Hawk Swimmers Win On Senior Night, Fall At New Fairfield; Now Focus On SWCs

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ swimming and diving team had a successful Senior Night by posting a 100-84 win over New Milford on February 15, then closed out the regular season with a competitive performance despite a 96-85 defeat at New Fairfield on Tuesday.

NHS Coach Zach Gauvin was thrilled with the team’s last win. “The New Milford meet was great to go out with a win for the seniors. I knew it was going to be a close meet going in. It was pretty close, and then we pulled away at the end and stepped it up big and got the win for the seniors,” Gauvin said.

Newtown’s top-three finishes in each event in the win over New Milford are as follows: 200 Yard Medley Relay, first, 1:55.35, Sean Fahey, Seth Barrett, Matt Argraves, and Scott Schmidt. 200 Freestyle, second, Mike Lally 2:05.43; third, Stephen Mais 2:06.27. 200 Individual Medley, first, Barrett 2:22.95; second, Harrison Buzzi 2:25.29; third, Ben Galassi 2:29.14. Diving, first, Sam Frietas 142.75 points; third, Kurt Daum 117.70. 100 Butterfly, second Argraves 1:04.52. 100 Free, second, Schmidt 1:00.98; third, Pat Haggerty 1:01.45. 500 Free, first, Fahey 5:30.24; second, Mais 5:43.86; third, Brenden Peterson 6:09.34. 200 Free Relay, second, 1:47.57, Argraves, Haggerty, Schmidt, and Nick Busino. 100 Backstroke, second, Frankie Biancardi 1:06.45; third, Matt Hess 1:09.24. 100 Breaststroke: first, Barrett 1:10.59; second, Buzzi 1:15.11; third, Galassi 1:19.00. 400 Free Relay, second, 4:01.89, Mais, Haggerty, Lally, and Fahey.

The Nighthawks will embark on the postseason next week. The South-West Conference championships get started with the diving competition in New Fairfield on March 1 and the swimming events will take place at Masuk High in Monroe on March 2. State chamionship action is in mid March.

“The team’s looking to finish the season strong at SWCs next week. So far this season every swimmer has achieved a personal best. Once we rest and shave down I think we have the potential to do great things. The guys have shown a lot of mental and physical toughness this year and we’re going to need every bit of it come championship season,” Gauvin said.