By Andy Hutchison

WESTPORT — A successful season by the Staples High girls swim and dive team was achieved not only in terms of race time improvement and postseason standout performances, but because underclassmen, who make up most of the roster, gained valuable experience.

Staples capped off the campaign with a fourth-place team finish in the Class LL State Championships at Cornerstone Aquatics Center in West Hartford on Nov. 12, followed by some strong swims at the State Open at Yale University on Nov. 17.

The Wreckers posted a 5-4 regular-season mark in the tough FCIAC, led by Class LL Champ Greenwich, as well as the top three L teams in Ridgefield, New Canaan and Darien.

“It’s definitely nice to have a winning record. We were a really young team — lots of freshmen with no experience,” Coach Mike Anderson said. The Wreckers were led by a handful of year-round swimmers.

As satisfying as finishing fourth among 18 teams to score in the LL meet was that the Wreckers were disappointed in that, with 410.5 points, they were just 4.5 points behind the Norwalk-Brien McMahon co-op with multiple Wrecker competitors sidelined with illness.

The good news for the Wreckers is that every team member made progress during the course of the season and earned best times throughout the events.

“That’s what we’re looking for,” Anderson noted. “We’re looking for constant improvement.”

Swimmers who compete at the club level and compete during the course of the year include all members of the 200 freestyle relay and 400 free relay teams which placed third and fourth, respectively, in the Class LL meet: Junior Carly Waldman, sophomore Anwara Olasewere, sophomore Clarissa Fleming and senior Dani Schwartz. This quartet posted a 200 time of 1:41.42 and finished the 400 relay event in 3:39.55.

Other year-round swimmers on the team include sophomore Phoebe Setten and senior Sloan Robinson. Captains were Robinson, Schwartz, Sara De Pinho and diver Eliza Walmark.

In the Class LL meet the 200 medley relay comprising Robinson, freshman Ella Vitulich, sophomore Charlotte Roberts and junior Isabella Larson finished 11th with a time of 2:05.97.

In the 200 free, Waldman was fifth in 1:57.66 and Schwartz came in seventh clocking in with a time of 1:58.62.

Olasewere was fourth in the 50 free sprinting to the finish in 24.77 and came in fourth in the 100 free in 54.06.

In the 500 free, Schwartz was sixth in 5:19.34 and Setten eighth making her final touch in 5:34.32.

In the Class LL diving competition, held Nov. 6 at Sheehan of Wallingford, sophomore Dylan Mogelof placed seventh with a score of 339.95, freshman Avery Nissenson was eighth with a 328.30 and freshman Mikaela Snow placed 11th with a score of 300.90.

At the State Open, the relay swimmers posted a 12th place finish in 200 with a time of 1:42.11 and came in 13th in the 400 with a time of 3:42.58.

Other highlights from the Open: 200 free: 16. Waldman 1:57.13; 22. Schwartz 1:58.62. In the 50 free: 17. Olasewere 24.98. In the 100 free: 21. Olasewere 54.90. In the 500 free: 19. Schwartz 54.90.

The Open diving finals took place in Middletown on Nov. 14. Nissenson took 17th with a score of 350.45 and Mogelof placed 19th with a 345.75.

Anderson said a focus of attention this fall was working on technique among what he calls the team’s “guppies and puppies” — the youngest high school athletes working their way toward prominent roles in the varsity lineup in the years to come.

Once the technique is down it is a matter of developing fitness and having the genetics that allow for swimmers to succeed, Anderson said.

“It’s very important that you pick your parents carefully,” the coach joked.

Fleming did just that. Her mom, Kuku Fleming, who was a swimmer at Harvard University, is among the assistant coaches on the team. 

Assistant Elaine Rankowitz was a record-setter at Brown University. The squad had deep lineup of a dozen divers and, thus, the need for two dive coaches.

Head Dive Coach Amy Guster competed at Penn State and Assistant Dive Coach Dan Vener brings with him a coaching background that includes 25 years at Fairfield University.

Anderson coached Olympic medal-winning swimmers after a competitive career that took him through Oregon’s Willamette University before coaching Division I college swimming for many years.

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s.