Five senior members of the Staples swim team passed a milestone Thursday: the final meet in their home pool.

At the traditional mid-meet break in the action, an appreciative Senior Day crowd of parents, friends, and sweethearts cheered as the seniors received keepsakes and commendations from head coach Jeff Schare.

Then the Wreckers (5-5) returned to the pool and finished trouncing the 2-7 Fairfield Coop swim team, recording 10 of 12 first places on their way to a 110-74 victory.

"It was really great," said senior diver and sprinter Matt Mirkine. "It was huge, having all these people and all the decorations up, knowing that a part of it was for me."

Staples started fast, with Matthew Wisher, Joss Abel, Cory Bacon and Kyle Bacon teaming up to win the medley relay by almost three full seconds. Nate Boley, Larry Abel, and Matthew Wetmore followed by finishing first, third, and fifth in the 200 freestyle.

Cory Bacon touched out teammate Wisher in the 200 individual medley, with Kyle Bacon adding a point for fifth place, and Mac Mombello qualified for the state LL meet as he won the 50 freestyle, .49 seconds ahead of teammate Scott Feder, with Steven Sieciensky taking third.

The Wreckers swept the diving, led by all-state candidate Zach Slater, whose 220.8 beat his 2009 qualifying mark for the state LL meet by 30 points. His diving teammates Mirkine and Tanner Blank both scored over 150 points, the LL qualifying mark, and have a trip to the state meet in their futures.

"Both our second and third divers qualified, so now we have three going to states," said Schare. "I don't ever remember having three divers going to states. It's nice to go with a bigger team. It makes everyone more confident when we get there."

Mirkine, who has been swimming and diving competitively for only two years, was ecstatic.

"It was very exciting, very fitting that today on Senior Day I actually qualified for states for the first time," said Mirkine. "I had a new dive in there, a back somersault with 1 1/2 twists.

"Coach Dan [Long] was basically, OK, you can twist pretty well so let's see how you can do," Mirkine continued. "I basically just twisted as much as I could on a back somersault and there it was. I'm really proud now that I've got it and it was definitely the dive that accelerated me to the state level."

Fairfield won a rare first place in the 100 butterfly, with Larry Abel taking second and Marcus Russi scoring in third place with a time that will send him to the states. Cory Bacon swam off with the 100 freestyle, with Mombello in third and Benjamin Freeman taking fifth.

The longest race of the day featured the closest finish, as Wisher beat Coop swimmer Derek Chu with a great closing sprint for a .13 second victory.

Mirkine, in an unusual diving/swimming double-up, led off the 200 sprint relay, and joined by Abel and the two Bacons, earned a first place. The Wreckers' 93-47 lead assured them of their fifth win of the season.

Boley, Michael Goodgame, and Robert Deluca took first, second, and fourth in the backstroke before another Fairfield swimmer took a first, this time in the 100 breaststroke. Larry Abel swam his way to third, Siecienski to fourth, and tri-captain Cameron Bruce scored with a fifth-place finish.

"I used to be more of a breaststroker freshman, sophomore, and junior year," said Bruce, "but I've turned into more of a backstroker now, so it was kind of a fun blast from the past to do breaststroke again.

"We love Fairfield and know so many people on Fairfield because of the Water Rats and we swim together and we dive with the Fairfield divers," Bruce continued. "It was a really fun meet."

The fun was not over for the Wreckers. The 400 freestyle relay was even after Wisher and Goodgame's legs. Then Boley took to the water and opened up a third-of-a-pool length advantage. Joss Abel finished off the relay.

After the traditional cheers for the opponents, the Wrecker seniors had time to reflect on their careers in the Staples water.

"I've been with the team for four years, with coach Jeff four years," said Larry Abel, "and it's about the team feeling. If you have a bad race all they guys will say it's OK and they motivate you when you do well.

"The team is more important than the swim," Abel continued. "I can have a bad swim but leave feeling good cause on the bus ride home from away meets, we always have a good time shouting at each other or whatever teenage boys do."