Beginning the FCIAC finals with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay and ending it with an outstanding finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay, Greenwich High School’s varsity swimming team couldn’t be stopped by any of its rivals at the conference championship meet this season, so of course, the Cardinals are indeed, back on top, in the ultra-competitive FCIAC.

Winning six events and making its mark in every race, host Greenwich made it another meet to remember at the finals of the FCIAC Championships, capturing the team title at the conference meet for the 32nd time in its glorious history, amassing 501 team points at the championship meet on Nov. 1st before a huge, enthusiastic crowd.

The Cardinals, who placed second at last season’s FCIAC Championships, after winning the meet in 2023, finished 90 points ahead of runner-up Ridgefield, the 2024 FCIAC champion. The Tigers totaled 410 points, while New Canaan finished third in the team standings (197 points). Darien was fifth (189 points) and Norwalk/McMahon took fifth (181) in the 13-team championship meet.

“It feels great, we’ve been working really hard all season, so I think to see that hard work pay off – the team’s really excited about it,” said Greenwich senior Wesley Wales, a team captain, who claimed the FCIAC title in two individual events and garnered two more first-place medals in relay races. “Everyone swam so good, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without everybody’s swims. Everyone has been working so hard throughout the season and seeing everyone do that well – we had a lot of best times – it’s really exciting.”

Greenwich, which has won more FCIAC championships than any other team in the conference by a wide margin, followed an undefeated regular season by excelling in both the preliminary meet of the FCIAC Championships and in the finals on Nov. 1st.

“I’m really happy with our team’s energy and enthusiasm all week,” GHS coach Brendan Heller said. “It’s a two-day meet, a three-day meet when you count diving, so it takes some endurance. Wednesday’s trials is a long day, so to come back Saturday – it takes some endurance and mental endurance too.”

The Cardinals set themselves up to achieve their goals in the finals by taking care of business at the preliminaries on Oct. 31st.

“You have to be on in the prelims to get people back in the finals, because it’s a very competitive conference,” Heller noted. “So, we made sure we were ready on Wednesday and everybody made it back. Seventeen people scored points for us. Everybody that was entered in the meet scored for us, so it shows the tremendous depth that we were able to build throughout the season to be in this position.”

The Cardinals started the FCIAC Championships strong and never looked back. Junior Julia Kozma, senior captain Isabel Guzman, junior Kensington Worden and senior Wesley Wales combined for a winning time of 1:47.74 in the meet’s first event, the 200-yard medley relay. Norwalk/McMahon was second (1:49.09), followed by Ridgefield (1:49.21).

“It feels so good to be back on top again, repping that legacy we have at GHS,” said Greenwich junior Ellison Charette, who was one of numerous Cardinals athletes to score plenty of points in the championship meet. “We started the meet off with a bang and we wanted to have a ton of energy throughout the whole thing and I think we did that.”

In the 200-yard freestyle, the Cardinals had three podium finishes. Senior captain Melissa Geiger placed third in the race with a time of 1:54.28, freshman Elsa Wang had a sixth-place finish (1:56.71) and senior captain Ainsley Sahrbeck was eighth (1:57.47). Zsofia Milak, a Ridgefield freshman, claimed the gold medal in the 200 freestyle, clocking in at 1:52.57. Teammate Ava Ward, a senior, took second in 1:53.07.

The 200-yard individual medley saw Ellison Charette post a second-place finish, touching the wall in 2:08.87. Kozma finished fourth in 2:10.78 and GHS sophomore Sara Jee finished eighth (2:14.73). Fairfield Ludlowe senior Ella Gussen earned the FCIAC title in the 200 IM (2:05.79).

Wales showcased her speed in winning the 50 freestyle with a sparkling time of 24.22 seconds. A blink of an eye behind her was Fairfield Warde junior Adrianna Spelman, who finished second in 24.25, followed by Greenwich’s Worden (24.26).

“I felt really good in the water,” Wales noted. “I really wanted to win for the team, so I put my head down and swam.”

Geiger garnered the FCIAC first-place medal in the 100-yard butterfly, touching the wall in 56.97 seconds. Maegan Gristanti, a St. Joseph junior, was the runner-up (57.11). Kozma gave the Cards a fourth-place finish in the butterfly, registering a time of 58.15. Cardinals sophomore Norah Eldredge added some points for the team in the butterfly as well, placing eighth in 1:00.60.

“Everyone stepped up to the challenge,” Geiger said. “It was so exciting to see how everyone changed their perspective on the races and stepped up to the challenge after FCIAC prelims. It was so fun to see everyone drop so much time and get on the podium.”

Wales’ second individual win came in the 100-yard freestyle. She captured the first-place medal by recording a time of 51.68 seconds. Ward of Ridgefield was the runner-up (51.83) and Worden of GHS took fifth (53.06).

“I’m especially happy for our senior class, because of the amount of growth they’ve shown the last couple of years,” Heller noted. “Wesley Wales won four gold medals tonight. Melissa Geiger won her first FCIAC title in the 100 butterfly – it’s so special to see how far they’ve come and see them have their moment.”

Charette won the FCIAC championship in the 500 freestyle, racing to a time of 5:02.85. Milak from Ridgefield was second in 5:07.88, while Cardinals sophomore Olivia DeVries placed third (5:08.90). Ainsley Sahrbeck, a senior GHS captain, had a fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle (5:14.61) and teammate Isadora Nassa, a junior, took seventh in 5:22.59.

“I really liked my 500, getting on the podium was exciting,” Sahrbeck said. “We had four Greenwich girls in the A final, which is awesome, we had half of the A final together and we were all cheering for each other the whole time.”

The Cardinals continued to shine in the relay races. Ellison Charette, senior Lily Norton, Wales and Worden teamed up for a winning time of 1:36.61 – a time worthy of All-American consideration. Ridgefield placed second in an All-American consideration time of 1:36.83.

“The relays were so fun, the medley relay was so fun to watch and it was really fun to be part of the 200 and 400 relay,” Ellison Charette noted. “Relays are always such a highlight of the meet, you get to be in an event with your team and I think that coming out on top in two of those was exciting.”

Freshman Alden Charette had Greenwich’s best finish in the 100 backstroke at the FCIAC finals, placing fourth (59.09). Adrianna Spelman of Fairfield Warde won the event in an All-American consideration time of 55.75.

Guzman, a captain, (1:08.80) and DeVries (1:09.36), were eighth and ninth, respectively for the Cards in the 100 breaststroke, which was won by Emma Giafardino of Norwalk/McMahon (1:05.56).

Greenwich put the finishing touch on its FCIAC championship meet victory by placing a strong second in the 400-yard freestyle relay, registering a time of 3:36.26. Geiger led off the relay, followed by Wang, Ellison Charette and Sahrbeck. Ridgefield claimed the first-place medal with an All-American consideration time of 3:30.99.

“The relays were awesome,” Sahrbeck said. “Winning the first two relays was just a huge energy booster. We were all jumping up and down. That togetherness we get from that is super important.”

Since the 2021 season, Greenwich and rival Ridgefield have alternated as FCIAC champions. The Cardinals won the FCIAC title in 2021, the Tigers claimed it in 2022, the Cardinals recaptured it in 2023 and Ridgefield was the 2024 champion. Now the Cardinals have added yet another conference crown to their collection.

“It’s incredible, we have such a great team, such a great group of girls,” Sahrbeck said. “Seeing the energy – everyone was cheering, everyone was waiting at the end of the lane beside the pool – it’s incredible to see all our hard work pay off.”

In the 2025 FCIAC Diving Championships also held last week, New Canaan’s Emma Kelly won the championship for the third straight season. Kelly earned 499.35 points over 11 rounds of diving on the 1-meter board.

Greenwich’s Alden Charette finished second, totaling a score of 498.35 points. Senior captain Olivia DeVito placed sixth at the FCIAC Diving Championships (380.75 points) and Cardinals teammate Clementine Whittle was 10th (326.70).

Up next for Greenwich is the CIAC Class LL Championships, followed by the biggest meet of the season – the CIAC State Open Championships. The Class LL swim finals is scheduled for Nov. 12 at Cornerstone Aquatics Center in West Hartford. The State Open Championships will take place on Nov. 16th at Yale University with a starting time of 1 p.m.

“We’re feeling really good about LLs, we feel that’s going to be a really fun meet,” Wales said. “And Opens, we are really excited for it. This is a good picture of where we’re at, but we’re not at the top yet, so we’re excited to see what we can accomplish as a team.”

“This is No. 1, we have two more meets,” Sahrbeck said. “We’re going for the triple crown. It’s step one and I’m excited to see what we can do the rest of the season.”

Said Geiger: “Moving forward, we’re going to start focusing on states and opens and probably start ramping up the training again after tapering for FCIACs. It’s going to be a rough couple of weeks, but it’s going to be super exciting.”

“I think it will be fun,” Heller said of the Class LL Championships. “We will put our head back down this week and get back to work. Hopefully, we’ll have a good day at the trials. The goal is to get as many people to Opens and swimming at Yale as possible.”