Swimming & Diving Championships

As the Suffield community began a well-deserved spring break, thirty members of the swim and dive team traveled to Andover, Massachusetts to compete in the Division I NEPSSA Swimming and Diving Championships. The multi-day competition began at Deerfield Academy with diving. Max Giugliano ’24 placed 6th after 11 dives for a score of 278.30, earning 13 points for Suffield.

The swimming competition began with preliminary individual events. Suffield swimmers saw significant drops in time and fought hard to earn points for the school and spots in the finals. Notable prelim swims included Connor Booth ’23 in the 200 Free and 100 Free; John Rusnock ’25 in the 200 IM and 100 Butterfly [John also set a new school record in this event with a time of 49.54]; Mackenzie Headley ’24 in the 50 Free and 100 Free; Kellen Booth ’25 in the 500 Free; Laura Bachmann ’25 in the 500 free; Cambell Rosow ’23 in the 100 Back; and Nora Boino ’24 in the 100 Breast. Over twenty athletes qualified for finals!

On the final day, athletes competed in relays and final individual events. Our girls saw spectacular relay finishes with our Medley Relay of Anna Calkins ’23, Nora Boino, Mackenzie Headley, and Cambell Rosow, and our 200 Freestyle Relay of Headley, Calkins, Rosow, and Izabela Zajac ’25 winning 2nd place and earning All-NEPSAC honors. Our boys’ side saw noteworthy finishes as well, with our 200 Medley of Ben Broxson ’23, Chase Stevens ’23, John Rusnock, and Connor Booth earning 4th, and our 200 Freestyle Relay of Rusnock, Stevens, Booth, and David Bowers ’24 earning 5th, plus All-NEPSAC honorable mentions. Tigers relay teams held their own against powerhouse competition from Brunswick, Deerfield, Andover, and Exeter. Additionally, finals saw a handful of season and lifetime best times from many of our athletes: Cambell Rosow and Anna Calkins in the 100 back and Laura Bachmann in the 500 free dropped time from the previous day of competition, an impressive feat. David Bowers, digging deep during the last event of the day, split a 47.31 in the 400 Free Relay, a lifetime best. Mackenzie Headley and John Rusnock placed in the top 3 of their respective events. John set a pool record and earned 1st place in the 200 IM with a lifetime best time of 1:49.61. John and Mackenzie both earned All-NEPSAC honors in their individual races. Many Tiger swimmers earned All-NEPSAC honorable mentions. The full list can be found here.

Suffield swimming coaches gave special shoutouts to acknowledge impressive swims from the weekend, recognizing Parker Valero ’26, Sydney Amerson ’25, Joe Giugliano ’24, and Hope Clark ’23. Parker seemed to improve with every swim over the weekend. He put together a great 100 butterfly, despite not fully training for it. He also swam lifetime bests in 50 breast, 100 breast, and 100s. Sydney emerged as one of the program’s top sprinters with impressive 50 free splits. She also swam well in the 100 fly, earning a spot in the finals. Joe had impressive swims from start to finish. His improvements exemplify how a season of hard work pays off. Joe dropped time in the 200 free and 500 free and finished the meet with a lifetime best 100 free split in the 400 free relay. Hope had an amazing weekend as a swimmer, as a teammate, and as leader of the cheer squad. Hope finally broke the 7-minute barrier in the 500 free, one of her season goals.

In overall team competition, the Suffield girls’ team placed 6th with 196.5 points, and the boys’ team placed 5th with 207.5 points.

Full results can be found here.