Lady Wreckers lose to NC in the pool

Going in, the Staples girls swimming team knew winning at New Canaan last Wednesday was a stretch.

New Canaan has more depth, and in matching up both teams on paper, the Lady Rams are faster than Staples. Although the Lady Wreckers lost 94-82 to drop to 2-2, they were satisfied with their performance against a deeper Lady Ram (3-1) squad.

"We had some good races," Staples coach Mike Laux said. "I was happy with some of them. We were in [the middle of our] midseason training, and we've been working hard, and no one rested for the meet. You don't go fast when you're in midseason training because you're working hard."

Laux had his team in midseason training because going in, he knew it would be tough getting the win and was thinking about the big picture.

"We knew going in they were loaded and didn't taper for the meet," Lady Wreckers senior captain Gabby Wimer said. "We practiced all the way through so by the time championships come along, we'll be in that much better shape."

Proof of New Canaan's dominance is that it won every race. The closest Staples came of striking gold was in the 100-yard freestyle, where Wimer took second with a time of 58.88 seconds, placing second by .01 second.

When the race ended, there was a doubt on who won it.

"I thought I out-touched her, and everyone on my team thought I out-touched her, but when I looked at the board, I saw she won," Wimer said.

Overall, Wimer was pleased with her performance despite settling for the silver by the smallest of margins.

"I tried to stay with her the whole race, and I made sure I kicked a lot and kept my arm speed up," Wimer said.

Staples started out the meet by taking second in the 200-yard medley relay (1:57) behind freshmen Stacy Kaneko, Jessi Taets and Jordan Santarella and Wimer. The Lady Wreckers' B-team of Alexis Teixeira, Gabby LeBlanc, Caroline Valerio and Rebecca Raab took third (2:06.01).

Proof of New Canaan's dominance is its sweep in the 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle and diving. Patricia Maragos (2:34.34) and Raab (27.85) were Staples' top swimmers in the 200-IM and 50-free, respectively. Freshman Olivia Crosby (146.55) led the Lady Wreckers in diving by taking fourth and Anna Violette (144.35) was fifth.

The Lady Rams also took the top two spots in the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle relays. Wimer, Taets, Raab and Cooperman comprised Staples' top quartet in the 200-free relay (1:51.14), which finished third; while Wimer, Cooperman, Santarella and Kaneko were the third-place squad in the 400-free relay (4:01.98).

Sarah Cooperman took third in the 200-yard freestyle (2:07.10) and 500-yard freestyle (5:41.58), respectively. Valerio 1:07.22) was third in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.

Kaneko (1:09.98) and Teixeira (1:11.85) placed second and third respectively in the 100-yard backstroke, and LeBlanc (1:18.20) and Anita Voorha (1:18.29) were two-three in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Although the Lady Wreckers didn't have their ideal meet, they fulfilled their mission towards accomplishing their long-term goals.

"The girls did what they needed to do to get better," Laux said.

Wimer said, "I was really proud with how we did in the meet."