Swim Team Excels at State Open

It didn’t take long for the Bobcats swim team to shake off the disappointment of their third place finish in the Class M State Championship meet held at Wesleyan University last Wednesday night. An unfortunate disqualification late in the meet in the 200 Freestyle Relay cost Brookfield a shot at defending their title and even eliminated their chance at taking home the runner-up trophy.

Despite the deflating result, the Bobcats were back in the pool on Saturday, earning a solid eighth place finish at the State Open held at Yale University.  They scored 206 points in the meet, which were 23.5 points behind fellow SWC competitor Pomperaug, who finished fifth, and 100 points behind Class M champion New Canaan, who finished fourth.  

Greenwich was the top team in the state with 388 points and Class M runner-up Darien finished second with 321 points.

The Bobcats made a big splash at the meet in the opening event, as the team of Louciano De Souza, Janco Cornelius, Jeff Magin and Jack Dunn took home the gold medal in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 3:36.70.  The team had earned the top qualifying time and didn’t let up in the big spot, improving their time to hold off second place finisher New Canaan.

Brookfield had finished fourth at the open in the event last season and brought back three of the same swimmers while adding newcomer De Souza. Head coach Brian Reiff, who is ever-confident in his swimmers, still was shocked at winning the gold in the open, even though the team had set its sights on taking the top spot.

Brookfield was able to earn points throughout the meet as they qualified swimmers in every event except the 200 Freestyle Relay.  The DQ from days earlier kept them out of the heat at the open.

De Souza had strong swims in the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Freestyle, finishing seventh and eighth.  De Souza also teamed up with Magin, Matt Moen and Drew Krensta to earn a sixth place finish in the 400 Freestyle Relay.

Magin also competed in two other events, taking fifth place in the 100 Backstroke and finishing 14th in the 100 Butterfly.

Moen qualified for two other events as well. He helped the Bobcats earn points in the 500 Freestyle, swimming to a 12th place finish, and the 200 IM, finishing 18th.

Cornelius and Krensta both competed in one other event besides their relay swims. Cornelius finished 15th in the 100 Breaststroke and Krensta finished 21st in the 200 Freestyle.

“We’re losing a lot of leadership in Cornelius,” Reiff said of one of his senior captains who finished his career, adding that the loss of fellow senior captains Blake Holton, Sam Ronan and Kevin Farrell will be tough to replace.

“We’ve got a great sophomore class, we have some great juniors,” Reiff said of the team that will be coming back next year.  “We have some young freshmen, we got an exciting team so we’re looking forward to next year.”

The Bobcats held off the team from Joel Barlow/Immaculate, who finished in ninth place with 195 points. The B-Mac co-op team is coached by the Lady Bobcats coach Brandt Nigro.

Newtown and Weston were the only other SWC teams to qualify for the Open. Newtown finished in 21st place with a score of 74 points and Weston finished in 43rd place with a score of 25 points.

Team scores:

1. Greenwich 388, 2. Darien 321, 3. Ridgefield 312, 4. New Canaan 306, 5. Pomperaug 239.5, 6. Westhill/Stamford 226, 7. Glastonbury 218.5, 8. Brookfield 206, 9. (tie) Barlow/Immaculate, Xavier and Staples 195, 12. Sacred Heart 161.5, 13. Conard 149, 14. Amity 120, 15. Farmington 109, 16. Torrington 89, 17. (tie) Branford and Naugatuck 86.5, 19. Wilton 86, 20. Fitch 82, 21. Newtown 74, 22. Fairfield Prep 66.5, 23. Southington 62, 24. Wethersfield 60, 25. ND-West Haven 59, 26. Cheshire 57, 27. (tie) Simsbury and South Windsor 56, 29. Haddam-Killingworth and East Catholic 45, 31. Lewis Mills 47, 32. East Lyme 45, 33. (tie) Avon and Hamden 43, 35. Foran 39, 36. Berlin 34.5, 37. Northwest Catholic 32, 38. Sheehan 31.5, 39. North Haven/North Branford 28.5, 40. Lyman Hall 28, 41. (tie) Hall and Shelton 26, 43. Weston 25, 44. Hand 23, 45. Bulkeley 11, 46. East Hartford 10, 47. Woodland 7.5, 48. Northwestern 7, 49. Cheney Tech 6, 50. Middletown 5, 51. Plainville 4, 52. (tie) Platt/Maloney and Suffield 3.