Senior swimmers include Corey Gambardella (left), Kyle Boucher, Aleandro Hanaj, Paul Rosenberg, Alek Karosas, Dylan Williams, and Caleb Isacson.
What the Branford/Guilford boys swim coach Ray Beaulac says about his team would fit the old Mark Twain saying, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
Senior Paul Rosenberg won the diving with a score of 145.65.
After the Branford/Guilford co-op team lost its most recent swim meet last Friday to perennial power Cheshire, coach Beaulac said, “We pride ourselves on never backing down from a race, no matter the opponent, even though we often are competing against teams twice our size.”
Caleb Isacson competed in the 500 Freestyle.
Branford lost the meet by a respectable score of 84 – 72.
Freshman Aidan Henry competed in the 100 Butterfly.
“It’s always a competitive meet when facing Cheshire. They are extremely well coached and versatile in their numbers,” said coach Beaulac. A rough estimate indicated the Rams had twice as many swimmers as the Hornets.
Cheshire boys have won seven state titles over the past 20 years.
Senior Alek Karosas won the Backstroke in 1:01.09.
Branford doesn’t have as much depth in numbers as many of their competitors do. They have some top swimmers, but not as many others on the roster to get the other points needed to gain a victory.
Senior co-captain Corey Gambardella does the Breast Stroke in his winning 200 I.M.
In Friday’s meet, Branford/Guilford’s senior co-captain Corey Gambardella won both the 200 I.M. with a time of 2:03.72 and the 500 Freestyle in 4:47.98, almost 40 seconds ahead of the second place finisher.
Coach Ray Beaulac talks to the team in the locker room before the meet.
Other individual Branford winners included Kyle Boucher, who won the 100 Breast Stroke with a time of 1:09.96, Alek Karosas in the 100 Back Stroke in 1:01.09, and Paul Rosenberg, who won the Diving with a score 145.65. Karosas was also a member of the winning 400 Freestyle Relay.
Senior Kyle Boucher came in first in the 100 Breast Stroke with a time of 1:09.96.
“Give them (Cheshire) credit for pulling out the win,” said Beaulac, “but I was impressed with the way our boys handled the situation and were able to get some big wins in multiple events.”
Assistant coach Steve Sawyer talks to his swimmer as coach Ray Beaulac checks a race.
Their last meet before the SCC Championships is against Hand on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m.
‑30-
