Rocky Point Club wins seventh straight Fairfield County Swim League title

By David Fierro on August 7, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

Photo by David Fierro: Rocky Point Club swimmers jumped into the pool at Roxbury Swim & Tennis Club after their squad won the team title at the 72nd annual Fairfield County Swimming League Swimming Championships.

The Fairfield County Swimming League Championships was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the always popular, summer-ending meet was held today, giving Rocky Point Club the opportunity to continue its title run in the FCSL.

Showcasing its depth, Rocky Point Club racked up team points in nearly every event and after 50 races, the program, coached by Terry Lowe, produced another resounding victory.

Behind a wealth of impressive performances, Rocky Point Club swam to the team title at the FCSL Championships, amassing 1,511 points at Roxbury Swim & Tennis Club in Stamford. Waveny Pool placed second in the team standings at the 29-team championship meet with 745.5 points, followed by Middlesex (736), Roxbury Swim & Tennis Club (690) and Newfield Swim Club 658.

Greenwich Water Club (488), Shore & Country Club (465.5), Innis Arden Golf Club (417), Black Rock Yacht Club (265.5) and Stamford Yacht Club (238.5) rounded out the top-10 teams.

“We had some really excellent swims,” Lowe said. “It’s great to see the future of the team is good, as well as having a solid core at every age group. It’s a team where we lose very few swimmers going into next year.”

Meghan Lynch, a 2021 Greenwich High School graduate, where she excelled in the swimming pool for four seasons, received the High Point Award at today’s FCSL Championships. A four-time high school All-American swimmer, Lynch will continue her swimming career at Division I power Stanford University. She broke two Fairfield County Swim League/County records today with a pair of first-place finishes.

Photo by David Fierro: The 17-year-old swimmers making their final appearance at the Fairfield County Swim League Championships gathered during the 72nd annual FCSL meet on August 7, 2021, at Roxbury Swim & Tennis Club.

Today’s championship meet began with the Rocky Point quartet of Felix Flakstad, Callum Holl, Kegan Clark and Eric Murphey combining for a winning time of 2:13.20 in the boys’ 17-and-under 200-meter (short course, all races were short course at the venue) medley relay. Newfield was second (2:15.50), followed by Waveny (2:16.27).

“We were the underdogs coming into the medley relay, but we managed to scrape out a win, which was exciting,” said Flakstad, a rising Greenwich High School sophomore, where will compete on the Cardinals’ swimming team.

Flakstad won the boys 14-and-under 50-meter breaststroke (33.36 seconds) and touched the wall first in the 50-meter backstroke (30.33). Ben Bognon of Waveny was the runner-up in the boys 14-under 50-meter breaststroke (34.91) and Brendan Leahy from Rocky Point placed third (35.62).

“The summer was good and it’s always fun coming back to Rocky,” Flakstad said. “As you get older, you spend a little less time there, so when you get to spend time there, it’s pretty awesome. This is the grand finale for the summer and it was exciting to compete in this meet.”

Photo by David Fierro: Swimmers gather to cheer on their teammates at the FCSL Swimming Championships.

Lynch, representing Bailiwick Club, broke the FCSL County record in the girls 17-and-under 100-meter individual medley, clocking in at 1:04.66. She broke the previous record of 1:05.02 in the event set by Olympian Alex Walsh. Walsh, who last competed in the FCSL Championships in 2017, won the silver medal in the 200 individual medley at the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

“Getting the County record in the 100 IM was really exciting,” Lynch said. “I knew it was in reach, but my time was two seconds slower than the record going into the meet. Alex Walsh won the silver medal in the 2 IM in Olympics, so it was really exiting when I got it.”

Alex Pastushan of New Canaan Field Club placed second in the 17-under 100 IM (1:11.44), followed by Kelci Haley (Waveny, 1:12.43). In the girls 17-under 100 freestyle, Lynch posted a winning/FCSL-record time of 57.52 seconds. Kate Hazlett, who swims at Harvard, held the previous record of 57.90, set in 2018.

“I swam here with Kate too, so getting that record was also cool,” Lynch said. “I’m trying to relax a little this summer, since I’m going to be going hard when I get to college. But I’ve also been training hard to stay in shape. This was something fun to do, I really wanted to do this and compete in this meet.”

Photo by David Fierro: Meghan Lynch, representing Bailiwick Club, flourished at the FCSL Championships.

Lily Codd of Newfield finished second in the 17-under 100 freestyle (1:02.39) and Emma Robredo of Newfield placed third (1:03.01). Lynch also claimed the FCSL title in the 17-under 50-meter breaststroke, clocking in at 34.35 seconds. Paige Davis of Waveny was the runner-up in 38.83, while Kelly Leahy of Rocky Point took third (39.46).

Roxbury’s foursome of Izzie Nassa, Michelle Weissler, Emily Kalvaitis and Clare Scozzafava combined for a championship time of 2:18.95 in the girls 17-and-under 200 meter medley relay. Rocky Point finished second in the race (2:20.55).

The boys 8-under 25-meter butterfly title went to Charlie Lowham of Black Rock Yacht Club (19.19) and Brighid Dowling of Roxbury won the girls 8-under 25 butterfly race (18.44). In the boys 10-under 25 butterfly, Ethan Arnett touched the wall first in 17.34, while Jameson Wales from Innis Arden was the girls 10-under 25 butterfly champion (15.35).

Siena Christiansen from Middlesex earned top honors in the girls 12-under 50 butterfly (31.94) and Reed Keller (Milbrook Club) was the boys 12-under 50 butterfly winner (32.85). Also winning the 50 butterfly in their respective age divisions were Jack Haley (Waveny, 27.79, boys 14-under), Miller Ward (girls 14-under, 30.75), Thomas Dupont (Newfield, boys 17-under, 26.40) and Emily Kalvaitis of Middlesex (30.96).

Patrick Mullen, a rising Brunswick School junior, competed in the 17-under butterfly, 50 butterfly, breaststroke and 100 IM, as well as the 17-under 200 freestyle relay. He anchored Rocky Point’s winning 200 freestyle relay (1:54.53), which included Jackson Waters, Henry Wise and Luke Mendelsohn.

“It’s great to see the young kids perform, swim well and win,” Mullen said. “I did the 50 fly, 50 breaststroke and IM, but really had fun doing the men’s 200 relay. It was great to see my teammates swimming best times and win that relay event.”

Patrick Mullen helped lead Rocky Point Club in several events at the FCSL Swimming Championships.

Breaststroke champions at today’s meet also included: Declan McCarthy (Greenwich Water Club, 8-under 25-meter, 23.67), Parker Schatz (Roxbury, girls 8-under 25-meter, 24.81), Will Lenich (Wee Burn Country Club, 10-under boys 25-meter, 20.13), Calder Kelly (Greenwich Country Club, 10-under boys 25-meter, 20.13), Siena Pierson (girls 10-under 25 meter, Greenwich Country Club, 19.16), Colin Bucaria (Greenwich Water Club, 12-under 50-meter, 38.27), Meghan Leahy (Rocky Point, 12-under 50-meter, 39.58), Michelle Weissler (Roxbury, 14-under 50-meter, 34.36) and Thomas Dupont (Newfield, 17-under 50-meter, 30.52.

Individual medley titles at the meet went to: Jackson Waters (Rocky Point, 10-under 100-meter, 1:23.72), Siena Pierson (Greenwich Country Club, 10-under 100-meter, 1:19.23), Colin Bucaria (Greenwich Water Club, 12-under 100-meter 1:14.15), Emily Pastushan (New Canaan Field Club, 12-under 100-meter, 1:18.00), Jack Haley (Waveny, 14-under 100-meter, 1:02.72), Michelle Weissler (Roxbury, 14-under, 1:09.29), Thomas Dupont (Newfield, 1:03.07, 17-under, 100-meter and Meghan Lynch’s record-setting performance.

Photo by David Fierro: Hundreds of swimmers competed in the FCSL Swimming Championships on August 7.

Wise gave Rocky Point a victory in the boys 12-under 50-meter backstroke, touching the wall in 34.62 seconds.

“The 50 backstroke, that was my best one today,” said Wise a rising seventh-grader at Greenwich Country Day School. “It was really hard, I wanted to do really well in this one. I also liked racing in the 200 freestyle relay. This summer, it was fun hanging out at Rocky Point and going to all the practices with my friends.”

Also winning backstroke championships at the FCSL finals were: Charlie Lowham (Country Club of Darien, 8-under 25-meter 21.09), Brighid Dowling (Roxbury, 8-under 25-meter, 22.93), Calder Kelly (Greenwich Country Club, 10-under 25 meter, 18.50), Olivia DeVries (Rocky Point, 10-under 25 meter, 18:07), Melissa Geiger (Greenwich Water Club, 12-under 50 meter, 34.69), Felix Flakstad (Rocky Point, 30.33), Samantha Haley, Waveny, 14-under 50-meter, 33.44), Justin Jacob (Greenwich Water Club, 17-under 50-meter, 28.59), and Alex Pastushan (New Canaan Field Club, 17-under 50 meter, 31.87.

The FCSL Swimming Championships celebrated its 72nd anniversary on Saturday, August 7, 2021.

Julia Gustafsson, representing Rocky Point, took the top spot in the girls 14-under 50-meter freestyle. She won the race with a time of :29.12.

“The 50 free is my favorite, I like doing freestyle, it is my favorite stroke,” said Gustafsson, an eighth-grader at Eastern Middle School. I also like doing the butterfly and the IM. It was pretty tiring, but I enjoy doing it a lot. This was a fun meet, a lot of us did pretty good.”

Other freestyle champions included: Henry Hart (Aspetuck Valley Country Club, 8-under 25-meter, 17.37), Brighid Dowling (Roxbury, 8-under 25-meter, 16.44), Jackson Waters (Rocky Point, 10-under 50-meter, 33.10), Abi Burke (Shore & Country Club, 10-under 50-meter, 30.69), Colin Bucaria (Greenwich Water Club, 12-under 50-meter, 29.75), Wesley Wales (Innis Arden, 12-under 50-meter, 29.25), Jack Haley (Waveny, 14-under 50-meter, 25.40), Aidan Bucaria (Greenwich Water Club, 17-under 100-meter, 54.42) and Meghan Lynch’s record-setting swim.

Rocky Point Club won the team title at the Fairfield County Swim League Championships at Roxbury.

The meet concluded with Rocky Point’s girls 17-under 200 freestyle relay of Olivia DeVries, Charette Ellison Julia Gustaffson and Emma Gustaffson winning the race in 2:07.73.

“It was great that we had the meet this year, after we couldn’t have it last year,” Lowe said. “The kids look forward to it. We had a good year last year during COVID, the team was cohesive and stuck together.”

Said Rocky Point’s Zoe Sorensen, who placed second in the 200 medley relay, fifth in the 17-under, 50-meter butterfly and eighth in the 17-under, 50-meter IM: “I have been at Rocky Point for a long time, so growing up with the same people every summer is fun. We all always look forward to this meet.”