Friday night was another chance for Holy Cross boys swimming and diving to celebrate success in the NVL.
The Crusaders clinched their third straight NVL championship, edging out second place Naugatuck by just 17 points, 844-827 at Kennedy High School. Sacred Heart was third with 542 points.
Swimmers and divers also competed from Crosby/Waterbury Career Academy, Wilby and Kennedy. Crosby/WCA was ninth as a team, followed by Wilby in 10th and Kennedy in 11th. A total of 12 teams competed in the meet.
Holy Cross was able to score big points with two relay wins. The Crusaders took the opening 200-yard medley relay behind the team of junior Lucas Racevicius, sophomore Ben Bowler, sophomore John Tucker and sophomore Sam Mason in a time of 1:40.29. In the 400 freestyle relay, Holy Cross was first in 3:18.45 behind the team of Lucas Racevicius, Tucker, senior Ryan Hickey and junior Chris Fryer.
Fryer had the only individual victory for the Crusaders. He was first in 200 individual medley in 2:00.31. Where Holy Cross made its mark was with depth. The Crusaders had 15 finishes in the Top 6 outside of their victories, and here they are:
200 freestyle: 3. Hickey, 6. sophomore Chris Ford
200 IM: 2. L. Racevicius
50 freestyle: 3. Mason, 4. Tucker
1-meter diving: 4. freshman Marcas Racevicius
100 butterfly: 2. Tucker, 5. Hickey
100 freestyle: 3. Fryer, 4. Mason
500 freestyle: 3. Ford
200 freestyle relay: 2. Holy Cross (Mason, Hickey, sophomore Alex Ford, Fryer)
100 backstroke: 2. L. Racevicius
100 breaststroke: 4. Bowler, 5. A. Ford
SACRED HEART
Junior Daniel Walsh had the best night of all the Hearts with two victories. He finished first in the 200 freestyle in 1:45.37, then was in the top spot in the 500 freestyle in 4:47.37.
Walsh was the lone winner for Sacred Heart, but there were still some very good finishes. Senior Ben Gomes claimed second in one-meter diving and senior Carlos Torres was fourth in the 100 backstroke. Junior William Witkoski placed sixth in the 50 freestyle.
The Hearts also claimed fourth in all three relays. Here were the teams:
200 medley relay: Torres, junior William Witkoski, sophomore Anthony Sagnella, senior Chris Bussey
200 freestyle relay: Witkoski, Bussey, Sagnella, Walsh
400 freestyle relay: Walsh, sophomore Zulqamain Abdulla, freshman Alex Pillis, Torres
CROSBY/WCA
– Junior Meg Romaniello had a seventh place finish in diving
WILBY
– Senior Jonah Sharp finished sixth in diving
KENNEDY
– The top finish for the Eagles was the 400 freestyle relay with a team of junior Daniel Familia, senior Cameron Taylor, sophomore Michael Graham and senior Rodrigo Santana, which came in ninth place
