NHS Relay Team Medals In State Open At Yale’s Historic Pool

By Andy Hutchison

NEW HAVEN — Newtown High School’s swimmers capped the season in style at the State Open on Saturday night, with swimmers breaking the school records they first broke only a week ago and members of a relay team willing their way to a medal-winning finish in the last race of their high school careers.

The Nighthawks finished 14th among the 46 teams to score points at the open meet, held at Yale University’s Kiphuth Pool. The Hawks had 80 points and a close-to-the-finish night of swimming ended with Pomperaug (313.5 points) edging out New Canaan (307.5) to capture the title.

While Pomperaug’s entire team celebrated, there were plenty of individuals and members of teams within teams (the relay teams) who had a chance to pump fists, clap, and cheer for their own achievements.

Newtown sophomore Luke Fiore dropped a significant percentage of a second off his then-school record-setting 200 yard freestyle time achieved in last week’s Class LL State Championships. Fiore, who swam the event in 1:48.68 at the LL race, dropped his time to 1:48.10 at the opens to make it that much tougher for the next 200 free record setter. Fiore, who finished in ninth place at the LL meet, came in 20th at the State Open, which boasts the best of the best of the state’s swimmers from each school class size.

Newtown’s 400 freestyle relay team, comprising Luke Fiore and seniors Anthony Fiore, Wes Hood, and Stefan Toi, pulled the same record-setting trick. This relay group, which set an NHS school mark with a time of 3:18.01 in the LL meet, swam to a 3:16.74 finish on Saturday. In doing so, the 400 relay team claimed sixth place and earned a medal — not a bad way to remember the final race they had as Nighthawks for the seniors.

“That was my last swim and it was so good,” Hood said. “The fact it was our last, we decided to put everything into it. We were tired, but we wanted it badly enough.”

“That was awesome. I could not be happier for the guys,” Newtown Head Coach Matt Childs said.

Toi was tenth in the 200 yard IM; he raced to the finish in 2:01.06. Luke Fiore was 15th in the 100 yard freestyle (49.38). The 200 freestyle relay team of Hood, Luke Fiore, Toi and senior James O’Connor raced to 17th place in 1:31.66. Sophomore Alex Kron was 14th in the 100 yard backstroke (56.19).

“To have three relays qualify and have eight swimmers here is unbelievable. That means we had a great year — everybody is swimming well,” Childs said. “It validates all of the hard work they put in.”

Luke Fiore, Anthony Fiore, Hood, Tony Fragoso, Matt Iassogna, O’Connor, Toi and Kron all participated in the open meet.

Having the opportunity to compete at the Kiphuth Pool, which was built in 1932 and is inside Yale’s Payne Whitney Gymnasium, is an experience in itself for the swimmers. The pool’s stands, which hold 2,187 seats, are situated at a steep 45-degree angle overlooking the water. For the swimmers, it feels as if the fans are breathing down their necks.

“It’s a great atmosphere. The guys get really excited,” Childs said. “It’s a very, very unique setting for swimming.”

During parts of the race, some of the participants meander up on of the building’s flights of stairs and enter one of the portals that separates seating sections, preventing numerous fans from walking in front of each other while finding seats.

“It’s great for spectating,” Hood said. “It’s an awesome view. You can see swimmers as they hit the wall.”

Supportive family members and classmates have been cheering for the top high school swimmers for several decades at the once state-of-the-art facility that has hosted numerous national competitions.

“There’s a lot of swimming history here at Yale. It’s fun to be here,” Childs said.