Wreckers splash Norwalk

The Staples boys swimming team was undeterred Monday in a meet at Norwalk.

Even with Norwalk's best efforts with its young and promising core, Staples did what was necessary to turn Monday's meet between the FCIAC schools in its favor.

The Wreckers jump-started the competition with wins in four out of the first five events -- consisting of four individual events and one relay--and rode the momentum built from that early lead to a 101-75 victory over the Bears. Staples raised its record to 4-2. Norwalk dropped to 1-5.

"Considering that they were mainly swimming off-events, I thought we responded pretty well," Wreckers coach Jeffrey Schare said. "There were some performances today I think frankly were a little bit lackluster. But today we finished up final exams so the guys are a little bit burned out. They gave what they could today and we did enough for the win."

Daniel Williams -- the Wreckers' "top freshman" as told by Schare -- raced to a win in the first individual event, the 200-yard freestyle, in 1:56.68, and later picked up a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay to make the afternoon a positive one for the Wreckers. The 400 relay team, which included Jonathan Blansfield, Joss Abel and Nathaniel Boley, along with Williams, recorded a winning time of 3:37.41.

"He definitely stands out," Schare said of Williams.

Just 12 days removed from a win over perennial power New Canaan, the Wreckers were strong from the get-go, opening with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay. Boley, Abel, Kyle Bacon and David Katter completed that event in 1:47.04, edging out Norwalk by less than a second.

Boley, who helped the Wreckers take two out of the three relay events, also raced to victories in the 50 -yard freestyle (23.14) and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:09.65.

Those strong finishes, however, didn't come without some strong competition.

For Norwalk, junior Sherman Lau won two events, earning a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:07.44 and the 200-yard freestyle relay. Lau also took second in the 50 freestyle (23.62) and anchored the wining relay team (1:38.15), which included Jake St. John, Eddie Donovan and Anthony Dell'Isola.

Dell'Isola, a freshman, picked up Norwalk's first win of the afternoon in the 200-yard individual medley (2:07.53), finishing ahead of Blansfield. The other Norwalk swimmers to win individual events were Donovan in the 100-yard butterfly (57.81) and Dillon DiGuglielmo in the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.24) -- both of whom are also first-year swimmers.

"I can't speak enough also with our freshman kids," Bears coach Doug Marchetti said. "What kind of swims they're giving us. Throw Giancarlo Ceci into the mix and Kenji Hosokawa, Jason Castorina, we're getting great swims from all of our kids. We just don't have a whole lot of them. I can't be more proud with their effort."

The Bears' Max Libre, also a freshman, scored a 126.65 in the diving event, but was bested by Staples' Tanner Blank, who posted his season-high score, 186.95.

With another win in its pocket, Staples will look to continue its strong start when it hosts Wilton next Monday. The Bears host New Canaan today.

"We've still got some big ones coming up, so I try to impress it to the guys that we can't just sit back on our laurels," Schare said. "We have to keep fighting, we have to keep pushing, we have to keep training."