By Kim J. Harmon

MILFORD – The effort simply staggers the mind.

When head coach Brian Reiff spoke of the South-West Conference championship meet and the Nighthawks performance there, there was an undercurrent of awe and utter astonishment behind nearly every syllable.

But, gosh, who could blame him?

Yes . . .

- when he sees his team set two new school records in the first two events of the meet

- when he sees a guy like Mark Kalb drop four seconds in his butterfly and 26 seconds in his 500 freestyle

- when he sees a guy like Garrett Swink drop 26 seconds in his 500 freestyle

- when he sees a guy like Matt Fries drop nine seconds in his 200 freestyle and another five seconds in his 100 backstroke

- when he sees Tim Lux finish second in the 500 freestyle with one of the best times of the season

- and when he sees Kane Kunst obliterate the competition in the 100 backstroke with a staggering time of 57.08

 

. . . who can blame him?

“It was incredible,” said coach Reiff, whose team – back fresh from a training excursion to Florida – finished third behind SWC champion Pomperaug and second-place New Fairfield. “It was the best taper and shave meet since I’ve been here. It was just a great, great day.”

The Nighthawks probably would have finished second overall in this meet, too, except for a controversial referees’ decision in the 400 freestyle relay. According to coach Reiff, the officials were prepared to disqualify New Fairfield for a false start but allowed the Rebels back up on the blocks for another go.

The Rebels finished second in the event while the ‘Hawks took third.

But to coach Reiff, that was neither here nor there. The fact that his squad got as close as it did to the Rebels – considering what the Rebels did to the ‘Hawks during the dual meet season – was nearly inconceivable to begin with.

“Yes,” he said, “it was a great day no matter what. It was one of those days when it was all worth it.”

Despite the success of the dual meet season (a 12-3 record) and the success at the SWC championship meet, it has been a tough season for the ‘Hawks.

The worst thing of all was their teammate, Greg Chion, being diagnosed with leukemia. On top of that, the ‘Hawks lost one of their top sprinters to academic ineligibility and suffered through a seemingly long string of illness and injury.

But the ‘Hawks persevered nevertheless.

“Ever since we found out about Greg,” said coach Reiff, “it was a struggle to get everyone together. But they all came together for this meet. It was exciting.”

Alyssa von Oy (who set the conference record last year with 369.20 points) won her second consecutive SWC diving championship but had to fend off teammate Greg Simoneau in the final few dives to do it. Von Oy finished with 355.50 points while Simoneau – who led his friend after the first seven dives – came in with 331.90 points. And to further illustrate the strength of the Newtown diving program (besides the fact that Don Gallant of Jonathan Law was a distant third at 266 points), Pat Monahan took sixth for the ‘Hawks with 222.25 points.

Kunst had the only other individual SWC title for the ‘Hawks, taking first in the 100 backstroke with an amazing time of 57.08 – nearly a full two seconds ahead of Symons of Weston and four seconds ahead of third-place Finnerty of New Fairfield.

“Kane just blew everyone away,” said coach Reiff, “and that was one great thing that happened on the spur of the moment.”

The ‘Hawks set the tone, though, in the first two events of the meet.

In the 200 medley relay – an event in which coach Reiff has been itching to see a new school record all season – Newtown took second with a time of 1:45.98 – just 69/100ths of a second off of New Fairfield. And in the 200 freestyle, Ryan Eberts set another school record with a second-place time of 1:51.82 – just 55/100ths of a second off of Steven Heyer of Bunnell-Stratford.

“At this stage of the season,” said coach Reiff, “you expect Ryan to do great things – but not to finish second in the 200.”

Eberts later finished second in the 100 freestyle with a personal best time of 50.85 – just one second back of Heyer.

Coach Reiff also marveled at the performance of Fries, who dropped his backstroke time from 1:07 to 1:02 in order to finished sixth at the SWC championship. Then there was the effort of Mark Kalb, who dropped his 500 free time from a 6:10 all the way down to a 5:44. Swink fell from a 6:18 to a 5:52 in the 500 while Fries went from a 2:07 to a 1:58 in the 200 free.

There were those kinds of performances everywhere.

A stunning finish to a stunning SWC season.

TEAM RESULTS

1. Pomperaug 491.50, 2. New Fairfield 336.0, 3. Newtown 315.0, 4. Brookfield 245.0, 5. Weston 237.50, 6. Bunnell-Stratford Co-op 221.0, 7. Masuk 112.0, 8. New Milford 90.0, 9. Foran 75.0, Jonathan Law 48.0.

 

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

200 medley relay – 1. New Fairfield (Bill Monaghan, Ryan Krompinger, Jim Finnerty, Chris Yoho) 1:45.29, 2. Newtown 1:45.98, 3. Weston 1:46.77, 4. Brookfield 1:46.98, 5. Pomperaug 1:47.31, 6. Masuk 1:55.23.

200 freestyle – 1. Steven Heyer (Bunnell-Stratford) 1:51.27, 2. Ryan Eberts (Newtown) 1:51.82, 3. Kane Kunst (Newtown) 1:54.03, 4. Jay Warren (Pomperaug) 1:55.69, 5. Peregrine Bell-Up (Pomperaug) 1:56.28, 6. Ross Craig (Brookfield) 1:56.46.

200 individual medley – 1. Monaghan (New Fairfield) 2:01.50, 2. Adam Bauer (Pomperaug) 2:06.59, 3. R Loechner (Weston) 2:12.31 4. (tie) Alejandro Jaramillo (Pomperaug) and Justin Symons (Weston) 2:13.65, 6. Brad Balletto (Pomperaug) 2:15.71.

50 freestyle – 1. Ryan Mushin (Bunnell-Stratford) 23.22, 2. Jason Crocitto (Brookfield) 22:55, 3. Scott English (Pomperaug) 22.95, 4. Andy Symons (Weston) 23.52, 5. James Sitar (Pomperaug) 23.81, 6. Yoho (New Fairfield) 23.98.

Diving – 1. Alyssa von Oy (Newtown) 355.50, 2. Greg Simoneau (Newtown) 331.90, 3. Don Gallant (Jonathan Law) 266.10, 4. Pat Hyatt (Foran) 250.00, 5. Cullen Dunn (Brookfield) 245.30, 6. Pat Monahan (Newtown) 222.25.

100 butterfly – 1. Mushin (Bunnell-Stratford) 54.47, 2. Peter Simmerman (Weston) 54.64, 3. Crocitto (Brookfield) 55.74, 4. Craig (Brookfield) 57.59, 5. Warren (Pomperaug) 58.54, 6. Finnerty (New Fairfield) 58.88.

100 freestyle – 1. Heyer (Bunnell-Stratford) 49.86, 2. Eberts (Newtown) 50.85, 3. English (Pomperaug) 51:03, 4. A. Symons (Weston) 51:57, 5. Jamie Smith (Pomperaug) 53:19, 6. Yoho (New Fairfield) 53.60.

500 freestyle – 1. Monaghan (New Fairfield) 4:50.20, 2. Tim Lux (Newtown) 5:08.28, 3. Ryan Loechner (Weston) 5:15.89, 4. Dominique Cinquegrana (Pomperaug) 5:24.91, 5. Thomas Swan (Pomperaug) 5:25.05, Keith Sandroni (Pomperaug) 5:30.69.

200 freestyle relay – 1. Pomperaug ( Jaramillo, Smith, Sitar, English) 1:32.74, 2. Bunnell-Stratford Co-op 1:34.25, 3. Weston 1:35.47, 4. Brookfield 1:35.64, 5. New Fairfield 1:38.38, 6. Masuk 1:41.53.

100 backstroke – 1. Kunst (Newtown) 57.08, 2. J. Symons (Weston) 59.06, 3. Finnerty (New Fairfield) 1:01.54, 4. C. Edwards (Brookfield) 1:01.74, 5. Mike Howard (Bunnell-Stratford) 1:01.91, 6. Matt Fries (Newtown) 1:02.71.

100 breaststroke – 1. Bauer (Pomperaug) 1:03.32, 2. Lux (Newtown) 1:05.15, 3. Kevin Seeley (Brookfield) 1:06.89, 4. Balletto (Pomperaug) 1:08.28, 5. Krompfinger (New Fairfield) 1:08.69, 6 F. Fellone (Brookfield) 1:09.80.

400 freestyle relay – 1. Pomperaug (Warren, Swan, Bauer, English) 3:27.61, 2. New Fairfield 3:28.56, 3. Newtown 3:30.01, 4. Bunnell-Stratford Co-op 3:31.35.