbed the silver and 397 points.

“We certainly had to go fast today to keep up with the competition,” Greenwich High School head coach Terry Lowe said. “We swam great today. This was a really good night for us.

The victory for Big Red gives them an amazing 45 FCIAC titles in the past 46 years.

New Canaan was a distant third, scoring 299 points. Ridgefield placed fourth with 247 points and Staples High School rounded out the top five with 218 points.

“This feels really nice,” senior Alex Jahan said. “Keeping up the long-standing tradition of winning feels very nice. I am very proud to be on this team and have been looking forward to this my entire high school career. This is my first time swimming for the high school and this outcome was what I was looking forward to.”

The combination of senior Jack Montesi and Jahan helped pace Big Red at FCIACs.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Montesi dominated the competition and took home first overall with a time of 21.11 seconds. Darien’s Patrick Brannigan was second with a time of 21.74.

Montesi once again entered the pool in the 100-yard backstroke and once again blew out the competition, touching the wall with an impressive time of 50.60. New Canaan’s Edward Rudman was second and nearly three seconds behind.

“Montesi is Montesi and it’s as simple as that,” Lowe said. “He’s a tough competitor and a great swimmer. In a meet where the times are just so fast, to dominate an event like he did and come back a few minutes later to help the freestyle relay team win is just amazing.

Another two-event top scorer for Greenwich was fellow senior Alex Jahan and both of his races had some exciting finishes.

Greenwich High School head coach Terry Lowe celebrates a top swim from senior Alex Jahan during Friday night's FCIAC championship meet. (John Ferris Robben photo)
Greenwich High School head coach Terry Lowe celebrates a top swim from senior Alex Jahan during Friday night’s FCIAC championship meet. (John Ferris Robben photo)

In the 200-meter individual medley, Jahan was neck-in-neck with Ridgefield’s Andrew Bornstein. However Jahan pulled through down the stretch and took first with a time of 1:55.57. Bornstein’s time was 1:55.79.

“Watching Jahan in the 200-IM, when he was at the halfway mark, I didn’t think it was possible, but he is one tough guy,” Lowe said. “He just buckled down, came back and did a great job finishing that race.”

The duo of Bornstein and Jahan hit the pool in the 100-meter breaststroke and it was another fight to the finish. In the end, it was Jahan with the gold and a time of 58.35. Bornstein’s time was 58. 46.

“I knew the competition was going to be tough,” Jahan said. “I wasn’t expecting what happened and the times either, but I was very surprised and happy when I saw the times. The 200-IM went very well and I think that got me pumped for the rest of the meet.”

In addition to Jahan and Montesi, GHS senior Nicholas Handali was golden. In the 100-meter butterfly event, posting a top time of 53.51 seconds and just beating out Darien’s Cesar Pena’s time of 53.69.

Handali also competed in the 100-meter backstroke and took home sixth on the day and a time of 56.63.

Handali had some friendly faces in the pool during the 100-meter butterfly, as junior Pat Clasham snagged the bronze and a time of 53.71.

Not to be outdone was sophomore Jack Bound, who  touched the wall sixth with a time of 55.58 and senior Russell Winget grabbed seventh with a time of 56.10.

Other Cardinals had stellar swims on the day. In the 50-meter freestyle, Montesi had company on the podium. Senior Nick Hyden ended the day fourth in the event with a time of 22.26. Not far behind was teammate Conrad Moss, as the junior was fifth with a time of 22.82.

“It’s the start of our championship season,” Hyden said. “We got a lot of work in during our trip to Puerto Rico. Coming here, it’s nice to see it pay off. We want to build off this and keep thing strong during the state competitions.”

Hyden fared much better in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall mere inches away from first place and taking second with a time of 48.75. Fellow senior Raymond Warner took home seventh on the day in the event with a time of 50.67.

Battling the best in the 100-meter breaststroke, Big Red senior Joshua King ended the day fourth in the event (1:00.20), while junior Aedan Lewis had a top 10 finish and took home seventh (1:02.19).

Lewis helped out and added 16 points to the Greenwich score when he took third place in the 200-meter individual medley with a time of 2:02.08.

While Greenwich was racking up points during the individual events, Big Red scored 120 points when it came to relays.

In the 200-meter medley relay, the GHS foursome of Montesi, Lewis, Jahan and Moss struck gold, posting a time of 1:36.89 and beating Ridgefield’s second place time of 1:36.53.

During the most action-packed event of the day, the 200-meter freestyle relay, Greenwich’s Hyden, Lewis, Clisham and Moss were in a battle with Darien. The end was basically a photo finish, as Greenwich won with a time of 1:28.74, with Darien taking silver and a time of 1:28.75.

The same two schools locked horns in the final event of the day, the 400-meter freestyle relay, as Hyden, Handali, Clisham and Montesi once again were back-and-forth with Darien. Again Greenwich came out on top, posting a time of 3:14.41, while the Blue Wave were second with a time of 3:14.78.

“We were pushed in a lot of races and our relays were really close,” Hyden said. “We were able to get it all done and Coach Lowe obviously trained us quite well this year.”

During the diving portion of the FCIAC championships, Greenwich’s Devon Satir was third overall, posting 467.00 points. Also grabbing a top 10 finish was teammate Sergei Shaw, as he posted ninth on the night with 366.20 points.

To read more about the FCIAC swimming and diving championships, and to hear what the team has in store for the state tournaments coming up, check out Friday’s Greenwich Sentinel.

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