By Michael Letendre
WEST HARTFORD – The Bristol Swimming and Diving Coop had an excellent showing at the 2022 CIAC Class LL Championships on Wednesday afternoon.
And the locals proved it could keep up with all the other big programs around the state in the pool from the Cornerstone Aquatics Center in West Hartford.
The Bristol program ended the day as one of the top-10 finishers, placing ninth overall, as the team scored 245 points which was 18 better than Hamden (10th place, 227 points).
The program also established a new school record along the way and some of those performers will be taking the pool on Saturday at the Connecticut State Open event.
And Bristol’s Mikel Palaj had a tremendous day as he squared away a couple championship performances.
The senior won the 50-yard freestyle, finishing the heat in 21 seconds to take the title and then in the 100-yard butterfly, the crafty Palaj was at it again.
He seized the win in 50.29 seconds for the 100-yard championship as he ended the day as a dual title victor.
There were additional top tier finishes from Bristol as well.
Senior Nathan Stellmach earned third place in the 100-yard breaststroke, ending the race in under a minute.
His time of 58.69 seconds was just off the winning tally as Greenwich’s Aiden Bucaria (56.29) took the championship.
Bristol zipped up a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay as the combination of junior Davis Kroll, Stellmach, Palaj, and sophomore Aidan Collins ended the race in 1:41.46.
And in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Mum City foursome of Palaj, senior Noah Taylor, Kroll, and Stellmach placed eighth overall with a time of 3:20.39 – helping establish a new school record in Bristol.
In other action from around the pool, Stellmach seized ninth place in the 200-yard IM (2:00.17), junior Jedric Sutula was 19th in the diving event (241.75 points), Kroll was 18th in the 100-yard freestyle (51.17 seconds), and the combination of Collins, freshman Thomas Masotti, Taylor and Kroll scored a ninth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:35.68).
State swimming power Greenwich won the Class LL championship behind an 873-point showing while runner-up Ridgefield (569) was way off in the distance.
Since 2013, outside of the pandemic cancelled championship events, Greenwich has won every Class LL – and State Open – title.
Rounding out the top-five were Norwalk-McMahon (third, 538 points), Glastonbury (fourth, 424) and the North Haven Coop (fifth, 377).
CLASS LL SWIMMING RESULTS – Tuesday, March 16
from Cornerstone, West Hartford
Team Scores – Top 10: 1. Greenwich 873; 2. Ridgefield 569; 3. Norwalk-McMahon 538; 4. Glastonbury 424; 5. North Haven Coop 377; 6. Westhill-Stamford 358; 7. Southington 351; 8. Staples 341; 9. Bristol Coop 245; 10. Hamden 227.
Individual Results – Top five and Bristol finishes
200 Yard Medley Relay: 1. Greenwich (Justin Jacob, Michael Dilascia, Matthew Hake, Aiden Bucaria), 1:34.84; 2. Ridgefield (Derek Yin, Max Wolfenden, Kai O’Malley, Luke Mignano), 1:35.60; 3. Norwalk-McMahon (Kalen Anbar, Kris Flores, Finn Cunniffe, Mike Kvashchuk), 1:36.64; 4. Westhill-Stamford (Hudson Jang, Peter Christian, Peter Mottolese, John Frankowski), 1:36.84; 5. Southington (Peter Zalewski, Landon Colby, Mathew Siwek, Matthew Niro), 1:40.14; 6. Bristol Coop (Davis Kroll, Nathan Stellmach, Mikel Palaj, Aidan Collins), 1:41.36.
50 Yard Freestyle: 1. Mikel Palaj, Bristol Coop, 21.00; 2. Mike Kvashchuk, Norwalk-McMahon, 21.48; 3. John Frankowski, Westhill-Stamford, 21.77; 4. Peter Mottolese, Westhill-Stamford, 21.98; 5. Luke Mignano, Ridgefield, 22.13.
100 Yard Butterfly: 1. Mikel Palaj, Bristol Coop, 50.29; 2. Ryan Jee, Greenwich, 50.66; 3. Matthew Weiner, Ridgefield, 51.19; 4. Kalen Anbar, Norwalk-McMahon, 51.39; 5. Nicolas Bennett, Hamden, 51.76.
100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. Aiden Bucaria, Greenwich, 56.29; 2. Michael Dilascia, Greenwich, 57.58; 3. Nathan Stellmach, Bristol Coop, 58.69; 4. Matthew Hake, Greenwich, 59.82; 5. Samuel Hurlburt, Platt-Maloney, 1:01.76.
400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Greenwich (Felix Flakstad, Kegan Clark, Aiden Bucaria, Ryan Jee), 3:08.58; 2. Ridgefield (Matthew Weiner, Kai O’Malley, Jack Clancy, Max Wolfenden), 3:11.27; 3. North Haven Coop (Hethon Foster, Aiden Cohen, Finn Henry, Brendan Conners), 3:11.87; 4. Norwalk-McMahon (Lorenzo Zullo, Kris Flores, Kalen Anbar, Mike Kvashchuk), 3:12.65; 5. Staples (Andrew Berkowitz, Jacob Lee, Joshua Tanksley, Riley Twiss), 3:16.03; 8. Bristol Coop (Mikel Palaj, Noah Taylor, Davis Kroll, Nathan Stellmach), 3:20.39.
