Boys Swimming & Diving Gives Big Bad Greenwich a Scare

Friday, February 3^rd, the DHS Boys Swim/Dive Team went up against the Greenwich Cardinals at the Cardinals' pool at GHS. The final score indicated an 89-97 loss for the Blue Wave, but as Coach Jason Cochran said, “we feel like winners coming out of here today.” The entire Wave roster stepped up to give Greenwich, the league’s perennial favorite, a run for the money. DHS won seven of the meet’s nine individual events. Freshmen phenoms Lee Christiansen, Jackson McGoldrick, and Kyle O’Donnell placed first, second, and fourth in diving (respectively), catapulting the team to a two point advantage midway through the meet. Darien built a 10 point lead after 1-2-4’ing the 500 freestyle, spearheaded by senior captain Jack Bair’s in-season best of 4:48.92. While the team did not have enough depth to match Greenwich through the backstroke and breaststroke events, Darien went out with dignity, winning the final event (the 400 freestyle relay) in a time of 3:19.87 that puts them on track to challenge a team record set last year.

Sophomore Owen Brannigan turned heads with two best times bests in the 50 Freestyle (23.99) and the 100 Freestyle (53.79), positioning him for a good run at State Finals in March. Freshmen Nicolai Ostberg and Dillon Gilhooley both broke 1:00 for the first time in the 100 Butterfly. As senior captain Chris Janson said, “I couldn’t be prouder of my teammates. Everybody was posting best times for the year today, and that’s what we needed to do.” The Blue Wave will have a second chance against Greenwich at State Opens on March 17^th, and as senior captain Tyler Gould said, “We can’t wait to taper.”

Photo above: Lee Christiansen

Photo below: Rohit Datta. Photos by Noreen Benz