Greenwich Academy wins FAA swimming title; Sacred Heart Greenwich places second, Hopkins third

Another season, another FAA championship for the Greenwich Academy swimming team.

Behind eight first-place finishes and a wealth of impressive performances, Greenwich Academy placed first in the team standings at the FAA Championships for the third time in four seasons on Saturday at Hopkins School.

The Gators amassed 577 team points for the victory at the six-team meet.

Sacred Heart Greenwich and Hopkins School also produced strong performances. The Tigers were second in the team standings with 443 points and Hopkins was third (397).

The finals of the FAA Championships began with Greenwich Academy’s quartet of Sophia Moore, Claire Michalik, Brielle Gold and Madeleine Holden combining for a winning time of 1:47.64 in the 200-yard medley relay.

Hopkins School placed second in 1:54.18, followed by School of Holy Child (1:57.11). The first individual event — the 200-yard freestyle — was won by Hopkins’ Cristin Earley in 1:53.7. Moore of GA placed second with a time of 1:56.07 and teammates Hutton Saunders (1:57.35) and Elizabeth Xia (1:57.79) were third and fourth, respectively, in the 200 freestyle.

In the 200-yard individual medley, Alexandra Bastone of Sacred Heart won the FAA title with a time of 2:07.84. Tigers teammate Rory Keller placed second in the race in 2:16.55.

Michalik touched the wall first for GA in the 50-yard freestyle (24.49 seconds) and right behind her in second place was Holden (24.60). Hopkins’ Veronica Yarovinsky placed third in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.18 seconds.

Greenwich Academy placed first and second in the 1-meter diving finals. Grace Wu earned a first-place total of 474.10 points on the board. Annie Bingle took second in diving with 445.65 points. Sacred Heart was led on the diving board by Celia Daigle (329.35) and GA received a fourth-place finish from Charlotte Duty (300.800).

The 100 butterfly saw Xia win the race with a time of 59.40. Yarovinsky of Hopkins was a very close second in 59.77. Hopkins’ Ava Hamblett was the 100 freestyle champion (53.42) and GA’s Avery Sammons was the runner-up in 54.35.

Bastone’s second championship performance came in the 500-yard freestyle, where she posted a winning time of 4:59.24 for the Tigers. Earley of the Hilltoppers was second in 5:01.23 and Michalik of GA took third (5:01.80).

In the 200 freestyle relay, Sammons, Holden, Saunders and Gold teamed up for a winning time of 1:38.84. Hopkins placed second in the race (1:40.37) and Sacred Heart was third (1:43.45).

Moore posted a winning time in the 100 backstroke. She touched the wall first in 57.26, while Hamblett took second in 58.51.

Gold was the champion for GA in the 100 breaststroke, clocking in at 1:08.84. Teammate Charlotte Milligan placed second (1:10.26) and Elisa Taylor of Sacred Heart finished third in 1:12.34.

The championship meet concluded with Sammons, Moore, Michalik and Saunders combining for a winning time of 3:38.26 in the 400 freestyle relay. Hopkins was the runner-up in 3:43.79. Sacred Heart finished third in the relay race in 3:46.85.

dfierro@greenwichtime.com