Last weekend the Brookfield Girls Swim team advanced to the State Open. The State Open is the highest level high school meet in Connecticut, where the top 24 swimmers per event from all classes (S, M, L & LL) compete together across the board.
This year the Open was held at Yale University and Brookfield proudly sent 8 swimmers as the Bobcats qualified all 3 relays, plus 5 individual swimmers. Swimming at the 2012 Open was: Ali Bowers, Anna Brown , Rachel Brown, Katie Dixon, Anna Fernandez, Steph Ferrarie, Sam Palicz and Maddy Smart.
While Coach Brandt Nigro and his team had set their sights on a top 10 Open finish, (previously 11th was the highest any BHS girls team had ever achieved) - the Bobcats managed to surpass that goal by edging out Cheshire and finishing in 6th place overall out of 52 state wide teams. The top 6 teams were: Darien (1st), New Canaan (2nd), Greenwich (3rd), Amity (4th), Hall (5th), and Brookfield (6th). Brookfield beat out Class M State Champions Branford (14th) and SWC rivals Newtown (28th), Pomperaug (21st), Weston (17th) and Laurelton Hall (11th).
In this years Open, captain and senior Maddy Smart and junior Samantha Palicz lead Brookfield to its highest finish ever. Smart placed 2nd in the 100 Free with a time of 51.62 (touched out at the wall by just 0.04 seconds) and also took 5th in the 50 Free at 24.24 seconds. Palicz earned 4th in the 100 back with a time of 59.09 and placed 11th in the 200 IM at 2:12.77.
Rachel Brown swam to a 12th place finish in the 200 Free with a time of 1:56.41. Stephanie Ferrarie captured 14th in the 500 Free in 5:16.17 and Anna Brown finished 21st in the 100 Back with a time of 1:01.77
The 200 Free Relay team of R. Brown, Palicz, Smart and A. Brown touched in 8th with a time of 1:40.26. The 200 Medley Relay team of A. Brown, Ali Bowers, Anna Fernandez and Katie Dixon came in 24th with a time of 2:00.68.
In the always exciting and final event of the meet - the 400 Free Relay - the Bobcats team of R. Brown, Smart, Ferrarie & Palicz swam together for one final time, winning a bronze medal by placing 3rd with a time of 3:35.94 - yet another outstanding accomplishment for the Bobcats who previously won 1st in this same event at the SCW Championships as well as taking 1st place with a record breaking swim and Class M State Championship victory!
Looking back on the close of their 2012 season, Brookfield had an amazing year which included multiple record breaking performances, their first ever SWC Championship, first time ever "Runners Up" showing at the Class M State Championships and a first ever 6th place finish at the Open. A year of "firsts" on so many levels - simply unreal ! Congratulations on a truly outstanding season to Coach Nigro, Hatt and Reiff and the 21 swimmers and divers of the 2012 Girls Brookfield Swimming & Diving Team!
