The end of this year’s GHS Boys’ Swim Team season marked their fifty-third FCIAC Championship win. The Boys’ Swim Team has been run by Coach Terry Lowe for fifty-five years, who has brought the team to victory for fifty-three out of those fifty-five years. This year, Captains Kegan Clark and Felix Flakstad helped the team reach victory again.

When asked what makes the team so special, Lowe responded with, “hardwork and talent.” Seems simple, but without those two characteristics, the team would not be able to achieve that winning streak at FCIACs. Clark agreed with Lowe’s statement, and added that at the beginning of the season, the team was not even sure if they would win again, and that the work everyone put in this year was “unmatched” compared to previous years. 

GHS has held a constant winning streak for a long time, seemingly unchallenged by another team. Lowe attributes this success to the strong sense of tradition that the team upholds. One of these traditions being that The Boys’ Swim Team has a blend of year-round swimmers and swimmers that develop in the program, which according to Lowe, not many other teams have. 

Besides the variety of swimmers, the GHS team also structures their practices differently than other teams. Lowe breaks the swimmers into two or three groups, with each group specifically working on events that are appropriate for certain swimmers. Lowe’s goals are to “help swimmers improve the events that they are interested in,” and to try and “maximize the realization and potential of everyone on the team.” 

Clark mentioned that much of the team’s success is based upon Lowe’s dedication to the team. “Having a head coach that’s [is] so invested in everyone as Coach Lowe is” as well as “having a potential head coach, [Jimmy]” all helps bring the team to victory. Clark added on to say that, “[A team] could have the best athletes in the world, but if you give them the wrong coaching then they’re not going to get as far.” 

Lowe has experienced great changes to the team in the fifty-five years that he has been coaching. He claimed that the biggest change was moving from the old building to the current building. This allowed them to train in their own facility instead of the Boys Club (now the Boys and Girls Club). Along with that change, Lowe also said that there are more dedicated swimmers now than when he started, contributing to their great success.

For fifty-three of the years that Lowe has been coaching (fifty-five years total), the team has won at FCIACs. However, this year was one of the harder years. Clark added that last year they were winning by two hundred to three hundred points at Championship Meets, contrasting to this year when they had to work even harder to achieve their win. Clark said that this is due to the fact that a lot of swimmers left, and Lowe added that this is because other water sports (such as diving and water polo) take up so much time. Clark commented that both captains (Clark and Flakstad) and Lowe had to remind the team that “[this year is] not like last year and we’re going to have to work extra hard if we want it.” Clearly, the team did and they continued their winning streak yet again. Given the team’s current dynamic, the GHS Boys’ Swim Team can look forward to more wins in the future. 

Similarly, GHS’s boys and girls track and field teams have dominated the FCIAC for years. Both teams have three consecutive FCIAC wins and successful placements at Nike and New Balance Nationals, with the boys placing in the top five at FCIACs since 2020 and the girls winning gold for three years in a row as of this year, maintaining their unbeatable streak. Thanks to the girls captains Esme Daplyn, Lauren Resnick, and Kate Friedman, along with boys captains Harrison Goldenberg, Antonio Ciccarelli, and Michael McClammy, led by coaches SRO Chris Wallace and Peter Watson, GHS track and field has established and upheld an esteemed reputation in the FCIACs and will likely continue their success in future years due to the key factors that make the teams so victorious: their strong bonds, positive encouragement, and overall team unity.

The girls' and boys' track and field teams are special, and not just because of their winning streak. Track and field is a co-ed sport that does not divide between JV and varsity, allowing teams to build unique bonds that would have otherwise not been possible. This allows the team to maintain a positive atmosphere and create a sense of community and acceptance. With about 2700 students at GHS, many try to join sports teams for the exhilarating experience and relationships you build along the way. However, the division between the freshman, JV, and varsity teams may lead to a separation between grades and talent, leaving some feeling inferior or excluded. However, with track and field, it is different. Your capabilities determine whether you are on JV or varsity, but despite the label, everyone attends the same practice with the same coaching and instructors. This allows both JV and varsity participants to interact with each other and build bonds, allowing for a more unified and supportive team overall. Both JV and varsity athletes benefit and learn from each other; those on JV have the opportunity to train with top athletes in the state, while varsity players can form unexpected friendships and develop new and previously unknown skills. Both captains, Harrison Goldenberg and Esme Daplyn, agree that this has contributed to the track and field team's recent success and excellence in the FCIAC championship meets, as well as throughout the season in general.

“I think the unity that we have on the team is truly what makes Greenwich Track and Field so special,” Goldenberg claims. “In a sport like track and field, there are no boundaries between varsity and JV, or even between grade levels. We can connect successfully as a team because of the strong relationships formed between athletes of different ages as well as those between athletes of different skill levels.” Daplyn agrees, stating, “I love that we can maintain one cohesive team, unlike other sports that divide into freshman, JV, and varsity teams. It's really important to me as a captain that we have opportunities to check in with the younger girls that we don't necessarily race with but who are new to the team, and we want to feel a part of the group too.” She then elaborates to explain how, although managing a team full of girls of all different ages may be difficult at times, “having all the girls practice as one team... allows [them] to strengthen [their] team culture as a whole and connects the underclassmen with upperclassmen to learn from.”

Along with the well-knit community the sport has developed, the dedication of the athletes is another large contributor to the track and field team’s wins. While SRO Wallace states that “they are a very close team and do a great job at pushing each other to improve every single day,” he believes the dedication of the athletes is what makes the team truly stand out. Although the boys' team has cycled through many different coaches since the departure of former coach Jeff Klein, the athletes’ resolve for training and improving never wavered. “They show up every single day, rain or shine, and push themselves at practice. They do whatever I ask of them, no matter how hard it is, and make sure to hold each other accountable.”

Finally, along with the team’s unique relationships and determination, the sheer size of the track and field team, on both the girls' and boys' sides, allows for an overall victorious experience at the FCIAC Championships. “GHS has one of the largest athletic programs in the state,” as explained by Goldenberg, “which, in turn, makes our track and field program one of the largest and best-performing.” With the student population that GHS has, “we are able to have depth in many areas of the team,” allowing GHS’ track and field teams to score an abundance of points in the FCIAC and CIAC meets.

As the years progress, if the strength of inter-grade relationships, the diligence of the athletes, and the eagerness and desire to be part of the team continue, the boys and girls track and field teams will have no problem maintaining their top three spots in the leaderboard and hopefully continuing their dominance over the FCIACs.

The Olympics have been an international sensation since 1896, with many winners all over the globe becoming overnight sensations. Yet there was an Olympian that came from Greenwich, Connecticut. Helen Meany, a long-time Greenwich resident, won a gold medal in diving in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. Thanks to the Greenwich Historical Society’s Oral History Project, her history and her journey to become an Olympic Champion have been documented and preserved. Her story, as well as many other stories from other local Greenwich residents, are displayed at the Greenwich Library. 

Helen Meany was born on December 15th, 1904, in New York City. A year later, her family moved to Greenwich. Her family first lived in a steamboat house with a small beach before residing in a bigger house on Old Church Road and East Putnam. Everyone swam in her family, where she was the oldest of 11 children, but Meany proved to be the most talented. “I learned to swim before I could walk,” she told the interviewer. When she won her first swim meet at age 13, her dad took her to the A.A.U (Amateur Athletic Union). 

Although she was a skilled swimmer, Helen Meany’s true passion was diving, but there was no high diving platform readily available.  That didn’t stop Meany, however, for she would dive off the dock or on top of a coal house. Later, her father made a high-diving board out of a makeshift float with a ten-foot pole at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club. Because of how dangerous it was, they quickly stopped. But when she saw Alice Lord Landon dive off a 10-meter platform, she knew she wanted to pursue this more than recreationally. From that day on, she would travel to Manhattan Beach every day to practice her diving. The amazing part is that she never had a coach to teach her. “I learned most of my dives from a thirty-four-foot platform, and if you don’t hit the water just right, you can get hurt. . . .So you just have to try it and try to correct it yourself,” she explained to the interviewer. 

Making the Olympic diving team wasn’t easy. She first tried to make the team in 1920 but was eliminated in the first round. Four years later, she placed 5th in the ten-meter platform competition in Paris. But 1928 was the year she truly shined, as she won the gold medal in the three-meter event in Amsterdam. This is an incredible accomplishment considering she had no formal training from a coach. 

After going to India with the American Red Cross and living on a ranch with her family in San Antonio, Texas, she went back to Greenwich in 1958 until she died in 1991. Helen Meany is a true testimony of what a person can accomplish by making the best of her small resources.

Greenwich High School spirit radiated through the community during this year’s Homecoming week. The unwavering pride unified students and staff to create a week of memories that will never be forgotten.

  Starting the week off strong, GHS hosted their annual Homecoming dance on Saturday (10/7). This year, the dance was held in the gym instead of the Student Center. Student helpers arrived early to decorate the gym with streamers, balloons, and banners, creating a festive environment that set the night up for quite a success. Attendees had a blast listening to the DJ, dancing under the lights, and bonding with their friends. 

Spirit Week themes began on Monday with “Pajama Day.” While it is generally hard for students to get out of bed on a chilly Monday morning, this week there was no problem, as students had the luxury of heading to school in their pajamas. From onesies to matching sets, there was no doubt that students were comfortable as they proceeded throughout the day.

  The second day of spirit week was International Day.  Students were seen sporting the jerseys, colors, or flag of their country with pride.  Despite it being a new addition to the highschool’s usual themes, International Day effectively managed to connect students in a global celebration by portraying a vibrant tapestry of cultures. 

Spirit Week festivities were put on pause on Wednesday, as our freshman, sophomores, and juniors were busy taking the PSAT. 

However, this day off was made up for Thursday with Senior Dress Up Day. Of all homecoming festivities, this one takes the prize. Seniors arrived at school dressed in costumes ranging from Guy Fieri to traffic cones to Mario characters. This day, particularly fun for the Seniors to partake in, also excited the rest of the school as they got to witness the crazy costumes.

  Our fifth day of Spirit Week was Red & White Day. The halls were flooded with school colors. Later that morning, a sea of red and white made their way over to the stadium to watch the Pep Rally. Students and staff gathered in the bleachers to watch as the Varsity Cheer and Dance teams put on a performance which definitely boosted the spirit even more. Following   these performances, Fall sports teams and the Homecoming court made their way onto the field to achieve recognition.

Finally, Homecoming week concluded with a bang at Saturday’s (10/14) football game against Darien High School. Despite the dreary weather, students and families packed into the stadium to support their boys as they challenged their familiar competition in the Nest. In honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, everyone arrived decked out in pink, radiating hope for a meaningful cause. In the midst of the downpour, GHS triumphed with a 30-14 victory, making the two hours of standing in the cold rain worth the wait. 

With hearts full of pride, this year’s homecoming week came to a close. We hope that the infectious spirit that was present this week will continue to linger for the duration of the year. We can’t wait to see what next year’s Homecoming celebration brings!