Greenwich wins 9th straight State Open
NEW HAVEN — When Aiden Bucaria was a Greenwich freshman, he heard about the history and atmosphere of the State Open from his teammates on the boys swimming and diving team.
“Come to Yale,” he was told. “Yale’s electric. There’s no better feeling.”
Now a senior, Bucaria and his classmates finished their high school careers in style at that very site.
Greenwich won five events, including a clean sweep of the three relays on its way to capturing a ninth consecutive CIAC State Open championship in dominating fashion Saturday at Yale’s Kiphuth Pool.
The Cardinals amassed 636 points, winning by more than 240 points. Ridgefield was the runner-up with 393 points, with New Canaan third at 263.Greenwich, which also won FCIAC and Class LL crowns, has won 38 Open titles, including 17 of the 22 Opens held since 2000.
Greenwich coach Terry Lowe said the key to the Cardinals’ consistency starts to with the athletes’ approach.
“Getting good talent in, training them hard, and them having such clear focus on their goals,” Lowe said. “The last three or four years have been some of the most focused groups I’ve had and they help each other out.”
“There’s no words to describe the energy that we have as a team,” Bucaria said. “The team culture is just crazy,”
The State Open was making it’s return to Kiphuth for the first time since 2019. No State Open was held in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic, and Yale’s COVID restrictions forced last year’s meet to Cornerstone Pool in Hartford.
The girls’ State Open also returned to Yale in the fall.
“Winning here at Yale and this feeling is unmatched,” Bucaria said. “It was a great day.”
The Cardinals’ depth was best displayed in the relays.
The team of Liam Flaherty, Bucaria Even Belmont and Noah Barrett started the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay (1:33.30), and Kegan Clark, Belmont, Ioane Maglakelidze and Barrett won the 200 freestyle relay (1:25.53).
The final race, the 400 freestyle relay, was a barn burner for the top spot between Greenwich and Ridgefield, with the Cardinals’ Clark, Felxi Flakstad, Flaherty and Bucaria winning by just 0.11. Greenwich finished in 3:05.38, and Ridgefield in 3:05.49.
Bucaria won the 100 breaststroke in 56.29, and Clark won the 100 freestyle in 46.19.
In the 200 IM, Greenwich had three swimmers in the top five, with Bucaria second (1:50.14), Flaherty third (1:51.94), and Luke Medelsohn fifth (1:53.45).
Lowe used that race as an example of what the Cardinals’ culture accomplishes.
“Aiden and Liam as IMers, they made Luke Medelsohn,” Lowe said. “He would not have been on that stand without them teaching him how to train and how to get there. The passing of the torch is a lot of what makes this happen.”
LOOK AHEAD FOR HAND’s LEE
Daniel Hand standout Elliot Lee had a unique perspective for the State Open. The junior has already verbally committed to Yale, and Kiphuth Pool will be his future home.
“This pool itself is an historical landmark and just being able to compete in it before I even get (to Yale) is amazing,” Lee said. “It was a huge opportunity.”
Lee made the most of it, winning the 200 individual medley in 1:49.08, and the 100 butterfly in 49.51.While the gold medals were nice, Lee was happiest for the relays. He teamed with Adam Signorello, Jonah Kehew, and Matthew Gentil to reach the podium in the 400 freestyle relay, finishing fifth in 3:14.93, and was part of the a 400 medley team thatwas 11th.
“The relays are always the best part of meets,” Lee said. “It’s the excitement of one person and then quadruple that. The energy on the pool deck is amazing. Anybody walking in would probably think some upset in March Madness happened. Being able to cherish those moments with three other teammates is great.”
TIGERS ROAR
While Ridgefield couldn’t match the depth of Greenwich, the Tigers were impressive with their second-place finish. Ridgefield was 130 ahead of Class L champion New Canaan.
“We went into this year focusing in on the Opens,” Ridgefield coach Ronnie Vaughan said. “We’re not super, super deep, but we have some top-end guys, so our focus all year was to be at our best for this meet and they overachieved the performance that was expected.”
Clancy claimed first place in the 200 freestyle (1:39.68) and 500 freestyle (4:31.13), two events where the Tigers have been historically strong.
“Jack Clancy is really starting to come into his own,” Vaughan said. “There’s been a history and tradition of 200, 500 (freestyle) guys at Ridgefield going back to Kieran Smith or Connor Hunt, and Jack has all the talent in the world, as those guys do. He’s starting to take a leadership role and we’re seeing that bloom, even more in the last month or so.”
Clancy led off the thirdplace 200 freestyle relay team (1:26.93), which featured William Trotman, Marko Katra and Matthew Weiner. Clancy also anchored the final 400 freestyle relay behind Shaun Li, Max Wolfenden, and Weiner.
RECORD-SETTER
Newtown senior Peter Horan, a West Virginia commit, set a new State Open record in the 100 backstroke, finishing first in 48.91. The old mark of 49.08 was set by Greenwich’s Alex Lewis in 2014.The state record in the event is 48.44, set by John Montesi of Greenwich in 2016.Horan also won the 50 freestyle in 20.71.