By David Fierro
Greenwich High School’s girls swimming/diving team celebrated Senior Day in style, recording a 101-70 win over FCIAC rival Staples, while concluding an outstanding regular season.
The defending State Open, Class LL and FCIAC champion Cardinals made their mark in each event against the Wreckers and are primed to begin the postseason championship meets, which begin soon. The FCIAC Swimming Championships is scheduled to begin on Oct. 29, with the trials/preliminaries taking place at Greenwich High School.
The FCIAC finals is scheduled to be held on Oct. 31, also at Greenwich High School. Against Staples, which saw Greenwich shine in each race, the Cardinals began the meet with a victory in the 200-yard freestyle. Sena Bozkurt, Sara Jee, Ellison Charette and Katherine Nalepka combined for a winning time of 1:43.19. Staples came in second place (1:47.90). In the 200-yard freestyle race, Carly Waldman touched the wall first in 2:01.45. Wreckers teammate Danielle Schwartz was second (2:01.66) and Greenwich’s Julia Kozma took third in 2:02.84.
Wesley Wales gave Greenwich a victory in the 200-yard individual medley, clocking in at 2:15.78. Emma Stehmann placed second for the Cardinals in 2:18.90, while teammate Melissa Geiger had a third-place finish (2:20.49). Anwara Olaswere was the victor for the Wreckers in the 50-yard freestyle race (25.66), along with Ellison Charette of Greenwich, who posted the same time (25.66). Jee was third (26.43), followed by Clarissa Fleming (Staples, 26.46) and Nalepka (26.86).
On the 1-meter diving board, Dylan Mogelof was victorious through six rounds, totaling a score of 218.20 Koints. Olivia DeVito finished second on the 1-meter board for GHS (203.40) and Kristen Jacks (192.97) and Clementine Whittle (191.17) were third and fourth, respectively.
Bozkurt raced to a first-place finish for the Cardinals in the 100 butterfly with a time of 57.29 seconds. Waldman of Staples finished second in 1:01.78 and Norah Eldridge from GHS took third (1:05.31). In the 100-yard freestyle, Anwara Olaswere earned a first-place finish in 56.06 and Stehmann of GHS was the runner-up in 57.11. Ainsley Sahrbeck placed third for the Cardinals in 57.26.
Ellison took top honors in the 1000-yard freestyle event, posting a finish of 10:37.38. Geiger placed second in 10:50.03 and Schwartz was third in 11:09.59. Julia Kozma claimed first place for Greenwich in the 100 backstroke, clocking in at 1:02.55. Wales was second in 1:03.06 and Kensington Worden of the Cardinals took third in 1:05.69.
Olivia DeVries was the winner for GHS in the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.15. Greenwich’s 400 relay team of Stehmann, Isabel Guzman, Bozkurt, Geiger and Kensington Worden combined for the top time in the race (4:18.56).
For the regular season, Greenwich won all of its meets except its matchup on the road against Ridgefield. Coached by Brendan Heller, Cardinals received exemplary leadership from their senior captains and all of their seniors throughout the season.
