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03/28/2023 05:22 AMGiven what it was able to accomplish on a postseason stage with the size of the roster, coupled with how easily friendship flowed throughout the pool, the Hand boys’ swimming and diving co-op team certainly overachieved both in and out of the water this winter.
Following a 5-6 dual-meet season record, which included a 4-6 mark within the SCC, the Tigers, whose squad was comprised of swimmers from Hand, Branford, and Old Saybrook high schools, competed at the
SCC Championship on March 1 at Southern Connecticut State University and placed sixth out of 15 schools with nine rostered athletes on the evening.
Then moving onto states with the Class M State Championship on March 16 at the same venue, Hand finished even higher with a fourth-place showing out of 19 programs, with only eight rostered athletes on that day, before coming in 13th (out of 50 schools represented) at the State Open Championship on March 18 at Yale University.
First-year Head Coach Scott Butler knew that from the onset of the campaign, the regular-season mark was never the main focus of the club, given its size. Yet the Tigers were tenacious in their prep for the postseason daily — whether it was through competition against other schools or versus themselves internally.
“Due to the size of our team, we had one goal from the start: to have a strong postseason,” said Butler. “Not having enough athletes to fill the events in a dual meet was frustrating, but I made it clear from day one that the dual meets were simply bumps along the road and that our focus was on the postseason. I conducted test sets throughout the season that we would complete in practices to show our progress, both as individuals and as a team. I ran this test set five times, and our team averages per 100 yards went from 1:08 to 1:05 to 1:02 to 1:01.50 to 1:01. This constant progression of descending times showed that they understood the importance of our training. [U.S. Olympic gold-medal swimmer] Michael Phelps once said, ‘If you take a day off from swimming, it takes two days to get back.’ These boys did all they could to be ready and at practice day-in and day-out.”
Senior Jonah Kehew and junior Elliot Lee served as co-captains for the Hand squad this year. Each of them set several school records, with Lee setting new marks in the 200 freestyle (time of 1:40.70), 500 freestyle (4:44.15), and 100 butterfly (49.51), while he and Kehew (along with sophomores Adam Signorello and Matt Gentil) were part of the 400 freestyle relay record in 3:14.93.
Lee was also named the Most Outstanding Swimmer at the SCC Championship after winning the 100 (clocking in at 1:40.70) and 200 (45.98) freestyle events. Both he and Kehew, who was third in the 100 backstroke (54.73 seconds) were named to the All-SCC Team.
Making the All-State Team based on their Class M showings was the 200 medley (second, 1:38.99) and 400 freestyle relay team (3:16.02) of Signorello, Kehew, Lee, and Gentil. Individual All-State winners included Lee, who was also named Class M Swimmer of the Meet, in the 200 IM (first in 1:49.56) and 100 butterfly (first, 49.70); Kehew for the 100 backstroke (first in 52.01 seconds); and Gentil with the 100 breaststroke (second in 1:00.49). For Kehew, his performance in the 100 backstroke at states broke an 18-year school record.
For the State Open, Lee took the 200 IM (in 1:49.08) and 100 butterfly (49.51) crowns, plus the same 400 freestyle relay foursome finished fifth (3:14.93).
Not to be lost in the multitude of masterful showings on the conference and state postseason stages, Butler boasted about each triumph during the dual-meet trek of the campaign. An added layer of success within the squad came from the fact that it was a culture of camaraderie and motivation.
“Each dual-meet win was a huge accomplishment, especially against teams that were much larger than ours,” Butler said. “Honestly, I created performance incentives for these boys to motivate them in many of our meets against teams that simply outnumbered us. These boys successfully achieved each and every performance incentive that I gave them. Each one was a major accomplishment, as it kept the team positive, and the environment was always one in which each boy trained to the best of their ability. I have been coaching high school swimming since 2001, and this year was by far my favorite; each member really bought into the program, the team, and to the effort of work required for success.”
No matter which town or school each athlete hailed from, it all blended together perfectly. From an outside observer, it would be quite difficult to tell that not all of the boys were from the same school, given how well the team synergy flowed and how passionate everyone was about teammates’ successes.
“The best way to describe the team chemistry is to reflect back to how all of us got along each and every day,” said Butler. “There were many times that the Branford and Old Saybrook swimmers made comments about how they really didn’t even feel as though they represented different high schools. At no point in time could you tell which swimmers were from which school. They really trained and behaved as one whole team. The defining moment, however, was when all five of them [the swimmers not from Hand] stayed at SCSU after their Class S State Finals to support their Hand teammates in Class M. They also came to the State Open on the Hand bus to cheer on their Hand teammates who competed there.”
After parting ways with only one senior from the incredibly successful 2022-2023 squad, Butler is eagerly anticipating similar-type feats for the Tigers next winter upon returning to the pool alongside some expected incoming rookies.
“As Jonah is my only senior, the team returns almost everyone. In addition, I am expecting between 6-8 incoming freshmen at Hand,” said Butler. “This combination only makes for a positive outlook in terms of training, competing in dual meets, and the potential at the state level.”
In the dual-meet season, Hand defeated Sheehan (86-71), Waterford (69-62), West Haven (93-75), Notre Dame-West Haven (60-34), and Cheshire (89-72). The Tigers’ losses came against Shelton (90-77), Amity (95-77), Fairfield Prep (95-66), Hamden (88-76), Greater New Haven (91-80), and Xavier (51-43).
The Tigers’ complete roster was composed of Hand swimmers in freshman Grant Campbell, sophomore Gentil, senior captain Kehew, junior captain Lee; sophomores Justin Li, Alex Marino, Alex Muenker, Signorello, and freshman Thomas Starkey; Old Saybrook freshman Brandan Beaudoin; and Branford athletes of freshmen Emilio Arce, Chase Barone, Alexander Sachez-Ampudio, and sophomore Justin Pham.
Butler finished his first season as Head Coach for the boys after serving as the squad’s assistant coach for the previous five campaigns. Prior, he was a coach for the Branford girls’ (2007-’21) and boys’ (2001-’12) teams.