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STAMFORD, Conn. Roxbury Swim Club is the defending champion in the Fairfield County Swimming League and a perennial league contender. Through two meets in the young FCSL season, it appears the Stamford swimmers will again be a force.
Roxbury splashed past Stamford rival Newfield, 333.5-189.35, in a meet Tuesday at Newfield. Jack Montesi broke a long-standing pool record in the 100 individual medley in the 12-and-under age division and won three races. Will Montesi (8-and-under), Will Montesi (10-and-under girls) and Josh Furth (14-and-under) also won three races each for Roxbury.
"I think we are stronger than last year,'' said coach Rick Lewis, who also coaches the boys and girls swim teams at Westhill High School. His Roxbury teams have won 17 FCSL titles since 1991. "We had an influx of new people and our returning swimmers were also strong. It's a good start."
Roxbury defeated Riverside in its first meet last week, and faces Rocky Point of Greenwich Thursday in Stamford. Rocky Point might be the one team that can challenge Roxbury. "I think we'll have to go through them to win the county,'' Lewis said. "They always have a good team."
Despite the loss to Roxbury, Newfield coach David Fine saw some bright spots. Jenna Handali broke a 26-year-old record in the 8-and-under butterfly and missed a 36-year-old record in the 25 freestyle by 0.06 seconds. Her brother, Nick, also broke the club's 12-and-under individual medley record, but finished second to Jack Montesi.
"We have a lot of younger kids, and we have a lot of new families involved,'' Fine said. "The whole goal is to develop them, and I think we're going to have a pretty good year."
Newfield dropped a meet last week to Middlesex of Darien and slipped to 0-2. "We were missing some of our swimmers against them, and Roxbury is the No. 1 team in the league,'' Fine said. "Individually, I thought we raced pretty well with them. They have a lot of depth." Newfield goes up against Long Ridge on Thursday.
Do you have pictures and results from your swim club? Send them to trenner@mainstreetconnect.us.
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