By Paul Silverfarb
Sentinel Editor
There are so many swimming and diving teams around Connecticut that would be thrilled to win a championship at any level. For the Greenwich High School boys’ team, winning three championship titles in a season seems like it’s the norm.
After cruising to both a Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference and CIAC class LL title, the Cardinals traveled to Yale University earlier this evening and took home its third title of the season, the CIAC State Open crown.
Big Red finished Thursday night’s State Open championship with an even 600 points. The next closest team was New Canaan, as they took second with 480.5 points. Fellow FCIAC foe Ridgefield was third overall, posting a 378.5 points. Pomperaug took home fourth place overall with 297 points and Fairfield Prep rounded out the top five with 297 points.
Pacing Greenwich at Opens was junior Charlie Clark. Competing in the 100-yard freestyle, Clark beat everybody to the finish, touching the wall first with a time of 45.88 seconds. Clark added another medal to his collection in the 200-yard freestyle, as he touched the wall and grabbed a bronze medal with a time of 1:41.92.
Also having a strong performance was Thomas Lewis, as the GHS junior finished with the silver in the 100-yard breaststroke and a time of 58.02. Competing in the 200-yard individual medley, Lewis ended the night with a time of 1:53.69 and that was good enough for third place.
Faring one spot better in the 200-yard IM was Stephan Todorovic, as the senior edged out his teammate and placed second overall with a time of 1:53.10. Competing in the longest event of the day, the 500-yard freestyle, Todorovic was third, netting a time of 4:35.20.
Sophomore Nicholas Malchow had a strong evening in the 100-yard freestyle, as his time of 47.15 was good enough for fourth overall. Four was Malchow’s lucky number, as his performance in the 50-yard freestyle played him fourth overall with a time of 21.62.
While there were some outstanding individual efforts, Greenwich finished with the gold in two of the three relay events.
Competing in the 200-yard freestyle relay, the foursome of Lewis, Malchow, Nicolas De La Sierra and Clark took to the pool and came away with the top time of 1:24.98. New Canaan was second overall, taking home a time of 1:25.69.
Not to be outdone was the Greenwich 400-yard freestyle relay team, as the group of Malchow, Mark Merson, Todorovic and Clark blasted the competition and took home a top time of 3:08.05 to end the State Open swim meet.
Although they didn’t come out victorious, the 200-yard medley relay team of Justin Jacob, Lewis, Todorovic and De La Sierra still finished strong, taking a silver with a time of 1:34.88. They were mere inches away from Pomperaug, who finished the event tops with a time of 1:34.44.
