Swimming dynasty continues; Writers to honor McInerney, Shook.
By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
In the “same time, next year” department, Greenwich won its 16th straight CIAC Class LL state boys’ swim championship and its 35th in 36 seasons for coach Terry Lowe, who is now in his 40th year coaching the Cardinals.
Greenwich scored 608 points to out-distance runner-up Fairfield Prep (538) Tuesday at Wesleyan University’s Freeman Athletic Center. Glastonbury was third with 318.5. Senior James case set a Class LL record in the 50-yard freestyle (0:21.15) and also won the 100-yard freestyle (0:46.33) for Greenwich.
Diver Mark O’Connell won with 439.60 points. The Fairfield Ludlowe/Warde co-op team got two wins from Cam Hood, who took the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.23 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:38.86. Fairfield Prep had two individual winners in Andrew Grinalds, who took the 200-yard individual medley in 1:56.63 and Andrew Golanziewicz, who won the 100-yard backstroke in 0:54.01. Other individual winners were Ryan Cutter, Westhill-Stamford in the 100-yard butterfly (0:51.40) and Austin Mizzell of Bristol in the 100-yard breaststroke in 0:59.90.
Pomperaug-Southbury stepped up from Class M, which it won a year ago, to take the Class L title with 596 points, well ahead of Ridgefield (355) and Xavier-Middletown (315). Travis McNamara led the way with two wins, taking the 200-yard individual medley in a Class L record time of 1:51.67 and winning the 500-yard freestyle in 4:29.74, also a record. Pomperaug also had wins by Benjamin Smith in the 50-yard freestyle (0:22.02) and Conner McTaggert in the 100-yard freestyle (0:48.45) with Smith finishing second. Matthew McLean of Simsbury was a double winner, capturing the 200-yard freestyle in 1:40.06, a meet record, and the 100-yard butterfly in 0:50.37, also a meet mark. Thomas Brown of Ridgefield took the 100-yard backstroke in 0:53.40, Colin McCormick of Cheshire won the 100-yard breaststroke in 0:58.99 and Bradley Schott of Wilton was the top diver with 435/10 points.
Stepping into the void in Class M was New Canaan, which won with 514 points. Branford was second with 396, followed by Brookfield with 332. New Canaan, which had won three straight Class M titles before Pomperaug won last year, had three individual wins. Costas Hadjipaters took the 200-yard freestyle in a meet record 1:42.92; Stuart Ainsworth won the 100-yard backstroke in 0:54.33 and Christian Higgins was first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 0:58.91. Broanford’s Owen Rood won the 50-yard freestyle (0:21.21) and 100-yard freestyle (0:46.80) and Eric Sokolosky won the 100-yard butterfly in a record 0:50.86. Brookfield’s Matt Sorena was also a double winner, in the 200-yard individual medley (1:56.86) and 500-yard freestyle (4:47.27). Phillip Morehouse of Darien was the top diver with 453.70 points.
Weston scored 389 points to outlast Shepaug Valley-Washington (339) and Sacred Heart-Waterbury (320) in a close Class S meet. Weston won two relays but did not have a single individual winner. John Hug of Northwest Catholic-West Hartford took two events, the 200-yard freestyle in 1:47.46 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:44.44. Lewis Mills-Burlington had a pair of winners as Peter Zalewski won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:03.99 and Luke Zalewski was tops in the 100-yard freestyle in 0:49.26. August Dinwiddle of Holy Cross-Waterbury won the 50-yard freestyle in 0:21.92, Paul Vignati of Northwest Catholic-West Hartford was first in the 100-yard butterfly (0:53.05), Colin Daly of Cromwell took the 100-yard backstroke in 0:54.17 and Andy Garrity of Sacred Heart-Waterbury captured the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:01.57.
The state open is Saturday in New Haven.
CSWA to Honor McInerney, Shook
The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance will honor two of Connecticut's most distinguished coaches with the Doc McInerney Male and Female Coach of the Year Award in Danbury High wrestling coach Ricky Shook and Darien High girls volleyball coach Laurie LaRusso.
Shook and LaRusso will be honored on April 27th at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington at the 67th Gold Key Dinner. Tickets to the dinner are $75 for the 4:30 p.m. event.
Few coaches have attained the level of success that Shook has accomplished at Danbury High. Since taking over the Hatters' program in 2000, Shook has continued the wrestling dominance from the Class LL school. Danbury went 22-0 this season, won the FCIAC championship for the 22nd straight year and has won 11 straight state titles going into Saturday's state championship wrestling meet.
In his eighth year, Shook has compiled a 187-7 record, a .964 winning percentage, which is tops among Connecticut wrestling coaches. John Nimock, whom Shook replaced after the 1999 season, is second at .954 (167-8-1) from 1992-99. Shook¹s teams have been ranked No. 1 in the Norwich Bulletin wrestling poll for 93 consecutive weeks dating back to the middle of the 1999 season.
LaRusso has led the Darien girls’ volleyball team to seven straight state titles and a total of 13 since becoming coach in 1982. The Blue Wave is 360-10 over the last 14 years, with six of those losses coming in 2000.
Darien captured the Class L state championship with a perfect 25-0 record this past season, and for the first time in program history did not lose a set in any of its games. This season was also LaRusso’s 10th unbeaten season. LaRusso, 487-78 in her career at Darien, was named the 2007 Coach of the Year by PrepVolleyball.com, marking the first time an East Coast coach has received the award.
The Gold Key Award recipients previously announced are Ted May (Wethersfield), Tony Falzarano (Putnam) and Ralph King (Norwalk).
There will be four new CIAC state boys’ basketball champions crowned this weekend.
In fact, seven of the eight finalists are new this year with only Maloney-Meriden repeating from a year ago. The Spartans got to the finals but were defeated by Weaver-Hartford.
This year, Maloney is again in Class L and plays neighboring Lyman Hall-Wallingford for the title. The Trojans shocked previously-unbeaten Wilbur Cross in the quarterfinals, then came back to knock off E.O. Smith-Storrs, 43-42, in the semis. Maloney topped second-seeded New London, 72-50, in the other semi-final.
The Class LL final pits Trinity Catholic-Stamford against Crosby-Waterbury. In Class M, Hartford Public meets Stratford and in Class S, Kolbe Cathedral-Bridgeport plays Blooomfield. The Class LL and L games will be at UConn and Central Connecticut State University will have the Class M and Class S games.
