Darien coach Jeff Brameier displays the CIAC Class M trophy following Saturday’s win over New Canaan. (Photo: Darien Athletic Foundation)
Those who have read some stories on this site or follow me on social media know I stepped far out on a limb the past two weeks proclaiming that if the Darien boys lacrosse team finished undefeated, it would be the best season ever by an FCIAC team in any sport.
The Blue Wave did just that on Saturday by edging New Canaan for the third time this year to end up 23-0 for just the second time in program history.
Usually the vote for Spring Team of the Year is the final one on the site for the school year. But if I’m going to say a team had the best season ever, I should back up that assertion. So after conferring with co-sponsor BlueStreak, we are naming the Darien boys lacrosse team The Ruden Report Spring Team of the Year. We will be awarding it a plaque and custom-made T-shirts in school colors.
Why do I believe the Blue Wave just completed the best season by an FCIAC school? For one, I don’t recall a time when four schools concurrently played as at as a high a level in one sport as Darien, Greenwich, New Canaan and Ridgefield did this year. The Blue Wave went 6-0 against them. Because lacrosse, unlike most other sports, does not require teams to play every other FCIAC school, there is more liberalism for non-league scheduling that the top programs take advantage of.
Case in point, Darien’s out-of-state wins came against powers like Niskayuna, Manhasset, Yorktown and St. Anthony’s. It is the overall strength of schedule behind my belief that Darien is not necessarily the best team in any sport in FCIAC history, but had the best season.
Didn’t require a vote? How about Staples boys tennis? They went 21-0, won FCIAC’s for the first time since 2001, and followed that up with a Class LL title. They defeated both the Class L and S champions during the regular season, proving that they were the best team in the state. Darien breeds lacrosse players, it’s no surprise they were the best again – what Staples did this season was special.
John,
I don’t want to minimize the great season that the Staples boys tennis team or several other teams had. What Staples did was outstanding. Darien has an advantage since lacrosse allows you to schedule out of state games. It not only defeated the best in state, but also the best of New York, Long Island and Westchester. It is probably the toughest schedule any FCIAC team has ever played. I hope you will not take this as a knock against Staples because it is not.
Likewise, Alex Ostberg had the best individual season in state history. He won a national championship, smashed three state records previously held by a 2012 olympian (thus he IS the best long distance runner that the state has ever seen — ranked quantitatively), and ran the fastest mile split in the DMR in the nation.
This has been a golden age for track in the FCIAC. I’m not going to say the Darien male candidate is not deserving because he certainly is. And what Alex accomplished obviously is incredible. If I had factored in when the New Balance Nationals took place and saw the outcome I would have weighed that in making the decision. A big problem is getting the vote done before the school year ends. It really has to be the weekend state tournaments end because schools are all finishing this week.
Seems more like you don’t really care about track. I see two articles from the whole year on boys track when this is the most talented year the FCIAC has ever seen. Some of the best runners and jumpers reside in Fairfield County, but you’d have no idea if you looked at this site.
All Alex Ostberg does is break records and he gets no recognition. Nick Lombardo won all three jumps at FCIACS and two at class L’s and Opens, yet there is no mention of it. The FCIAC had 3 of the top 5 4×800 teams in the state and placed in so many more events yet there’s not even a small writeup on it. I mean both Darien boys and girls won the state title and there’s nothing. Ridgefield’s 4xmile places second at nationals, earning themselves all-American status and there is nothing.
You say you want to cover all sports but track receives absolutely no attention while lacrosse and baseball get all the publicity.
It is not that I don’t care about track. This is the first year with the site and as a one-man operation it is a learning process. I’m assessing now what I did well, what I did not so well and what I can do to improve as a one-person staff. I didn’t cover track as much as I should have and that will be taken into account. And I am working now on setting up a story with Alex. Part of being a one-man staff is sometimes you have to do these stories after the fact.