It took just mere seconds after Oscar Miao had scripted “The End” to his swimming career at Deerfield Academy that pandemonium began to set in.

The Deerfield senior swims the anchor leg of the 400 freestyle relay. That makes him the final swimmer in the final event and means he’s the guy that gets to close out the good … the bad … or the ugly. And on this final night … this championship night … Miao, and those who went before him — Quinn Smith (’14), Matt Hrabchak (’15) and Miles Smachlo (’16) – helped turn something good into something great.

The Fab Four punched the clock in a winning time of 3:07.03, to ensure the Big Green its third New England Prep School Division I Swimming and Diving Championship in the past six years and its 20th title overall. But if this all sounds rather nonchalant, then Deerfield sure took the hard way to get there.

“We needed a perfect storm in order for us to have pulled this off,” explained Big Green coach John Burke. “We entered the relay trailing Suffield by seven points (356-349), so we not only needed to win the race, but we needed Exeter … or someone besides Suffield … to finish second. If we won and Suffield finished second, they still would have picked up enough points (34) to win the championship by one point.”

Well, Burke got exactly what he wished for. Deerfield picked up those 40 points with the relay win, as Exeter collected 34 by finishing second in 3:11.4. Suffield, meanwhile, took away 32 points as it placed third.

What all that translated to – nearly instantaneously – up on the bright lights of the scoreboard was that Deerfield finished atop the 10-team field with 389 points. Suffield wound up second, just one point back at 388, while Exeter placed third with 355 points. What that all translated to down on the pool deck and in the grandstand was that Deerfield’s pool party had suddenly transformed into a rock concert.

“It was sheer pandemonium,” said Burke, who personally took part in the levity by taking the coach’s customary victory leap into the pool off one of the starting blocks and his feat “is probably out there for the whole world to see because one of the students video taped it … I know … I saw it … he played it for me,” said Burke with a smile breaking from ear to ear.

“I must admit that going into this meet, I really didn’t know what to expect,” admitted a very relieved Deerfield mentor, whose swimmers had posted a 6-1-1 record during their dual-meet season. “What I did know was that Deerfield and Suffield were considered the co-favorites.” And that probably came as no surprise to anyone, considering that when the two teams battled during their only regular-season meeting, something took place that Burke has witnessed just once previously in his 11 years of coaching. “We ended up in a tie,” explained Burke, “we finished all even at 93-93.”

Miao, who shared this year’s John A. Pigeon Award with diver Taylor Clough (13) as the team’s Most Valuable Participants, combined with Smith to serve as catalysts for Deerfield’s trek to the title by earning four goal medals each. In addition to supplying half the horsepower during their pennant-clinching 400 freestyle, they teamed up with Smachlo and Ben Wood (13) to win the 200 medley relay in a New England record-setting time of 1:33.85.  During individual competition, meanwhile, Miao captured the 50 freestyle in a time of 21.09, and the 100 freestyle in 46.80. Smith was first in the 200 individual medley (1:49.85) and the 100 backstroke (51.49), while Hrabchak collected three golds, winning the 200 and 500 freestyle races in 1:41.99 and 4:30.24 respectively.

“This was certainly one of the most thrilling championship events I’ve ever been involved in,” said Miao, who will be taking his talents in the 50 freestyle to Yale University in the fall. “That final race was just incredible … but I really wasn’t nervous. I think I was too focused on what my teammates were doing and what I was going to have to do to be nervous.

“Besides,” added Miao, “my three teammates who had competed before me had provided me with a comfortable lead and I knew that if I swam the way I’m capable of swimming, that we’d be in pretty good shape.”

As for his competitors in the anchor leg, Miao was getting positive vibes about what would be going on around him during his final paddle across Koch Pool.  “We’d competed against both Exeter and Suffield during the regular season and I felt all things being equal, the Exeter swimmer had the nod over Suffield’s swimmer.”

“As the final lap unfolded, everything was looking good for us,” said Hrabchak, who, by this point in time was strictly a spectator, having competed in the second leg of the race.  “You could see Oscar was the first into the final turn … then it was Exeter … then Suffield. Then, as the swimmers got closer to us, you could see the Exeter swimmer had about a half-body length lead over the Suffield swimmer and that’s when we knew we had it … and that’s when everyone started going nuts.”

 Not all the gold-medal action took place in the pool, however. Some of it took place over the pool, and that’s exactly where Clough was capturing the one-meter diving competition to become just the second diver in NEPSAC history to be named chairman of the board for four consecutive years.  Grant Gritzmacher, who dove for Hopkins School from 1993 to 1996 and who is the swim coach at Westminster School also won the event four years in a row.

“It’s been a great run,” said the Dartmouth College-bound Clough, of his four titles and a four-year undefeated dual-meet record of 36-0. “I think you can attribute the success I’ve enjoyed here at Deerfield to some outstanding coaching and an ability to focus on the job at hand.”

A gold medal and a spot in the history books weren’t the only things Clough came away with on this night of nights, however. He capped off the evening by being named recipient of the Babcock Award, which is annually presented to the most valuable participant in the boys meet.

The awards celebration marked the first time in Deerfield’s swimming annals that the school swept these MVP awards. Jenner McLeod (’13) who helped pave the Big Green girls to a third-place finish in their championship meet by capturing four first-place finishes, earned the Grace Robertson Award as the girls MVP. It marked the third time in the past four years that a Deerfield girl had won the trophy. Last year, Liza Bragg (’13) was the award’s recipient, while Julia Pielock won it in 2010.

The Big Green also picked up a pair of silver medals and a bronze medal on the evening. Smachlo finished second in the 100 butterfly in 52.60, while Wood took second in the 100 breaststroke in 59.29. Deerfield’s 200 freestyle relay team, which consisted of Conor Sullivan (’15), who shared this year’s Coaches’ Cup with Wyatt Sharpe (’13), Travis Russell (’14), Doug Vallar (’14) and Hrabchak wound up third in a clocking of 1:27.82.

Although the Big Green failed to pick up first-place points in these three events, they still proved crucial in allowing Deerfield to come away with the top prize. Just think, Smachlo picked up 17 points for his second-place effort in the butterfly, while Suffield placed fourth less than one second later to earn 15 points. Reverse that finish and Suffield wins the crown.

Wood’s second spot in the breaststroke earned him 17 points, while Suffield placed third, less than two seconds back to earn 16 points. Switch those two results and you end up in a tie.  As for the 200 freestyle relay, Suffield took the blue ribbon in that event, which was good for 40 points. The 32 points Deerfield picked up for its third-place finish, meanwhile, allowed the hosts to keep the Connecticut contingent within striking distance.

Over the past five years, the Big Green has spent an awful lot of time at the New England Swimming and Diving Championships kicking water in opponents’ faces.  It’s nothing personal mind you, just this sport’s trickle-down effect that finds the slower swimmers getting caught up in the wakes of the faster ones.

The storied annals of Big Green swimming give credence to the fact that the boys of Deerfield would rather give than receive when it comes to getting doused in spray. When it’s time to move on to the awards ceremonies, however, history shows the Big Green would rather receive than give – and this winter’s edition of the New England meet was no different. The Deerfield clan once again found itself drip-drying on the podium as it took away a silver medal from the proceedings. Andover won the gold with 417 points, while Deerfield was second with 360 points, while Exeter placed third with 313.5 points.

It marked the fifth straight meet that the Deerfield boys team has provided something to put in its trophy case to prove “we were there!” The Big Green won New England titles back in 2008 and 2009, placed second in 2010, was third last year, and now has another silver medal to show off. All this has been good for the program, but has caused John Burke, its coach, a bit of consternation.

“I’m running out of adjectives to describe these kids, what they do and how they do it,” quipped the Big Green mentor, “ but we had an outstanding regular season in which we went 7-1, losing only to Andover … and only by seven points (96-89). We finished first at the Easterns and then topped it all off with an outstanding effort at the New England meet.”

One of his charges whom Burke ran out of adjectives for about two years ago, is diver Taylor Clough (13). Ever since he slipped on a green Speedo, he’s been the chairman of the board at Deerfield and every other pool hall throughout New England. Clough highlighted this year’s meet by capturing his third straight gold medal on the one-meter board. And he did so in convincing fashion. Clough finished his 11-dive routine with 547.20 points, while the silver medalist wound up more than 90 points south of that figure with 457.00.

“I was still a little nervous heading into the finals,” admitted Clough. “I had a 30 point lead but in diving, that’s not all that much, especially if you happen to have a bad dive or two.”

But he wouldn’t have any bad dives on this day, in fact, “I nailed my last three dives,” all with a degree of difficulty of 3.0, and the crown was his.

“Taylor’s an unbelievable competitor and an extremely hard worker and those are the reasons why he’s been so successful in this sport,” said Burke. “Back in his freshman year, he told me about a diving list that he had come up with that he was going to follow through his senior year and from the looks of things, he seems to be following it without any problems.  It’s all based on a certain dive’s degree of difficulty, the more difficult the dive, the more points you score … if you perform it correctly.  And he certainly has.”

“I have about six dives written on a piece of paper,” said Clough of his hit list. “I mastered three of them during this past year and will now begin working on the last three for next year’s New England meet.”

And there’s good reason why Clough is beginning his homework early. He’s hoping to tie one New England record next year – when Deerfield plays host to the championships – and break another. The mark he’s hoping to tie is Grant Gritzmacher’s four straight New England prep school diving championships, which the current Westminster School swim achieved during his school days Hopkins School from 1993 to 1996.

Unless Clough applies for a postgraduate year, he can’t break that one, but he has an eye on Gritzmacher’s record of 584.55 points during an 11-dive meet. As a sophomore, Clough won with 468.85 points, while this year, he upped that total to 547.20. Another 80-point improvement, thanks to those 3.0 degree of difficulty dives he’s been working on, will more than do the trick.

Two other Deerfield divers earned top-10 finishes as well, as Wyatt Sharpe (13) wound up seventh with a score of 360.50, while Kellam Witherington  (12) was ninth with 351.00 points.

Moving on from the diving well to the swimming pool, Quinn Smith (14) had a big day for the Big Green, finishing first in the 100-breast stroke (59.43), second in the 200-individual medley and combined with Austin Bridges (12), Henry Lee (12) and Oscar Maio (13) to win the 200-medley relay in 1:33.92, which was good enough to earn All-American status.

“I felt pretty confident going into the breaststroke,” said Smith, who was seeded third in the event. “ Over the past year, I’d been able to trim six seconds off my time in that event and that’s a lot of time to knock off the clock in a year. So, like I said, I felt pretty comfortable going in and everything went just as I had hoped during the race.

Two other silver medalists on the day proved to be Matt Hrabchak (15) in the 500-freestyle in a time of 4:34.16. Bridges was second in the 100-breast stroke in 59.80, while Ben Wood (13) placed fourth.

Miao also finished the day with a trio of bronze medals dangling from around his neck, as he finished third in the 50- and 100-freestyle events in 20.99 and 46.21 respectively.  He then combined with Jack Vallar (12), Bridges and Hrabchak  to wind up third in the 400-freestyle relay, as their time of 3:07.5 set a new school record in the event. Bridges grabbed a bronze medal in the 200-medley at 1:54.46, while Hrabchak placed third and Vallar fourth in the 200-freestyle.

This year’s Noel Stace Award went to Kevin O’Sullivan, while the John Pigeon Award was won by this year’s tri-captains: Bridges, Lee and Vallar. Next year’s co-captains will be Maio and Ben Wood.

So much to do, so little time.

How often does that quandary enter your mind? Well, suck it up … how’d you like to be a diver?

Imagine performing a successful dive in less time than it takes to describe it. And believe me, we’re not talking “Cannonball!” here … we’re talking about something with a lot more challenge and a lot less splash. We’re talking something more refined … more sophisticated … something that takes a little more finesse. We’re talking about something Taylor Clough would describe as a back one-and-a half summersault with two and one half twists.

As close as Clough can estimate, he has between 1.5 to 2 seconds, “once my toes leave the diving board,” to complete such a dive, or another tongue–twister he’s been working on: a forward one and a half summersault with three twists.”

Clough has been perfecting these additions to his repertoire this winter and will tuck them into his already bulging bag of tricks for the trek to Exeter on Saturday where he and his Big Green teammates hope to make a splash at the New England Prep School Swimming and Diving Championships.

“This is what the season is all about,” said the Deerfield Academy junior of the New England meet. And, to date, the diving competition has been all about Clough, as the whirling dervish has earned the title of Chairman of the Board during his first two appearances there.  Last winter, Clough played a key roll in helping Deerfield earn a third-place finish by hoisting the Big Green’s lone gold medal of the meet. As a freshman, he finished first as well, as the Deerfield boys wound up with a silver medal.

Clough, who earned 468.85 points on 11 dives and finished with a 78-point cushion over the second-place finisher, won’t be the only one walking the plank in a green Speedo on Saturday, however.  Kellam Witherington (12) and Wyatt Sharpe (13), who finished ninth and 16^th respectively during last year’s boys’ championship, will also be on hand, as will a trio of Deerfield’s diving divas.

Danielle DeNunzio (12) will head up this Big Green contingent, as she is hoping to improve on the fourth-place finish and the 420.70 points she garnered in helping the Deerfield girls post a third-place finish in last year’s team standings. Natalie DeMuro (14) is back after finishing sixth last year, while Marina Vranos (12) wound up eighth.

 And this pair of trios appears to be more than ready for Saturday’s competition, as they tuned up for the championships this past weekend at the Westerns and did quite well for themselves. Both Clough and DeNunzio won their respective events, while Witherington finished second and Sharpe came in fourth. DeMuro, meanwhile, was third in the girls competition, as Vranos wound up fourth.”   

“I feel very blessed to have the talent, the experience and the depth that our diving teams feature, said Deerfield diving guru Mary Ellen Clark. “We have three boys who finished in the top 16 divers at the New England Championship last year, while we have three girls who placed in the top eight. They’ve all continued to work extremely hard this winter and I feel as though if they perform the way they’re capable of, we should do fine.”

For DeNunzio, who will be doing her diving next year at Yale, she’s hoping to bow out of the prep school scene with an appearance on the medals podium after just missing out last year with a fourth-place finish and a seventh spot as a sophomore.

“I feel good about what I’ve been able to accomplish here at Deerfield,” said DeNunzio, whose resume in the sport is much shorter than most of her teammates and opponents. “I began diving during my freshman year at Darien (Conn.) High School,” explained DeNunzio. ”Up until that point, I’d spent my winters concentrating on gymnastics.”

The twisting, turning and summersaults – and most of all, the landings – required in gymnastics began to take a toll on DeNunzio’s body over the years, however. “I tried to stick with it, but the pain just got to be too much. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, but I began looking for an alternative sport.”

And diving came up the winner, “because I wanted to compete in a sport that would allow me to use my gymnastics background,” said DeNunzio,  “somewhere I could take advantage of my ability to flip, twist and summersault.”

In just two years, she’s gone from “learning the entire list of mandatory jumps,” to establishing point records in two different pools. This past season, DeNunzio set a pair of marks at Suffield Academy, where collected 268.75 points for six dives and 422 points for 11 dives. She also established a six-dive record at Exeter with 282.95 points.

“I think what’s helped these kids become so successful is the fact that they learn from each other,” said Clark. “They train together, so, the boys learn from the girls and the girls learn from the boys and they get better that way.”

And you don’t get much better than Clough. As he prepares to drain the tub on his third season of prep school diving, the native of Weston, Mass., is undefeated in regular season meets. And his lone blemish on his record came during his freshman year at the Westerns, when he defaulted on his approach on the board and finished out of the running.

Clough, who hopes to take his diving skills to the Ivies once he’s done at Deerfield, has been diving since he was 9 years old. And although it all started out as casual, his diving career got competitive rather quickly.

“My family had a membership at a local country club,” explained Clough, “so I’d often go over and mess around at the pool. One day… I think I was probably 10 … a coach for the Boston Area Diving Club saw me and asked me if I’d like to try out for the team. I did, and that was the beginning of my diving career”

By the ripe old age of 12,Clough qualified for both the summer and winter Nationals. And did so until he entered Deerfield, when he dropped the winter games, but has continued to qualify for the summer competition every year. In fact, this past summer at the AAU Nationals, he placed second on the 3-meter board and fourth on the one-meter board in the 16-to-18-age bracket.

And in case you were wondering whether three straight New England diving championships is someplace where no one has ever gone before, wonder no longer: it’s not. A guy named Grant Gritzmacher, who dove for Hopkins School from 1993 to 1996 has been there and done that. In fact, he won titles all four years he was there.

 “I’ll probably see Grant on Saturday,” said Clough. “He’s the swimming coach at Westminster School. And although the best he can possibly hope to do is tie Gritzmacher for most diving titles in a career with four, there’s another Gritzmacher record out there that he still could shatter.

That would be 584.55 points – the most ever rung up by a swimmer at the New England meet.

“I doubt I could break it this year,” said Clough, “but it’s something I’d certainly like to take a shot at next year. The only opportunity you have at an 11-dive record is at the New England championships … you make only six dives during regular-season meets. And next year, we’re hosting the New Englands at Deerfield. That will be my final prep school meet and breaking that record would sure be a tremendous way to wrap things up.”