[naviga:font color="#14171a" face="Segoe UI, sans-serif"]Update: Due to meet results information provided, a wrong name was initially listed in the 200 yard freestyle relay results. Rick Irving was one of Newtown's relay swimmers and the article has been updated below. The article, originally posted on March 1, has also been updated to include more details on the meet.[/naviga:font]

Led by a pair of winning relays and trio of individual champions, Newtown High School’s boys’ swimming and diving team finished fifth in the South-West Conference championships, which culminated with the swimming events at Masuk High in Monroe on March 1.

Newtown was just one point away from placing third. Pomperaug of Southbury won the competition with 533 points, Masuk was second with 369, and the Barlow-Bethel co-op and Brookfield tied for third with 298. The Nighthawks had 297 points; sixth-place New Fairfield finished with 291. The diving competition was held two days earlier.

These final scores do not even indicate just how close this was between Newtown and the two third-place finishing teams.

“We were a touch away from a three-way tie for third and three touches from a solo third,” said Newtown Coach Adam Fielding, referring to some very tight races. “The kids swam amazingly.”

Newtown’s winning 200-yard medley relay, comprising Mike Yu, Colby Delia, Mason Suba, and Xavier Williams, had a time of 1:42.46.

In the 200 free relay, Suba, Rick Irving, Williams, and Delia came in first in 1:29.38, just .04 seconds off the team record time.

Delia won the 50 free, sprinting to the finish in 22.02, and the 100 free in 49.37. Suba won the 100 butterfly, clocking in at 54.30.

Irving came in seventh in the 200 freestyle race with a time of 1:50.88, and Sean McCleary placed ninth in the 200 free in 1:52.78.

Suba was sixth in the 200 individual medley event, clocking in at 2:07.65.

Williams was sixth in the 50 free in 23.05.

In the 100 free, Williams was fifth in 50.11, and Irving placed seventh in 50.24.

McCleary was eighth in the 500 free with a time of 5:27.94.

The 400 free relay team of Jack Wojtowicz, Yu, McCleary, and Rick Irving was sixth in 3:34.61.

Fielding liked the efforts of his team members.

“Both Colby’s and Mason’s wins took a gutty second half,” Fielding said of the back half of their races. “Xavier had his fastest ever 50 split in the 200 free relay. They really just believed in their abilities to win.”