NEW HAVEN — It was a battle to the finish, but history won out once again for the Cardinals.
The Greenwich High School boys swim program won its sixth consecutive State Open Championship Saturday at Yale University.
Greenwich had defeated Fairfield Prep by 190 points in the Class LL championship earlier this week.
Saturday was a different story as Greenwich (427.5 points) led the Jesuits (425) by 2.5 points going into the last of 12 events.
However, the Cardinals won the 400 Yard freestyle relay in 3:09.60 thanks to MacKenzie Baxter, Segundo Rienhardt, Stephan Todorovic and Charles Clark. Prep competed in the second of the four heats to place 11th in the event.
Greenwich finished the afternoon with 487.5 points to hold off Fairfield Prep (457). Staples (408) was third followed by Ridgefield (373), Pomperaug (302.5), Darien (281) and New Canaan (264).
For Greenwich, it was its eighth State Open plaque in the last 10 years and 35 Open titles overall since 1971.
Greenwich won Saturday without a first place finish in an individual event.
Fairfield Prep, which defeated Greenwich, 4-2, in the Division I hockey final Saturday, received an amazing effort from its group.
Prep senior Oliver Rus swam a leg on a winning relay that also featured Liam Colleran, Stanislav Yarmoussik and Will Duffy. He also won the 50 yard free in 20.53. He swam anchor on the winning 200 free relay. And he captured the 100 yard breaststroke by .01 in 55.18.
Junior Liam Colleran won the 100 Yard backstroke and swam relay legs for Prep.
As expected, the State Open was a huge exclamation point on the high school career of Ridgefield senior Kieran Smith, who won the Open's Most Outstanding swimmer award for the third consecutive year.
His backstroke leg helped Ridgefield finish second in the 200 Yard Medley Relay while breaking the state open record (1:32.56).
In the next event, the 200 Yard freestyle, Smith broke his own Open and state records by winning in 1:34.99. Smith then won by the length of the 25-yard Yale pool in the 500 free in 4:18.83 while, again, breaking his own Open and State record.
His anchor leg of 19.50 in the 200 free relay lifted Ridgefield from fifth place to second place in the event in 1:25.90.
Alfred North Hansen of ND-West Haven was more than five seconds back at 1:40.28 of Ridgefield's Smith in the 200 free as runner-up. He was also second to Smith in the 500 Free.
In the 200 Yard Individual Medley, Ridgefield senior Andrew Bornstein rallied late to be champion in 1:52.0. Weston senior Nathan Katz (1:52.70) placed second. Will Regan of Pomperaug (1:53.06) was third.
In the 50 Yard Free, Fairfield Prep senior Oliver Rus got the perfect ending as he won in 20.53 seconds. Amity Regional senior Colin Roy (20.93) was second with Prep junior Liam Colleran in fourth.
In the team race after five of 12 events including Thursday's Open diving where Greenwich earned 64 points, Darien amassed 52 points, Greenwich led with 224 points followed by Fairfield Prep (195), Ridgefield (164) and Darien (151).
A new swimming rivalry was formed in the 100 Yard Butterfly. Westhill-Stamford Co-op sophomore Ben Feldman won in 50.08 just ahead of Darien sophomore Connor Martin (51.07). Cheshire senior Ben Brewer (51.38) was third.
In the 100 Yard freestyle, South Windsor senior Tyler Branscombe outtouched Amity senior Colin Roy to win the event, 45.50 to 45.53. Staples junior John McNab (46.98) was third with Greenwich sophomore Charles Clark (47.02) in fourth.
In the 100 Yard backstroke, Fairfield Prep's Liam Colleran won in 50.90. Pomperaug junior Colin McKellar (51.91) was second with Darien's Spencer Erickson (52.10) third.
Team Scores: 1. Greenwich 487.5; 2. Fairfield Prep 457; 3. Staples 408; 4.Ridgefield 373; 5.Pomperaug 302.5; 6. Darien 281; 7. New Canaan 264; 8.Glastonbury 262; 9. Amity Regional 258; 10. Weston 225; 11. Holy Cross 218; 12. Cheshire 141; 13. Norwalk/McMahon 125; 14. Westhill/Stamf. 116; 15. South Windsor 113; 16. Hand-Madison 110; 17. Wethersfield 101; 18. Newtown 99; 19. Seymour 97; 20. Fitch/Stonington 84; 21. Conard 69; 22. H-K 68; 22. Southington 68; 24. Notre Dame-WH 66; 25. Xavier 52; 26. Avon 50; 26. Hall 50; 28. Brookfield 40; 29. Hamden 38; 30. Sheehan 30; 31. Berlin 28; 32. Granby Memorial 27; 33. Bethel 22; 34. Immaculate 20; 35. Naugatuck 15; 36. Wilton 14; 36. Manchester 14; 36. Barlow 14; 39. Shelton 13; 40. Sacred Heart 12; 40. Suff./E.Wind. 12; 42. Newington 11; 43. North Haven 6; 43. Simsbury 6; 45. Masuk 5; 46. New Fairfield 3; 47. Kaynor Tech 2; 48. Foran 1.
Lewis, Stephan Todorovic, Nicolas de la Sierra), 1:37.78.
200 Yard Freestyle: 1. Kieran Smith, Ridgefield, 1:34.89; 2. Alfred North Hansen, Notre Dame-WH, 1:40.28; 3. Tyler Branscombe, South Windsor, 1:41.39; 4. Connor Hunt, Ridgefield, 1:42.78; 5. Spencer Erickson, Darien, 1:43.14; 6. Nicolas Ortega, Staples, 1:43.32.
200 Yard IM: 1. Andrew Bornstein, Ridgefield, 1:52.00; 2. Nathan Katz, Weston, 1:52.70; 3. William Regan, Pomperaug, 1:53.06; 4. Stephan Todorovic, Greenwich, 1:53.58; 5. McAllistar Milne, Glastonbury, 1:53.87; 6. Arsenio Bustos, Amity Regional, 1:54.83.
50 Yard Freestyle: 1. Oliver Rus, Fairfield Prep, 20.53; 2. Colin Roy, Amity Regional, 20.93; 3. John Marcolina, Fitch/Stonington, 21.12; 4. Liam Colleran, Fairfield Prep, 21.53; 5. Jack Crocamo, Seymour, 21.65; 6. Jack Muratori, Pomperaug, 21.66.
1 mtr Diving (Thursday): 1. Kevin Bradley, Norwalk/McMahon, 515.15; 2. Owen Stevens, Darien, 505.35; 3. Devon Satir, Greenwich, 504.70; 4. Wiley Schmidt, Darien, 499.80; 5. Brendan Downey, Avon, 451.40; 6. James Ragusa, New Canaan, 443.70.
100 Yard Butterfly: 1. Ben Feldman, Westhill/Stamf., 50.08; 2. Connor Martin, Darien, 51.07; 3. Ben Brewer, Cheshire, 51.38; 4. Luke Stewart, New Canaan, 51.69; 5. Colin MacKellar, Pomperaug, 51.70; 5. Stephan Todorovic, Greenwich, 51.70.
100 Yard Freestyle: 1. Tyler Branscombe, South Windsor, 45.50; 2. Colin Roy, Amity Regional, 45.53; 3. John McNab, Staples, 46.98; 4. Charles Clark, Greenwich, 47.02; 5. Christopher Walker, Glastonbury, 47.24; 6. William Duffy, Fairfield Prep, 47.49.
500 Yard Freestyle: 1. Kieran Smith, Ridgefield, 4:18.83; 2. Alfred North Hansen, Notre Dame-WH, 4:30.45; 3. Connor Hunt, Ridgefield, 4:36.38; 4. Nicolas Ortega, Staples, 4:38.86; 5. William Regan, Pomperaug, 4:39.17; 6. Jake Ritz, New Canaan, 4:41.35.
200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Fairfield Prep (Liam Colleran, Stanislav Yarmoussik, William Duffy, Oliver Rus), 1:24.29; 2. Ridgefield (William Bryant, Luke Hruska, Connor Hunt, Kieran Smith), 1:25.90; 3. Staples (Dashiell Hunter, Nicolas Ortega, John McNab, Josiah Tarrant), 1:26.83; 4. Greenwich (Mark Merson, Patrick King, Mackenzie Baxter, Charles Clark), 1:26.89; 5. Pomperaug (Jack Muratori, Christopher Shortell, John Moran, William Regan), 1:27.20; 6. New Canaan (Luke Stewart, Alexander Popov, Peter Sloan, Jake Ritz), 1:28.77.
100 Yard Backstroke: 1. Liam Colleran, Fairfield Prep, 50.90; 2. Colin MacKellar, Pomperaug, 51.91; 3. Spencer Erickson, Darien, 52.10; 4. Lucas Racevicius, Holy Cross, 52.22; 5. Christopher Weber, Granby Memorial, 53.11; 6. Christopher Wu, Hand-Madison, 53.43.
100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. Oliver Rus, Fairfield Prep, 55.18; 2. Andrew Bornstein, Ridgefield, 55.19; 3. Ben Feldman, Westhill/Stamf., 56.51; 4. Peter Sloan, New Canaan, 57.48; 5. Arsenio Bustos, Amity Regional, 58.03; 6. Dashiell Hunter, Staples, 58.06.
400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Greenwich (Mackenzie Baxter, Segundo Rienhardt, Stephan Todorovic, Charles Clark), 3:09.60; 2. Pomperaug (Jack Muratori, John Moran, Colin MacKellar, William Regan), 3:09.67; 3. Amity Regional (Colin Roy, Tyler Roy, Kevin Yanagisawa, Arsenio Bustos), 3:10.69; 4. Darien (Spencer Erickson, Chris Zhang, Karl Wadleigh, Connor Martin), 3:11.77; 5. Glastonbury (Christopher Walker, Daniel Lee, Kevin Tierney, McAllistar Milne), 3:14.52; 6. Holy Cross (Lucas Racevicius, Sam Mason, John Tucker, Chris Fryer), 3:14.86.