Rocky Point rolls along
After 2018 event canceled, club defends title
STAMFORD — Inclement weather forced last year’s Fairfield County Swim League Championships to be canceled, but that certainly wasn’t the case on Saturday, much to the delight of Rocky Point Club.
Sunny skies and warm weather meant it was time for Old Greenwichbased Rocky Point Club to try to continue its championship streak and after more than 50 events, it did.
Picking up where it left off when it won the team title in 2017, Rocky Point Club placed first in the squad standings, amassing an impressive 1,297 points at Roxbury Swim & Tennis Club.
Newfield Swim & Tennis Club finished second in the team standings with 1,190 points, followed by Roxbury Swim & Tennis Club (932.5), Shore & Country Club (611), Waveny Swim Team (577) and Middlesex (518). Innis Arden (458.5), New Canaan Field Club (328), Roton Point (321) and Greenwich Water Club (310) rounded out the top10 teams at the meet, which included 30 summer swim teams from the county.
Saturday marked the seventh straight time Rocky Point Club won the FCSL Championships — when it was held. The 2018 meet was canceled.
“We just edged Newfield by 16 points at Divisionals, so we told the team yesterday (Friday) we had plenty of room to move up,” said Rocky Point Club coach Terry Lowe, who has guided the team to all of its titles. “We were down in qualifying points by about 30, but we felt we had a lot of potential to move up and we wound up picking up way over 100 more points. Everyone just really stepped it up.”
Rocky Point won eight events and had standout efforts in numerous more. Newfield had a firstplace finish in 10 events and was wellrepresented throughout.
“The Divisional meet against them (Rocky Point) was 16 points and this one was a lot of fun right to the end,” Newfield coach David Fine said. “The kids swam great today and did everything they could in the water.”
Rocky Point’s first victory of the meet came in the boys 14andunder 50meter short course butterfly. Patrick Mullen, a rising freshman at Brunswick School posted a winning time of 27.25 seconds. Riley Twiss of Shore & Country Club was second (29.42), followed by Peter Mottelese.
“The butterfly was a close race and I was really hyped and excited and I swam well,” Mullen said. “We
knew it was going to be a close meet. It’s fun to swim against good competition and I pulled out in front.”
Kelly Leahy gave Rocky Point a firstplace finish in the girls 14under 50meter butterfly, clocking in at 31.42. Kelci Haley of Waveny was second (31.63) and Kate Hunter (Roxbury) took third (31.78).
“The 50 butterfly I was seeded second and I really wanted to win,” Leahy said. “I held my breath the first 25 and ended up winning, which was great. These meets are really nice, everyone knows each other, which makes it more relaxing.”
Rocky Point’s Peter Murphey took first in the boys 12andunder 50 breaststroke (36.77), while teammate Felix Flakstad was the runnerup in 37.89. Ben Bognon (Waveny) was third with a time of 39.47.
Hanna Flakstad (Rocky Point) took top honors in the girls 12under 50 breaststroke, touching the wall in 39.21 seconds. Miller Ward of Middlesex was second (39.25). Rocky Point received a firstplace finish from Felix Flakstad in the boys 12under 100 individual medley. Flakstad registered a time of 1:12.52, followed by Colten Trepp of Innis Arden (1:15.53).
Mullen of Rocky Point won the boys 14andunder individual medley (1:03.66) and Felix Flakstad was first in the 12under 50 freestyle (29.13). Trepp was a close second (29.38).
“The freestyle I touched out my opponent by barely a second,” Flakstad said. “I am really proud of my swimming today. I also came in second in the breaststroke, which I’m also proud of.”
Mullen had Rocky Point’s final firstplace finish, touching the wall first in the boys 14under 50 freestyle (25.23 seconds). Ben Madan (Newfield) was second (26.08) and Riley Twiss (Shore & Country Club) finished third (26.71).
“Last year, the meet was canceled, so it’s great to jump in the pool again as a team after winning the meet,” Mullen said.
Newfield’s first win came during the meet’s opening event. Reese Velishka, Ben Feldman, Tommy Lussier and Thomas Goertel combined for a winning time of 2:10.57 in the boys 17under 200meter medley relay.
Feldman earned the boys 17andunder 50 butterfly title (26.02), while Roxbury’s James Pascale placed second (27.58). Michael Dilullo (20.68) and Jack Cunningham of Newfield (20.69) placed first and second, respectively in the boys 10under 25 breaststroke and Feldman touched out the competition in the 17under 50 breaststroke (31.03) for Newfield.
Feldman (17under 100 IM, 1:00.11), Alyssa Srdanovic (Newfield, 18.08, 10under 25 breaststroke) and Jack Cunningham (10under 50 freestyle, 31.30) were also individual winners for Newfield. The meet concluded with Newfield posting winning performances in the boys 17under 200meter freestyle relay (1:53.12) and the girls 17under 200 freestyle relay (2:05.88).
“Winning both relays at the end was an exclamation point of how our season went and how we wanted to end it,” Fine said. “They didn’t give up, they wanted to win those relays at the end.”
Roxbury won the girls 17andunder 200 medley relay (2:16.31) and Calder Kelly took first in the following event for Greenwich Country Club — the boys 8under 25 butterfly (18.94).
Siena Pierson (Greenwich Country Club) had a winning effort in the girls 8under 25 butterfly (17.19), while Michael Telesco (New Canaan Field Club) was the boys 10under 25 butterfly champion (15.72). Top honors in the girls 10under 25 butterfly went to Middlesex’s Siena Christiansen (15.65) and Jorge Hitlin of Roxbury touched the wall first in the 12under 50 butterfly (32.63).
Miller Ward (Middlesex) took first in the girls 12under 50 butterfly (32.99) and Innis Arden’s Claire Michalik posted a winning effort in the 17under 50 butterfly (29.47). Anthony Osadchy gave Waveny a firstplace finish in the 8under 25meter breaststroke (22.53), while Abigail Burke (Shore & Country Club) finished first in the girls 8under 25 breaststroke in 23.79.
Weston got a firstplace finish from Abigail Mais (10under 25 breaststroke, 20.66), while Kalen Anbar placed first in the boys 14under 50 breaststroke for Shore & Country Club (34.20). Kate Hunter (14under 50 breaststroke, 37.25) and Caterina Li (17under, 50 breaststroke, 35.97) won their events for Roxbury, while Reed Keller touched the wall first in the boys 10under 100 IM for Millbrook (1:23.20).
Ward of Middlesex took first in the 12under 100 IM (1:16.22) and Shore & Country Club’s Julia Cassone took the top spot in the 14under 100 IM (1:10.86).
Anthony Osadchy (Waveny) won the 8under 25 backstroke (19.34) and Pierson (Greenwich Country Club) was the girls 8under 25 backstroke champion (19.75).
Also winning their respective events were: Michael Telesco (New Canaan Field Club, 10under 25 backstroke (17.13), Liam Ireland (Shore & Country Club, 12under 50 backstroke (34.21), Samantha Haley (Waveny, 12under 50 backstroke, 34.86), Riley Twiss (Shore & CC, 14under, 50 backstroke, 30.00), Cassone (Shore & CC, 14under, 50 backstroke, 32.54, 50 freestyle, 28.81), Spencer Erickson (Roton Point, 17under, 50 backstroke, 28.51, 100 freestyle, 54.76), Claire Michalik (Innis Arden, 17under, 50 backstroke, 31.34, 100 freestyle, 59.30), Kelly Calder (Greenwich Country Club, 16.88, boys 8under 25 freestyle), Abigail Burke (Shore & CC, girls 25 freestyle, 16.19), Wesley Wales (Innis Arden, girls 10under, 50 freestyle, 32.96), Sofie Wang (Roxbury, 12under 50 freestyle, 30.19) and Allison Brea (Roxbury, 17under 100 freestyle, 1:03.45).
“Winning again feels awesome,” said Rocky Point’s Charlie Clark, who paced the team in several events. “We have so many kids, it was awesome to see them all step up.”
Said Tess Furno, who competed in the 50 freestyle and 50 individual medley for Rocky Point: “The summer was so much fun for us. It was great to swim for our coaches. I really learned a lot.”