Christian Gronbeck is going to leave quite a void on the Simsbury high boys swim team. The senior accounted for more than a quarter of the Trojans total points at Tuesday's Class L state championship meet at Wesleyan University in Middletown. Gronbeck won both the 200 and 500 freestyle events, securing 56 points in the process (28 for each event.) He also swam on the 400 freestyle relay team that finished 11th and received 32 points.
As a team Simsbury came in 10th out of 21 Class L teams with a total of 220 points. That included the 33 points divers Matthew Morrison and Meredith Miller received from last week's diving finals.
The upstart 200 Medley Relay team may have been the biggest surprise as they posted a very respectable 12th place and 30 points. The quartet included 2 freshmen, Nicholas Stamboulis and Kyle Chambers, along with sophomore Doug Nicholson and junior Jehwoo Ahn. Nicholson also took 11th place in the 100 breaststroke for 16 points. Senior Ben Saperstein had the next best individual result after Gronbeck with a 7th in the 100 backstroke which netted him and the team 20 points. Lee Voghel was impressive in the 100 butterfly finishing 12th for 15 points. Voghel, Saperstein and Nicholson joined Gronbeck on the 400 freestyle relay team.
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Gronbeck isn't done quite yet as his outstanding performance guaranteed an appearance in the state open championship this Saturday at Yale at 2:30 p.m. He will swim the 200 and 500 freestyle along with the 400 freestyle relay. Morrison's 2nd place at the Class L diving finals put him in the open championship as well. The diving will be held Thursday, March 17 at 6 p.m. at Hamden High School.
