East Lyme rises to the occasion
Vikes use their depth to outlast Fitch co-op and win ECC meet
Groton — One thing that impressed East Lyme High School Rob Bouchey about Saturday's Eastern Connecticut Conference championship meet: there was no "pecking order."
"Seeding didn't dictate what happened," Bouchey said, after a number of races went to lower seeds, with some swimmers even placing out of slower heats.
Instead, the competitors, all of them, seemed to rise to the competition in every race, creating an element of surprise each time the swimmers took the starting blocks. Each race took on its own story line. Each had its own nuance. No theme. No repeat champions in any individual event. No one superhero ... but several of them.
East Lyme repeated as ECC champion with 589 points, the capstone of an undefeated season both within the conference and out at 10-0-1, while Fitch, a cooperative program with Ledyard, Stonington, Wheeler and New London, was second with 514 points behind Swimmer of the Meet Alex Doerwaldt.
Waterford was third at 287, followed by Norwich Free Academy (210), St. Bernard (152) and Windham/RHAM/Coventry (126).
East Lyme's Ryan Goolsbey was the meet's only double-winner individually, taking the 200-yard freestyle in
in 1 minute, 49.78 seconds and the 500 freestyle in 4:53.65, the best times of his career in both events.
The Vikings also got victories from Jay Lin in the 100 butterfly in 52.95 seconds, Ryan Huang in the 100 backstroke in 55.76, Ryan McLaughlin in Friday's diving competition and from the 200 medley relay team of Huang, Bobby Hahn, Lin and Eric Wang, who opened Saturday's competition with a first-place finish in 1:40.79.
"Today was great watching everybody," said Goolsbey, who was fourth in the 200 and third in the 500 just a year ago. "Really good swims. It was a really good showing overall. We've been putting in a lot of work, going for this whole season. Just staying tough through everything, knowing you need to bring it every day."
East Lyme tied Fitch 90-90 in the teams' first dual meet during the regular season, Jan. 7. That was with diving, which is not contested when the meets are at the UConn Avery Point pool, Fitch's home.
And so the Vikings knew they needed to improve vastly if they wanted to win Feb. 7 at Fitch. They did, coming away with a 92-78 triumph. Saturday they held off the Falcons once again, despite Fitch's six first-place finishes.
Bouchey details Goolsbey, a junior, as one of East Lyme's hardest workers, quiet but a source of the Vikings' energy. Goolsbey follows older brother Eain, who won both the ECC's distance events at the 2018 meet — "I like (the distances) also," Ryan Goolsbey said, "but it's a little of following in his footsteps."
Goolsbey took 11 seconds off his best 500 time.
"He just continually pushes and pushes and pushes," Bouchey said. "He's a really motivated kid. He's a silent leader, but he leads with his actions. It's his work ethic. He likes the longer distance stuff. These are great swims, both very hardfought wins."
Among Fitch's highlights, meanwhile, was Doerwaldt, a sophomore in his first season with the program. He set the only meet record of the day, winning the 100 breaststroke in 59.38 seconds. He broke the record of 1:00.07 set last year by Fitch's John Marcolina.
Doerwaldt also swam on two first-place relays for Fitch. The 200 free relay team of Michael Urgo, AJ Murko, Matt Nowak and Doerwaldt nicked East Lyme by a one-hundredth of a second, 1:32.03-1:32.04. The 400 free relay team of Urgo, Murko, Hunter Doerwaldt and Alex Doerwaldt concluded the meet with a win in 3:21.31.
Alex Doerwaldt, a Pawcatcuk resident, transferred this year from The Williams School to the Marine Science Magnet High School. Students at that school compete athletically for their home districts, meaning Doerwaldt represents Stonington in the Fitch co-op.
"It's kind of unexpected," Alex Doerwaldt said of his meet record. "I was not so sure. Yes, (I was trying to break it) but I knew a lot of other people were trying to break it too."
"We're very happy to have them," Fitch coach Katey Kokomoor said of the Doerwaldts. "Just such a nice addition to the team. A great work ethic. They bring a wonderful, positive attitude to the pool."
Another Fitch sophomore, Ben Chidley, won the 200 individual medley, eclipsing East Lyme's Hahn in the breaststroke leg, which he considers his fastest. Chidley was the runner-up for Swimmer of the Meet honors v.fulkerson@theday.com