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Kyle Boucher won the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:09.08
What’s wrong with this picture? There were twelve events in the recent swim meet between Branford and Hamden and Branford won eight but still lost the match.
“We just don’t have the number of swimmers we need to get points for the other top two spots to win the contest outright. It’s a numbers game.” said Hornet coach Ray Beaulac. Hamden won by a score of 91 – 83.
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Branford has a small team with top talent and hopes to make a mark in the conference and state championships.
The team continues to compete this week. The SCC diving championship took place yesterday and Branford’s Dean Conte came in second out of 18 divers. The swim championship will be held tomorrow(Friday) at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) at 6 p.m.
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Branford Sports Hall of Fame coaches John O’Connor (L) and Rich Thompson along with Bob Beaulac (L), father of Coach Ray Beaulac watch the action.
Branford’s record after the Hamden meet fell to 0 – 7 while Hamden’s went to 7 – 4.
Branford swimmers won the 200 Medley Relay, 200 IM, 50 Free, 100 Fly, 500 Free, 100 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke and the diving, garnering a lot of points for first but not many for second or third. “Hamden had a big team and did well enough to pick up points for coming in second or third”, added Beaulac. “That was the difference”.
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Alex Karosis cools down after winning the 100m backstroke in a time of 59:20.
Kevin Jin and Alex Karosas (pictured)each had a hand in three wins for the Hornets. Jin was part of the winning 200 Medley Relay and won both the 200 IM and 100 Fly and Karosas was also part of the winning 200 Medley Relay and won the 50 Free and 100 Back.
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Sandra Aupi, mother of assistant coach Dan Aupi, leads the cheers during a race.
Other winning team members included Kyle Boucher 200 Medley Relay and 100 Breast and Ben Greenvall 200 Medley Relay and 500 Free.
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Dean Conte “hits it” with his dive. He won the event with a score of 296.9.
Dean Conte (pictured) won the diving competition with an outstanding score of 296.9. He holds the school record with a score of 299 set earlier this year. He has won all his matches this season except one against Teddy Zeng of Hand the defending Class M state champion.
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Ben Greenvall wins the 500 free with a time of 5:09’89
Conte and Greenvall (pictured) are seniors and are co-captains, Jin is a junior and Karosas and Boucher are sophomores.
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Getting ready for the start of the meet are L-R diving coach Steve Sawyer, coach Ray Beaulac and assistant coach Dan Aupi.
“I’m very pleased with the effort and results we have had from this year’s team,” said Beaulac. “The playing field evens out in the SCC’s when only the top swimmers contribute to the total point totals.” And we’ll be right there with our top guys.”
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