Holy Cross found itself among the titans of boys swimming and diving at Thursday night’s CIAC State Open, and the Crusaders proved that they belong among those teams.
The Crusaders finished seventh with 233 team points. Of the six teams that placed ahead of Holy Cross, only one — Pomperaug — doesn’t reside in either Class LL or Class L. Greenwich (Class LL) won its seventh straight open title and 35th since 1973 with 600 points. New Canaan (L, 480.5 points), Ridgefield (LL, 378.5), Pomperaug (M, 297), Fairfield Prep (LL, 293) and Glastonbury (LL, 246) finished in spots 2-6. Holy Cross, the seventh place finisher, is a Class S team.
The Crusaders finished the night with a bang, taking fifth place in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:14.08). The relay was made up of senior John Tucker, sophomore Derek Fantano, senior Chris Ford, and senior Sam Mason. Mason finished seventh in the 50 freestyle (21.88 seconds). In the 200 freestyle relay, the Holy Cross senior quartet of Tucker, Ben Bowler, Alex Ford and Mason took seventh (1:28.20).
Here were the other Holy Cross finishers at the State Open:
- 200 medley relay: 11th (Fantano, Bowler, A. Ford, C. Ford), 1:39.79
- 100 butterfly: Tucker, 11th, 52.62
- 200 IM: Tucker, 12th, 1:57.75
- 100 backstroke: Fantano, 13th, 54.34
- 100 breaststroke: C. Ford, 16th, 1:00.36
- 500 freestyle: Fantano, 16th, 4:46.68; C. Ford, 17th, 4:46.94
- 200 IM: A. Ford, 21st, 2:02.24
- 100 butterfly: A. Ford, 21st, 54.75
- Diving: Marcas Racevicius, 22nd, 363.10
