Wreckers Head to Championships on a High Note

By Eliot Schickler

The Staples boys swimming team is heading into the second season on a positive note.

Staples enters the FCIAC championship trials (Feb. 27) with a 7-4 dual meet record after closing out the regular season with a 104-74 win at Newtown (4-6) last Friday.

“It should be an interesting FCIAC meet,” Wreckers coach Jeff Schare said. “A lot of teams are within points of each other. Greenwich is by far the best team, and Darien should take second. We have an opportunity to finish as high as third, or as low as sixth. All teams in the third through sixth range are close to each other.”

Battling Staples to finish third are New Canaan, Westhill and Ridgefield. One thing that is working in the Wreckers’ favor is that they defeated the Nighthawks for the first time in dual meets during Schare’s tenure, and they did it without four of their top swimmers.

Junior Nathaniel Boley won most of his events this season, but was at the Missouri Grand Prix with the Wilton Wahoos. Seniors Joss Abel (stomach bug) and Matt Wisher (family obligation) and junior diver Andrew Cohen (honors level test) were also out. All four swimmers are expected to compete at FCIACs.

“We have studs on the team, but this team is about our depth, and we let our depth carry us through the meet,” Schare said.

Sophomore Jonathan Blansfield is one of the studs, and is arguably the team’s best swimmer after Boley. Blansfield won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:10.48, the 100-yard butterfly (59.37), and swam on two winning relay teams.

His win in the 200-IM was a Wrecker sweep with sophomores Chris Mombello (2:14.82) and Mike DeLuca (2:19.21) taking second and third. Senior David Katter (1:05.72) and sophomore Kevin Xiang (1:05.83) finished behind Blansfield in the 100-fly in second and fourth, respectively.

Blansfield led off for the winning 200-yard medley relay team (1:50.82), and was followed by DeLuca, junior Matt Wetmore, and Katter. Senior Kyle Bacon, freshman Danny Williams, junior Marcus Russi and Blansfield powered the 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:44.85) to victory.

Staples showed its depth, and finished second in both relays. Xiang, Mombello, Russi and junior Trevor Locke led the 200-medley B relay team (1:53.54) to second place. The 400-free B-relay team of Xiang, Wetmore, freshman Max Wimer and Katter took second (3:57.09).

The Wreckers also swept the 200-yard freestyle relay. DeLuca, Williams, Wetmore and Bacon (1:37.86) won, and Mombello, Locke, sophomores Tyler Crowder and Justin Malinow (1:49.41) took second.

Bacon led Staples to two sweeps with victories in the 100-yard freestyle (51.91) and 200-yard freestyle (1:53.61). Mombello (54.60) and Locke (56.83) were two-three in the 100-free, and Williams (1:56.50) and Wimer (2:02.50) were two-three in the 200-free.

Wetmore (24.40) won the 50-yard freestyle and led a sweep. Russi (25.22) and Crowder (26.0) were two-three.

Junior Tanner Blank won diving (202.75), and worked on new dives in the process. Malinow (110.15) took fifth.

Williams (5:09.92) and freshman North Woods (1:09.3) won the 500-yard freestyle, and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively. Katter took third in the 100-breaststroke (1:19.80), and sophomore Tommy Reinhardt was fourth in the 500-free (5:39.03).

Newtown’s only win came in the 100-yard backstroke with senior Sean Fahey (1:01.65) prevailing. Wimer (1:02.23), Xiang (1:05.02), and junior Rob DeLuca (1:05.57) took two-three-four, respectively for the Wreckers.

The last time Staples went 7-4 in dual meets was 2005 when current assistant coach Frisk Driscoll was a senior.

“To go 7-4 in dual meets gives us confidence going forward,” Schare said. “We now enter championship season, which is a whole, new ballgame.”

Reprinted from the Westport News

Ridgefield Splashes Wrecker swimmers

By Eliot Schickler

Heartbreaker describes the Staples boys swimming and diving team’s loss Wednesday at Ridgefield.

Staples swam well and had some of its best times in its history. But the Wreckers were touched out in a few events in a 97-89 loss and dropped to 6-4. Ridgefield raised its record to 6-2-1.

“I’m not happy with the outcome, but I’m happy with the way we swam,” Wreckers coach Jeff Schare said. “We had good swims and broke a school record.”

This is Staples’ second straight loss, and it closes out the regular season at Newtown today at 4 p.m. What makes this setback tough was the fact the Wreckers won at vaunted New Canaan last month, but they will have a chance to beat the Tigers at FCIACs and Class LL meetss

“All the results have been close and many teams are within points of each other,” Schare said.

Staples began the meet by winning the 200-meter medley relay, 1:58.97-1:59.00 behind Matt Wisher, Joss Abel, Matt Wetmore and Justin Krakoff. The Wreckers took third (2:01) with Danny Williams, Mike DeLuca, Marcus Russi and Dave Katter.

In the 200-meter freestyle, Jonathan Blansfield swam well for Staples but settled for second (2:04.72) behind Ridgefield’s Grayson Smith (2:01.78), who has committed to swim for Indiana University next year. Kyle Bacon (2:07.87) took fourth for the Wreckers in the 200-free.

Williams (2:21.16) was second in the 200-meter individual medley and third in the 100-meter butterfly (1:05.47). Abel (2:25.56) and North Woods (2:28.23) were three-four for Staples in the 200-IM.

Nathaniel Boley continued to be the Wreckers’ best swimmer and won the 50-meter freestyle (25.06).

“I was well-rested for the 50 and knew the team needed me,” Boley said. “I was glad I could help the team.”

Tanner Blank had the fourth-best dive in school history and won diving (224.20) for Staples. Andrew Cohen (179.85) took second and Justin Malinow (122.6) was fifth.

“I went into the competition confident and had a good attitude about the meet,” Blank said. “I tried to have harder dives and get higher degrees of difficulty.”

Bacon (56.65) and Abel (58.25) were two-four in the 100-meter freestyle. Blansfield had the fourth-fastest time in Wrecker history in the 400-meter freestyle (4:15.81) but settled for second place. Krakoff (4:38.62) took fourth in the 400-free.

The 200-meter freestyle relay team had a lead after Boley led off. Wetmore, Katter and Bacon followed and the quartet had the second-best time (1:42.57) in school history, one second short of the record, but the Tigers (1:42.5) touched Staples out.

“They stepped up their performance but got beat,” Schare said. “All we can ask them to do is to give everything they have.”

Boley won the 100-meter backstroke (1:02.07) and Wisher (1:05.34) took third.

“Doing the 200-free relay and the 100-back, back-to-back, was tough,” Boley said. “During the first 50, I felt good, but in the second 50, I started to feel it, but was ahead.”

The Wreckers took two-three-four in the 100-meter breaststroke with DeLuca (1:14.47), Chris Mombello (1:14.48) and Ethan Hunter (1:14.66), falling short to Smith (1:12.62).

If Staples won the 400-meter freestyle relay, the meet would have ended in a 93-93 tie. Blansfield, Abel, Bacon and Boley set the school record in the 400-free relay (3:46.75) but were touched out by the Tigers (3:46.69).

“I almost caught him, but he was able to hold me off,” Boley said. “Everyone swam well for us, but you have to hand it to Ridgefield.”

Reprinted from the Westport News

Vikings Splash Wreckers

By Justine Seligson

The Staples boys swimming and diving team’s four-meet winning streak ended Friday with a 97-89 loss at the Westhill-Stamford co-op team.

Staples dropped to 6-3.

The Wreckers won five events. Sophomore Jonathan Blansfield continued his season’s success by ruling distance events with victories in the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.80) and 500-yard freestyle (4:56.21).

Junior Nathanial Boley won the 100-yard freestyle (51.03) and 100-yard backstroke (56.85). Both Blansfield and Boley were in the the only Staples wining relay of the 400 freestyle relay along with senior Kyle Bacon and freshman Daniel Williams (3:34.93). The Vikings were in control of the remaining events.

“Everyone on the team swam very well, especially considering the conditions of the pool.” Said Boley, who was talking about the unique structure of Westhill’s pool.

The shallow depth of 3.5 feet differs from Staples’ pool and swimmers to start their heats diving from the blocks. The National Federation of Swimming requires that all races begin in the water under this condition and so not starting on the blocks is something the Wreckers aren’t accustomed too.

“Not diving in definitely had a huge impact on the meet,” Boley said. “Westhill has practiced starts in their pool all year long, and we were thrown into the meet and had to figure it out as the meet progressed.”

The scores between the two teams were extremely close for the first portion of the meet but around the end, Westhill was able to pull ahead.

The Wreckers are especially proud of the small gap between the Vikings as they are one the best teams in the league. “Last year this team beat us by 30 points, the year before by 40 points. This year we had a tight, competitive meet in the end, the outcome could have gone either way.” Staples coach Jeffrey Schare said. “Every man on the team gave it their best shot. I couldn’t be prouder of the effort the guys gave.”

The team’s spirit and support of one another was also exceptional and probably what caused the final score to be so close. “[Teammates] cheered for other when they were not in the pool. I was proud that my teammates stayed positive all the way until the end [of the meet],” Bacon said.

Although the final score is a bit upsetting to Staples, it knows how strong Westhill is and knew it could have been a much greater gap between the teams during the meet.

“They’re a very good team and I think we showed the league that we can race alongside the best teams in the state,” Boley said.

Reprinted from the Westport News

Staples Dunks Fairfield for 4th Straight Win

By Tom Renner

WESTPORT, Conn. – Staples boys swim team won its fourth straight meet Wednesday with a 102-78 victory over the co-op team from Fairfield. The Wreckers improved to 6-2 as they head into a key meet Friday against the co-op team from Stamford.

Nathaniel Boley won two individual events for Staples, taking the 50-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle in school-record times. Boley also swam on the winning 200-medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.

Other individual winners for Staples included Jonathan Blansfield (200 freestyle), Joss Abel (100 freestyle), Danny Williams (200 medley), Tanner Blank (diving) and Matt Wisher (100 backstroke).

Friday’s meet at Westhill High figures to be a tight one. The Stamford swimmers tied Ridgefield in their last outing and bring a 4-1-1 mark into the meet. Earlier this season, the Westhill-Stamford co-op team handed Darien its first loss of the season.

Staples, which celebrated Senior Day with its final home meet of the season Wednesday, finishes the regular season with dual meets next week against Ridgefield and Newtown. The team will compete in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championships. League finals will be held March 1 in Greenwich.

Reprinted from The Daily Westport

Wreckers Splash Fairfield on Senior Day

By Eliot Schickler

The Staples boys swimming and diving team was determined to celebrate Senior Day in style.

Mission accomplished. Staples raised its record to 6-2 with a convincing, 102-78 victory over Fairfield Ludlowe-Warde co-op team (1-8) Wednesday in its seniors final home meet of their scholastic careers.

“The guys were excited because it was Senior Day and the last home-meet of the season,” Wreckers coach Jeff Schare said. “It gave them a reason to go out and do something.”

Both teams are familiar with each other because they have many members on the Westport Family Y Water Rat Swim Team.

“It was a fun meet,” Schare said. “We have Water Rats on both teams and share a diving coach. There was a lot of crossover, and it felt like a Water Rat inter-squad meet.”

There were a few close races, starting with the 200-meter medley relay to open the meet. Junior Nathaniel Boley led off for Staples and gave the Wreckers a comfortable lead.

However, Fairfield rallied behind freshman Tommy Gannon, senior Will Galle, juniors Nikita Noskov and Adrian Tudor whittled down the lead, but Staples was determined behind senior captain Joss Abel, freshman Danny Williams and senior captain Kyle Bacon and edged the Falcons, 1:56.59-1:56.75.

“I focused on the start and the underwater part of the leg,” Boley said. “My teammates held the lead the rest of the way.”

The Wreckers took third with sophomores Mike DeLuca and Chris Mombello, senior captain David Katter and junior Marcus Russi (2:04.36).

Speaking of Boley, he set two school records with comfortable victories in the 50-meter freestyle (24.81) and 400-meter freestyle (4:12.21).

“Last year, I was .01 second away of the 50-free record and knew I had a good chance of getting it,” Boley said. “In the 400, it definitely helped seeing my teammates cheer for me at the midway point and I was able to pull through.”

Tudor (26.67) took second and Katter (27.23) was third in the 50-free, and Wrecker sophomore Jonathan Blansfield (4:46.24) edged out Fairfield sophomore Eric Rasmussen (4:46.29) for second place in the 400-free.

Staples swept three events. Blansfield (2:07.09) won the 200-meter freestyle in which no Fairfield swimmer came close to a Wrecker. Mombello (2:09.32) took second and senior Matt Wisher (2:12.90) grabbed third, more than 10 seconds ahead of the first Falcon.

Abel (57.79) won the 100-meter freestyle and was followed by Bacon (58.82) and sophomore Justin Krakoff (59.78).

“I tried to go out as fast as I could in the first 50 and hold it the rest of the way,” Abel said.

Wisher won the 100-meter backstroke (1:04.77), freshman Max Wimer (1:09.92) took second and junior Robert DeLuca (1:13.61) was third.

“I tried to race hard from the very beginning,” Wisher said. “I went out hard and brought it home.”

Noskov (1:03.11) grabbed the early lead in the 100-meter butterfly before holding on for the victory.

Although the Falcons took first, Staples won the event, 9-7, with freshman Danny Williams (1:96), Russi (1:08.87) and junior Matt Wetmore (1:09.19) going two-three-four.

In a battle between two Water Rats, Gannon (1:13.13) pulled out a victory over Abel (1:13.92) in the 100-meter breaststroke by slowly edging ahead of him. DeLuca (1:14.11) took third.

Fairfield won a close race behind Noskov, Gannon, Tudor and junior Will Perret in the 200-meter relay (1:46.86) when the quartet slowly inched ahead, step by step. Bacon, Wetmore, Krakoff and Katter (1:47.07) kept it close and took second.

Noskov and Galle gave Fairfield’s 400-meter relay team the lead while battling Blansfield and Williams in the first two legs. Although Tudor and Perret swam hard in the last two legs for the Falcons, Bacon came on strong and gave the Wreckers the lead and Boley was even quicker and gave Staples a 3:54.35-4:06.36 triumph.

“My teammates did a good job of setting me up,” Boley said. “Kyle did a good job of catching up and all I had to do was hold on.”

Bacon said, “It was my last home race for Staples, and I felt I had to try my hardest. I put my head down and decided to beat the guy in front of me.”

Williams is also a Water Rat teammate of Gannon’s and they were both locked in a tight race in the 200-meter individual medley. Although Gannon (2:24.72) hung tough throughout, Williams (2:20.75) slowly pulled ahead and won. Mombello (2:29.51) and Staples freshman North Woods (2:29.60) were three-four.

The Wreckers were consistent in diving with juniors Tanner Blank (185.40) and Andrew Cohen (182.70) going one-two. Falcon senior Katie Craig (165.35) scored high with the judges in three of her dives and took third.

“I thought we did a really, really great job,” Katter said. “We wanted to go out with a bang and put out a strong lineup. We really wanted it, we trained hard for it and nice to see the results.”

Reprinted from the Westport News

Fairfield Falls to Staples Swimmers

By Eliot Schickler

Although the Fairfield Ludlowe-Warde boys co-op swimming team performed well Wednesday, it ran into a tough Staples team.

Moreover, it was host Staples’ senior day, and raised its performance a few levels and its record to 6-2 with a 102-78 victory over Fairfield (1-8).

“Staples is very strong this year and is having a good season,” Falcons coach Victor Mirrer said. “We’re down a few guys but swam well. I’m very happy with how we did.”

Both teams are familiar with each other because they have many members on Westport Family Y Water Rat Swim Team.

There were a few close races, starting with the 200-meter medley relay to open the meet. Junior Nathaniel Boley led off for the Wreckers and gave them a comfortable lead. However, Fairfield rallied behind freshman Tommy Gannon, senior Will Galle, juniors Nikita Noskov and Adrian Tudor whittled down the lead, but Staples was determined behind senior captain Joss Abel, freshman Danny Williams and senior captain Kyle Bacon and edged the Falcons, 1:56.59-1:56.75. The Wreckers took third with sophomores Mike DeLuca and Chris Mombello, senior captain David Katter and junior Marcus Russi (2:04.36).

Speaking of Boley, he set two school records with comfortable victories in the 50-meter freestyle (24.81) and 400-meter freestyle (4:12.21). Tudor (26.67) took second and Katter (27.23) was third in the 50-free, and Wrecker sophomore Jonathan Blansfield (4:46.24) edged out Fairfield sophomore Eric Rasmussen (4:46.29) for second place in the 400-free.

Noskov (1:03.11) grabbed the early lead in the 100-meter butterfly before holding on for the victory.

“This was the first time I did the double kick, and it worked out nicely and I didn’t get tired,” Noskov said. “I’m more of a 50-type sprinter, and I need to work on my endurance. If there was a 50-fly, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”

Although the Falcons took first, Staples won the event, 9-7, with freshman Danny Williams (1:96), Russi (1:08.87) and junior Matt Wetmore (1:09.19) going two-three-four.

In a battle between two Water Rats, Gannon (1:13.13) pulled out a victory over Abel (1:13.92) in the 100-meter breaststroke by slowly edging ahead of him.

“It felt good,” Gannon said. “I faced a good competitor from the Rats and it was a good race. I just swam hard the whole time and there was just a few hard meters in the end.”

Fairfield won a close race behind Noskov, Gannon, Tudor and junior Will Perret in the 200-meter relay (1:46.86) when the quartet slowly inched ahead, step by step. Senior captain Kyle Bacon, Wetmore, sophomore Justin Krakoff and Katter (1:47.07) kept it close and took second.

Noskov and Galle gave Fairfield’s 400-meter relay team the lead while battling Blansfield and Williams in the first two legs. Although Tudor and Perret swam hard in the last two legs for the Falcons, Bacon came on strong and gave the Wreckers the lead and Boley was even quicker and gave Staples a 3:54.35-4:06.36 triumph.

“I always feel like the relays are competitive because they are worth more points and the rest of the team is relying on you,” Galle said.

Williams is also a Water Rat teammate of Gannon’s and they were both locked in a tight race in the 200-meter individual medley. Although Gannon (2:24.72) hung tough throughout, Williams (2:20.75) slowly pulled ahead and won. Mombello (2:29.51) and Staples freshman North Woods (2:29.60) were three-four.

The Wreckers were consistent in diving with juniors Tanner Blank (185.40) and Andrew Cohen (182.70) going one-two. Falcon senior Katie Craig (165.35) scored high with the judges by sticking her dives in three of them and took third.

“We’ve progressed through the years,” Galle said. “This is our deepest team and we have two meets where we should be competitive coming up.”

Fairfield travels to Norwalk today for a 4 p.m. meet and close out the regular season Feb. 17 at Trumbull. The Falcons will compete at FCIACs and Class L after February vacation.

“It’s going to be a good meet,” Mirrer said on the Norwalk meet. “They have good swimmers and it will be a tight meet. Nikita, Tommy and our three relays did well.”

On his goal for the bigger meets, Mirrer said, “I’d like to finish in the top half of Class L. It’s our first year of being in L, and I’m not sure with how we’ll do.”

Reprinted from the Fairfield Citizen

Staples Swimmers Splash Past Wilton

By Tom Renner

WESTPORT, Conn. – Staples’ boys swim team used its depth and a strong performance by junior Nathaniel Boley Monday to splash past Wilton, 106-77. It was the Westport high school’s third straight victory.

Staples, 5-2, returns to the pool Wednesday against the co-op Fairfield team. The Wreckers meet the co-op team from Stamford on Friday in what is expected to be one of the most competitive races of the season.

Boley won two individual events for Staples and swam on two winning relays. He captured 200- and 400-meter freestyles. He also anchored the winning 200- and 400-free relays.

Christopher Mombello, in the 100 breaststroke, and diver Tanner Blank also grabbed first places for Staples. David Katter, Kyle Bacon and Matthew Wetmore joined Boley on the 200 free relay. Bacon, Justin Krakoff and Daniel Williams joined Boley on the 400 free relay.

Staples used its superior depth to pull away from the Warriors, piling up second and third places in many events earn the victory.

Reprinted from The Daily Westport

Depth Carry Wreckers To Win Over Wilton

By Justine Seligson

The Staples boys swimming and diving team won its third straight meet, and raised its record to 5-2 with a 106-77 home victory over the Wilton Warriors Monday.

Staples triumphed in six events, which included some record-breaking performances. Junior Nathanial Boley dominated the meet by winning four events, starting with the 200-meter freestyle (2:00.08), which is the fourth fastest time in school history, and the 400-meter freestyle (4:16.55), which was the third fastest.

Boley continued his success in relay events, helping the 200-meter freestyle relay team with seniors David Katter, Kyle Bacon, and junior Matthew Wetmore (1:45.06), and the 400-meter freestyle relay with Bacon, sophomore Justin Krakoff and freshman Daniel Williams (3:57.29).

And these were not the only events the Wreckers won. Sophomore Christopher Mombello won the 100-meter breastroke (1:14. 94) and freshman North Woods took second.

For diving, junior Tanner Blank scored 219.75, which is the fifth best score in school history for a six-dive program.

“I’ve worked extremely hard with my coach over the years and intend to work even hard to better my mark through the rest of this season and next year,” Blank said.

Junior Andrew Cohen took second on the diving board with his personal best score of 182. 80.

The Wreckers won despite missing some key swimmers. Sophomore Jonathan Blansfield was out sick.

Senior Joss Abel was scheduled to race against Wilton but fell ill during the meet and had to be pulled from his events. Both these team members contributed to past Staples victories.

Despite their absence, their teammates still managed to beat a solid FCIAC team.

“We were able to overcome these setbacks and had our depth carry us to victory,” Wreckers coach Jeffrey Schare said.

In the first half of the meet, there was just a five-point gap between Staples and Wilton. But the freestyle and breastroke events were major factors in helping Staples pull out ahead..

This was an interesting meet for some swimmers as they were competing against their Wilton Wahoos teammates. Boley and Woods compete for the Wahoos and they were racing against many of their fellow club team swimmers.

Overall, the team is exceptionally proud of its performance against the Warriors.

“In past years, we haven’t had the depth necessary to have a strong, competitive team,” Boley said. “Today, I think we really proved to be a contender late in the season. We didn’t win many events, but we had a lot of two-three and two-three-four finishes that really helped us along to the win.”

Staples hopes to raise its streak to four wins today when it hosts the Fairfield Ludlowe-Fairfield-Warde co-op team. The Wreckers will travel to Westhill Friday and face the Westhill-Stamford co-op team.

Reprinted from the Westport News

Wreckers Splash Norwalk

By Doug Bonjour

Even with the best efforts of the Norwalk boys swim team’s young and promising core, Staples did what was necessary to turn Monday’s meet between the FCIAC schools in its favor.

The Wreckers jump-started the competition with wins in four out of the first five events–consisting of four individual events and one relay–and rode the momentum built from that early lead to a 101-75 victory over the Bears.

“Considering that they were mainly swimming off-events, I thought we responded pretty well,” Staples head coach Jeffrey Schare said. “There were some performances today I think frankly were a little bit lackluster. But today we finished up final exams so the guys are a little bit burned out. They gave what they could today and we did enough for the win.”

Daniel Williams–the Wreckers’ “top freshman” as told by Schare–raced to a win in the first individual event, the 200 freestyle, in 1:56.68, and later picked up a victory in the 400 freestyle relay to make the afternoon a positive one for the Wreckers. The 400 relay team, which included Jonathan Blansfield, Joss Abel and Nathaniel Boley, along with Williams, recorded a winning time of 3:37.41.

“He definitely stands out,” Schare said of Williams.

Just five days removed from a win over perennial power New Canaan, the Wreckers were strong from the get-go, opening with a victory in the 200 medley relay. Boley, Abel, Kyle Bacon and David Katter completed that event in 1:47.04, edging out Norwalk by less than a second.

Boley, who helped the Wreckers take two out of the three relay events, also raced to victories in the 50 freestyle (23.14) and the 500 freestyle in 5:09.65.

Those strong finishes, however, didn’t come without some strong competition.

For Norwalk, junior Sherman Lau won two events, earning a victory in the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.44 and the 200 freestyle relay. The Bears’ relay team, which included Jake St. John, Eddie Donovan, Anthony Dell’Isola and Lau, won that event in 1:38.15.

“I thought Sherman swam very well. He’s really starting to round into form,” Norwalk head coach Doug Marchetti said. “As a junior, we look to him for leadership and to provide a spark when we need it. He’s really starting to come alive this part of the season.”

Efforts like Lau’s have been needed for Norwalk this season, especially given the small numbers the team has to work with.

“We gave a lot of effort. We only have like eight to 10 swimmers. Some kids have to swim back-to-back events,” said Lau, who also placed second in the 50 freestyle in 23.62, finishing less than a second behind Boley.

Dell’Isola, a freshman, picked up Norwalk’s first win of the afternoon in the 200 individual medley (2:07.53), finishing ahead of Blansfield. The other Norwalk swimmers to win individual events were Donovan in the 100 butterfly (57.81) and Dillon DiGuglielmo in the 100 backstroke (1:01.24)–both of whom are also first-year swimmers.

“I can’t speak enough also with our freshman kids,” Marchetti said, “what kind of swims they’re giving us. Throw Giancarlo Ceci into the mix and Kenji Hosokawa, Jason Castorina, we’re getting great swims from all of our kids. We just don’t have a whole lot of them. I can’t be more proud with their effort.”

The Bears’ Max Libre, also a freshman, scored a 126.65 in the diving event, but was bested by Staples’ Tanner Blank, who posted his season-high score, 186.95.

With another win in its pocket, Staples will look to continue its strong start when it hosts Wilton next Monday. The Bears will be in action again on Wednesday, at home against the Rams.

“We’ve still got some big ones coming up, so I try to impress it to the guys that we can’t just sit back on our laurels,” Schare said. “We have to keep fighting, we have to keep pushing, we have to keep training.”

Reprinted from the Westport News

 

Wreckers Overcome Norwalk

NORWALK — The Staples High boys swim team defeated Norwalk 101-75 Monday at the NHS pool.

The Wreckers raised their record to 4-2 with the win while the Bears slipped to 1-5.

“We were able to mix up the lineup and challenge the kids in different events and they responded,” Staples head coach Jeffrey Schare said. “They swam a little tired coming off midterm exams but by mixing up the lineup, we were able to find some strength and position for a third guy in an event which is always good and can help us down the line.”

Nathaniel Boley led the Wreckers by winning two individual events including the 50-yard freestyle (23.14) and the 500 free (5:09.65), finishing well ahead of the field in the 500. He also helped the 200 medley relay, along with Joss Abel, Kyle Bacon and David Katter, place first (1:47.04).

Anthony Dell’Isola had a strong meet for Norwalk. He won the 200 IM (2:07.53), edging out Staples’ Jonathan Blansfield (2:07.60) and aided the winning 200 free relay team of Jake St. John, Eddie Donovan and Sherman Lau (1:38.15) and the 400 free relay team of Kenji Hosokawa, Giancarlo Ceci and Dillon DiGuglielmo (3:49.53).

“I was very happy,” Norwalk head coach Doug Marchetti said. “The final score may not show it but my kids swam extremely well against a very good team.”

Marchetti also praised Dell’Isola, Sherman Lau, who won the 100 breaststroke (1:07.44) and was second in the 50 free (23.62) in addition to anchoring the 200 free relay, and DiGuglielmo, who took first in the 100 backstroke (1:01.24) and was third in the 200 free (1:58.51). Donovan was Norwalk’s other first-place finisher as he captured the 100 butterfly (57.81).

“They give me great effort and keep getting better and better,” Marchetti said of his swimmers, who number only 11.

Schare said Tanner Blank started out slow in the diving but finished strong, winning the event with a score of 186.95.

After placing second in the 200 IM, Blansfield redeemed himself in the 100 free, finishing in first place ahead of Dell’Isola with a time of 52.03. Dell’Isola was runner-up with a time of 53.52.

“He wanted to get back on top after being touched out in the IM,” Schare said. “Jonathan is quiet but very competitive.”

Rounding out the scoring for Staples was Daniel Williams, who took first in the 200 free (1:56.68).

Norwalk hosts New Canaan Wednesday while the Wreckers take on Wilton next Monday at home.

Reprinted from The Hour

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