NEW HAVEN – Cheshire girls swimming coach Dan Mascolo said earlier this year that this was his strongest team in his six years. On Wednesday night, his Rams made believers of everyone at the Hutchinson Natatorium on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University in the SCC Championships.
Cheshire continued it’s dominance of the meet with a runaway win. On Wednesday, they took it to a new level. The Rams clinched the title after seven events. They broke their own meet record of 1,405 points, set last year, with 1,630.5 points.
They also won the SCC for the sixth time in a row and for the 23rd time in the 24 seasons that the SCC has existed. Lauralton Hall placed second in 845.5.
“The girls came to race today,” Cheshire coach Dan Mascolo said. “I’m thrilled with the performance across the board. They all stepped up and everyone contributed.”
Stevens, a sophomore, was SCC champion in the 100 butterfly in 58.38. She won by two-hundredths of a second over Foran’s Jordan MacDonald (58.40). Ali Tyler placed third for Cheshire in the event with a 58.80.
Boyer and Stevens opened Wednesday’s action teaming with Esther Han and Ali Tyler to win the 200 medley relay in 1:49.99.
“It’s awesome to win this meet,” said Boyer, who is heading to Harvard. “We all had fun and cheered for each other. We all have fun and it shows because we all swim very well. I don’t think there was one bad swim tonight. Everyone was great.”
Cheshire freshman Sophie Murphy (1:56.79) was out-touched in the 200 freestyle by Lauralton Hall senior Katherine Begg (1:56.62).
Also for Cheshire, Samantha Grenon nabbed second in the 200 IM (2:07.66) and was sixth in the 100 free (54.96). Jillian Stevens was sixth in 2:15.80 in the 200 IM.
In the 50 free, Han was fifth (35.37) and Shannon Lindsey sixth (25.44).
The Rams padded their lead by going 3-4-5 in the 100 backstroke. Murphy led the trio in third (1:00.20), followed by Boyer (4th, 1:00.30) and Julia Stevens (5th, 1:00.86).
“This is really exciting because it’s our sixth consecutive championship,” Stevens said. “Everyone swam great today. Getting that record was great. We all trained super-hard for this today.”
The Rams also had three in the top six of the 100 breaststroke. Freshman Emma Glover was second in 1:09.92. She was followed by Tori Newton (4th, 1:10.47) and Gabriella Tejada (6th, 1:10.57).
Cheshire nabbed second place in the 200 free relay behind top-seeded Shelton. Swimming for Cheshire in that race were Jordyn Deubel, Lindsey, Murphy and Tyler. They touched in 1:39.93.
The Rams were also runners-up in the 400 free relay. Shelton won it by .01 with a 3:36.07 over Duebel, Murphy, Julia Stevens and Boyer.
Before the Rams dipped a toe into the SCSU pool on Wednesday, they already had 120 points on the board thanks to diving. Sienna Breton (392.65) and Stephanie Silin (346.9) finished second and third for Cheshire in Hamden on Saturday.