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Sports

Staples Laps Win Over Norwalk

The Staples Swim Team scores its second win of the season.

Norwalk —  For the Staples swim team it's not about the depth of the pool, but about the depth of the team.

Team depth gave the them their second win of the season on Wednesday, a 105-81 victory over the Norwalk High-Brien McMahon coop team.

The coop took an 8-6 lead by winning the first relay, but Laurence Abel, Mike Goodgame, and Steve Siecienski took first, second, and third in the 200 freestyle. Their sweep put the Wreckers up, 19-11, and that was as close as Staples' depth let the Bears come for the rest of the afternoon.

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"We've always considered ourselves a really, really deep team," said Staples co-captain Mac Mombello. "Although we might lose a couple of races where they got first place, we come back and get second, third and fourth or second, third, and fifth and end up outscoring them."

That strategy proved to be a winner for the Wreckers, who took five first places to the Bears' seven, gradually stretching their lead in event after event.

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Norwalk won the 200 individual medley, but Matt Wisner, Joss Abel, and Sikan He took second, third, and fifth, their points for that event matching the Bears'. The pattern repeated in the 50 freestyle, as Cory Bacon, co-captain Cam Bruce, and Marcus Russi took second, fifth and third, respectively.

Often a team has a shortage of varsity divers but the teams each had three divers who were both present and talented. Zach Slater, Staples' top diver, was a bit disoriented after a month of diving only on his home board. 

Dissatisfied with his first dives and pressured by Andy Rumore, the fifth-place finisher in last season's FCIAC championships, Slater's next-to-last dive was an inward one-and-a-half somersault.

"I was thinking I need to come back after my first two, which were not the best," Slater said. "This dive I've always done my best on. It's one of my favorite dives and I knew that I had to perfect it in order to pull through at the end."

Slater pulled through with the top score of the day to take first place. Wrecker Tanner Blank took third behind Rumore and Matt Mirkine took fifth as the Wreckers' points added up and their lead stretched.

Bacon, Wisner, and Abel took second, third, and fourth in the 100 butterfly, with the 100 freestyle next on the starting blocks. Nate Boley, the lead Wrecker, was trailing by a forearm at the 75-yard mark.

"Off the wall, I took a little glance and saw I was about at his chest," said Boley. "I had a good underwater on the last turn. When it's a close race, you've got to step it up and just pull it out."

Boley touched out Norwalk's Ospina for first place by .48 seconds, and with five events to go, the Wreckers enjoyed a 65-45 lead. 

Goodgame and Marcus Russi added points in the 500 freestyle, with the entire Staples bench cheering them on as the long race intensified toward the end.

"We're shouting for the guy in lane 6 to make sure he's beating their last guy who's in lane one over there," said Mombello. "We just try to make sure that for every place, our guy is beating them. It really, really boosts up team spirit because it's not necessarily for the guy who comes in first."

Norwalk took first in the 200 freestyle relay. Abel, Bacon, Scott Feder, and Mirkine teamed up to take second, with Trevor Locke, Siecienski, Mikesh, and Benjamin Freeman taking third. 

Boley and Mombello added points for second and third in the 100 backstroke and Abel, Bruce, and Sikan He teamed up for second, third, and fourth in the 100 breaststroke, outscoring the Bears, who won the event and took fifth.

Staples won the final 4 x 100 relay, with Cory Bacon, Goodgame, Wisner, and Boley teaming to finish five second ahead of the Wrecker B team of Abel, Marcus Russi, Wetmore, and Kyle Bacon.

"We did have some solid swims today and it was an exciting meet," said Staples head coach Jeffrey Schare. "A good border rivalry always generates the heat. Norwalk is a good team. I think they're going to really surprise some people come championship time.

"I tried to get some of the kids to race against their top kids just to get some really good races out of it and there were a lot of tight ones," Schare continued. "It brings out the best in all of the kids. At this point in the season, it's what's going to be the best for them, heading toward championships."

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