By John Frieders
On February 27th, the New Canaan Rams traveled to Greenwich High School for the FCIAC Championship. The boys would ultimately fall to the Greenwich Cardinals, but defeated Norwalk to take second place in the FCIAC Championship. The boys swim team is looking to rebound off this narrow loss as they look to win the CIAC state tournament for the 4th straight year on March 16 at Yale’s campus.
Although it’s easy to take the success from this Rams team for granted, all of the trophies didn’t happen overnight. When talking about her team, Head Coach Katherine Munson praised this year’s team especially complementing their work ethic in the off season. “Without the willingness of so many of our swimmers to put in the time during the off season, doing club swimming, we wouldn’t be where we are,” she said.
The boys team has spent this past offseason working hard and a select few even got the opportunity to travel to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. Senior captain Ethan Bonheur talked about the experience and learning the technicalities in strokes. “Throughout the trip we focused on technique with high intensity drills and specific movements in our strokes” he said.
Three of New Canaan’s premier swimmers made a particularly big splash this year, earning nominations for the highly prestigious All-American Honors. Senior captain Deacon Mascarinas, committed to Colgate, Junior Jack Haley, committed to Northwestern, and Junior Eric Huang all received this honor, all contributing to the Rams’ success.
The three All-Americans shattered multiple records during the season. Eric, Deacon, Jack and sophomore Oliver Carr broke the 200 Medley relay team school record by over a second in the FCIAC Championship. Also, Jack broke the 200 Individual Medley school record and Deacon and Eric claimed first place in three events.
This season’s success can be credited not just to the three potential all-americans, but the 14 different swimmers who swam at least one event during the FCIAC Championship. Coach Munson credited the team-first mindset of the team. “We’re only as strong as our weakest link,” she said. “Everyone constantly looking for ways to contribute is the thing that makes our team special.”
The team has seen their dedication and hard work throughout the offseason pay off. They finished the regular season 8-1, placed second in FCIACs, and now look to defend their state title and send their seniors off with 4 CIAC rings.
