WEST HARTFORD - The Fairfield Prep boys swimming & diving team won its second straight CIAC Class L championship and fifth over CIAC class title on Monday at Cornerstone Aquatics Center.

Fairfield Prep came into the championship meet as one of the favorites with four top-seeded swimmers in individual events set in prelims and having come off its sixth straight SCC championship. Those top seeds were Evan Vanvelzor in the 200 Individual Medley and 200 Backstroke, and Jack Cunnighmam in the 50 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle.

But in swimming, teams need to not just win events but also have other swimmers out-touch the athletes next to them to compiled overall team points, and that's exactly what Fairfield Prep did. The Jesuits had 844.5 points as a team, a whopping 289.5 points ahead of runner-up Ridgfield with 555. Darien rounded out the top three with 503.5 points, respectively.

"We are over the moon," Fairfield Prep coach Rob Urban. "These guys work hard all year. A total team effort today."

Urban's mindset is all about being a team, not just an individual, to get results, and that was the case. Fairfield Prep managed to secure two relay wins in the 200 and 400 Freestyle and a second-place finish in the 200 Medley relay.

The 200 Freestyle Relay finished with a time of 1:25.71 and consisted of senior David Kavasansky, junior Evan Vanvelzor, junior Anduin Thung and junior Jack Cunningham. This relay broke the Class L record by .03 seconds, dethroning Notre Dame-West Haven, which set a record of 1:25.74 in 2004. The 400 Freestyle relay beat out second place Ridgfield by 1.14 seconds with a 3:11.84. It was composed of Cunningham, sophomore Luke Adams, senior Maksimilian Shemiako, and Vanvelzor.

Vanvelzor, after the win, had high praise for himself and the swimmers around him.

"I'm so ecstatic for myself, and all the boys," he said. "A lot of hard work poured into this season, and clearly it all paid off. I'm so excited for everybody on this team."

Vanvelzor came into the meet with two top seeds after prelims. In those events, Vanvelzor swam a 1:55.25 to win the 200 Individual Medley and nearly beat the second place finisher in the 100 Backstroke by 3 seconds with a 50.78.

The other standout for the Jesuits was Jack Cunningham, who won the 50 freestyle with a 20.89 and the 100 freestyle by swimming a 46.50.

"It feels great..I'm excited to show up and show out," Cunningham said.

Going into the State Open Saturday, Urban and the Jesuits have a lot of momentum.

"We are going to have a little fun this week, opens is a bonus for us. We will see how fast we can go on Saturday, you never know, am I right?"

Other standouts outside of Fairfield Prep were Hall's Jack Ackerman, who dominated the distance events, posting times of 1:42.08 for the 200 Freestyle and 4:38.23 for the 500 Freestyle.

The State Open Championship is at Yale on Saturday at 1 p.m.

CIAC Class L Swimming & Diving Championship

Team results

1.) Fairfield Prep, 844.5; 2.) Ridgefield, 555; 3.) Darien, 503.5; 4.) Farmington, 366; 5.) Amity, 355; 6.) Staples, 337; 7.) Hall, 322; 8.) Newtown, 287.5; 9.) Daniel Hand, 284; 10.) Conard, 247; 11.) Naugatuck, 200; 12.) South Windsor, 157.5; 13.) JB/Bethel, 114; 14.) Sheehan/Lyman Hall Wallingford, 109; 15.) Milford Boys Swimming and Diving, 103; 16.) Waterford Swim Co-op, 100; 17.) Meriden Co-op, 67.

Individual results

200 Yard Medley Relay: 1.) Amity (Sean Fitzpatrick, Jack Winzer, Markiyan Yukhno, Julian Virgil), 1:37.95; 2.) Fairfield Prep (Wynton Buerstetta, Harlan Lewandowski, Rohan Thung, David Kavasansky), 1:39.19; 3.) Darien (Thomas Goertel, Ryan Bodick, David Ritchie, William Bilodeau), 1:40.25; 4.) Daniel Hand (Charles Walz, Daniel Starkey, Jude Davy, Grant Campbell), 1:40.54; 5.) Ridgefield (Griffin Riebling, Thomas Casey, Edward Westcott, Graham Muncy), 1:40.96; 6.) Newtown (Elias Kolb, Finnegan Clancy, Kyle Albrecht, Warren Ache), 1:42.61.

200 Yard Freestyle: 1.) Jack Ackerman (Hall), 1:42.08; 2.) Yaron Kantorovich (Hall), 1:44.22; 3.) John Syku (Darien), 1:44.33; 4.) Neil Kelly (Ridgefield), 1:44.93; 5.) Luke Adams (Fairfield Prep), 1:47.01; 6.) Luke McGuinn (Staples), 1:47.42.

200 Yard IM: 1.) Evan Vanvelzor (Fairfield Prep), 1:55.25; 2.) Thomas Goertel (Darien), 1:56.39; 3.) Thomas Casey (Ridgefield), 1:58.89; 4.) Daniel Starkey (Daniel Hand), 1:59.27; 5.) Ethan Arnett (Fairfield Prep), 2:00.65; 6.) Harlan Lewandowski (Fairfield Prep), 2:02.57.

50 Yard Freestyle: 1.) Jack Cunningham (Fairfield Prep), 20.89; 2.) Luke Scheinfeldt (Conard), 21.33; 3.) David Kavasansky (Fairfield Prep), 21.82; 4.) Nolan Francis (Staples), 22.20; 5.) Griffin Riebling (Ridgefield), 22.28; 6.) Liam Goralnick (Ridgefield), 22.29.

1-Meter Diving: 1.) Jake Simon (Darien), 503.95; 2.) Gianmarco Barrato (Fairfield Prep), 360.75; 3.) Ryan Gady (Hall), 342.90; 4.) Ryan Timmeny (Darien), 341.80; 5.) Jeremy Diggs (Naugatuck), 330.60; 6.) Ian Joon Park (South Windsor), 317.75.

100 Yard Butterfly: 1.) Thomas Casey (Ridgefield), 50.88; 2.) Markiyan Yukhno (Amity), 51.06; 3.) Luke Scheinfeldt (Conard), 51.10; 4.) Yaron Kantorovich (Hall), 51.69; 5.) Edward Westcott (Ridgefield), 52.05; 6.) Wynton Buerstetta (Fairfield Prep), 52.74.

100 Yard Freestyle: 1.) Jack Cunningham (Fairfield Prep), 46.50; 2.) Liam Goralnick (Ridgefield), 48.32; 3.) Griffin Riebling (Ridgefield), 48.57; 4.) Nolan Francis (Staples), 48.70; 5.) Connor Zhu (JB/Bethel), 48.75; 6.) Jack Angelastro (Sheehan/Lyman Hall), 48.85.

500 Yard Freestyle: 1.) Jack Ackerman (Hall), 4:38.23; 2.) John Syku (Darien), 4:42.63; 3.) William Bilodeau (Darien), 4:44.09; 4.) Joshua Kim (Meriden Co-op), 4:44.46; 5.) Michael Kelly (Ridgefield), 4:51.93; 6.) Daniel Starkey (Daniel Hand), 4:51.95.

200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1.) Fairfield Prep (David Kavasansky, Evan Vanvelzor, Anduin Thung, Jack Cunningham), 1:25.71; 2.) Ridgefield (Liam Goralnick, Hunor Darvas-Hagen, Thomas Casey, Neil Kelly), 1:29.12; 3.) Hall (Quinn ONeill, Yaron Kantorovich, Marcus Bitton, Jack Ackerman), 1:29.89; 4.) Newtown (Warren Ache, Kyle Albrecht, Finnegan Clancy, Alex Gadbut), 1:30.24; 5.) Staples (Jordan Benaderet, Luke McGuinn, Nolan Francis, Blake Carlson), 1:30.30; 6.) Amity (Markiyan Yukhno, Jack Winzer, Jack Stavridis, Julian Virgil), 1:30.64.

100 Yard Backstroke: 1.) Evan Vanvelzor (Fairfield Prep), 50.78; 2.) Markiyan Yukhno (Amity), 53.48; 3.) Wynton Buerstetta (Fairfield Prep), 53.74; 4.) Edward Westcott (Ridgefield), 53.84; 5.) Thomas Goertel (Darien), 54.00; 6.) Aidan Brown (Fairfield Prep), 54.33.

100 Yard Breaststroke: 1.) Jack Angelastro (Sheehan/Lyman Hall), 58.31; 2.) Joshua Kim (Meriden Co-op), 1:00.38; 3.) Ryan Bodick (Darien), 1:01.29; 4.) Jack Winzer (Amity), 1:01.31; 5.) Harlan Lewandowski (Fairfield Prep), 1:01.64; 6.) Connor Faga (Conard), 1:03.07.

400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1.) Fairfield Prep (Jack Cunningham, Luke Adams, Maksimilian Shemiako, Evan Vanvelzor), 3:11.84; 2.) Ridgefield (Neil Kelly, Griffin Riebling, Liam Goralnick, Michael Kelly), 3:12.98; 3.) Hall (Yaron Kantorovich, Quinn ONeill, Zachary Fay, Jack Ackerman), 3:14.55; 4.) Staples (Jordan Benaderet, Luke McGuinn, Nolan Francis, Mathys Chevirer), 3:17.41; 5.) Darien (John Syku, William Bilodeau, David Ritchie, Thomas Goertel), 3:19.64; 6.) Farmington (Rocco Guglielmo, Shreysht Rajesh, Dylan Shea, Matthew Michitti), 3:19.68.

This article originally published at Fairfield Prep defends CIAC Class L swimming championship to earn 5th CIAC title overall.