Masuk Free Press

On Dec. 21, the Masuk Boys Swim and Dive team dove headfirst into their season in a dominant fashion, securing a victory over New Milford in their season opener. 

The tone was set early with Masuk’s success in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. Mason Eanotti, Jack Cross, Keller Hall, and Mert Baykus claimed victory in 1:52.99, setting the stage for a series of commendable performances throughout the evening.

Individual standout moments were aplenty. The team showed strength in freestyle with Brendan Kirberger’s remarkable 200 Yard Freestyle win at 1:50.20 and Baykus and Trent Pierson securing top spots in the 50 Yard Freestyle. Meanwhile, Hall’s win in the 100-yard butterfly at 57.51 displayed the team’s skillful technique in every stroke.

Kirberger finished the 500 Yard Freestyle with a time of 4:56.47, leaving his closest competitor from New Milford trailing by over a minute.

In the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, Masuk’s first place team consisting of Baykus, Jacob Urkawich, Logan Julian, and Thomas Rodriguez finished with a time of 1:49.11. The team including Sean Cammarano, Gavin Gabriel, Sawyer Judge, and Ayan Kagtada came in second with a time of 2:06.27. 

The team continued with their first-second finishes in the 100-yard backstroke where Hall won with a time of 1:01.86, and Will Hardy followed in second place with a time of 1:08.68.

In the final relay, the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, Masuk’s Baykus, Hardy, Kagtada, and Kirberger beat New Milford’s team by one-tenth of a second with a time of 4:11.27.

“New Milford always brings a good fight, but I just think we have them in numbers,” said Cammarano. Masuk, because of their large team, had a big advantage when it came to relays. They were able to have three relays compete in each relay event, whereas New Milford could often only fill one lane. 

“We have a very big team this year,” added Hall. “We have a lot of experienced members who are involved in club swim, but we also have a lot of new members who are just learning to swim this year.” 

The team recently obtained over 30 members, making it one of Masuk’s biggest sports teams. While it can be difficult to manage so many athletes, as displayed by last year’s coaching dilemma, the team seems to have a good atmosphere this year. 

“As a team, I think we have a really close-knit community. A lot of us swimmers have swum together for a large portion of our lives. Even the new swimmers have tons of friends on the team. We’re all super friendly and we’re all super excited to swim all the time,” said Hall.

Despite securing a victory with a final score of 98-69, Masuk remains steadfast in their pursuit of improvement. 

“We can improve on starts and turns. Some of the new people don’t really know what to do yet,” Kirberger said.

You can catch Masuk Boys Swim and Dive at their next meet against Bunnell-Stratford at Flood Middle School pool on Tuesday, Jan. 9. A meet for which, as Hall said, they are “locked.”