MONROE, CT — Three standout Monroe swimmers were part of Rapids-Boo’s Crew 3, which finished first in the St. Vincent’s Swim Across the Sound’s Traditional Relay on Saturday, August. 2, while setting a new record for the Port Jefferson to Blackrock Harbor Lighthouse course in the process.
Brendan Kirberger, Keller Hall and Jack McHugh of Monroe joined teammates Tara Mladsi of Shelton, Giancarlo Rubio of Shelton and Lauren Clark of Trumbull to complete the 15.5 mile swim.
“Knowing we’re raising money for people battling cancer, it really just helps push us to go above and beyond. It’s just such an important cause,” Kirberger said during an interview with McHugh outside Last Drop Coffee Shop Wednesday morning.
Rapids-Boo’s Crew 3 raised a total of $8,919, beating last year’s fundraising effort of $8,516. The Shelton Rapids also fielded another swim team on Aug. 2, called Boo’s Crew 2, which won the Classic Relay. Kirberger said both Rapids teams combined to raise over $25,000.
There is a story behind the relay teams’ name. Mladsi first became involved with St. Vincent’s Swim after her lacrosse coach, Jeff Lever, lost his sister to cancer in 2019. Lever’s sister’s name was Beth, but her nickname was Boo.
“She was a nurse at St. Vincent’s who devoted her life to helping people who were sick to get better,” Hall explained in an interview last year. “Her brother started the Boo’s Crew team to honor her life’s work and battle with cancer. There is more than one Boo’s Crew.”
Training for the Swim
Both Kirberger and McHugh earned All-State honors for Class M for the Masuk High School boys swim team last season, and Kirberger set several school records, including two for relays with McHugh.
Kirberger will swim for Colby College in Maine this year and McHugh has one more year left at Masuk. “I’m excited about next year. We have a good core group,” McHugh said of the Panthers.
Before last year’s Swim Across the Sound, Kirberger had to recover from a broken tibia and fibula before training, but this year he was able to return to his normal routine.
McHugh and Kirberger participated in Shelton Rapids swim practices at Bronson Country Club during the week and sometimes went to Jennings Beach in Fairfield to swim in the open water.
Of the difference between swimming in the sea and in a pool, Kirberger said, “the biggest thing is the waves. In pools there’s nothing that will obstruct you, in the sea there’s white caps. You have no control over it.”
Waves posed a challenge to participants of the Swim Across the Sound in the early going on Aug. 2.
“In the first hour or two, white capped waves were slapping our faces,” McHugh said. “The first two hours there wasn’t much movement. The last three it opened up a lot more. The mood in the boat was a little low during the white caps, but then it lifted up.”
Kirberger said swimmers rested when they could amid the white caps, rather than going hard against it and sapping their energy early on.
Back at full strength
Keller Hall, a former standout on the Masuk swim team, missed last year’s swim due to an illness. Kirberger said he believes Hall’s presence factored into Rapids-Boo’s Crew 3’s success on Aug. 2.
“The energy was higher with Keller,” Kirberger said. “The vibes are higher when Keller is in the boat.”
In addition to having their team back at full strength, McHugh’s father, Chris, served as their boat captain for the third straight year.
“He’s a crucial member of our team,” Kirberger said. “Even though he doesn’t swim, he’s very important.”
McHugh said his father follows closely in the boat, enabling swimmers to know the direction they should go.
“Next year, we want to run it back,” McHugh said of competing with the same group of swimmers.
An exciting finish
Fans awaiting the finish at Captain’s Cove heard updates from an announcer during the event, but families also had a tracking app showing every team and individual swimmer on a map, allowing them to follow the race in real time.
Drones followed the action and the crew on a media boat took photos and videos throughout.
“When we see the media boat, we swim the butterfly, the hardest stroke, so it looks like we were doing it the whole swim,” Kirberger said with a smile.
Last year was a disappointment, because a thunderstorm prematurely ended the race and swimmers had to be pulled from the water. Kirberger said their team was pulled out five-and-a-half hours into the race — and they were not even close to finishing.
“It really shows how much faster we were than last year,” he said. On Aug. 2, Rapids-Boo’s Crew 3 finished with a time of 5:31:31.
During the swim, Kirberger noticed boats that were ahead of his team falling behind them as they raced toward the finish. “The energy was high going toward the finish line, so I had a feeling we were going to have a record breaking swim,” he recalled.
“I was surprised,” McHugh admitted.
As teammates took turns swimming 15 minute intervals, near the end, one of the relay teams ahead of them was Rapids-Boo’s Crew 2, which fueled their competitive spirit.
“The other Rapids team pushed us,” Kirberger said. “I swam a half hour at the end to try to beat the other Boo’s Crew team. We beat them, but only by two minutes.”
It was actually by less than a minute. Rapids-Boo’s Crew 2’s time was 5:32:16. Rapids-Boo’s Crew 3 came in second overall, trailing only a team from Marist College by 11 minutes and 31 seconds.
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