Nighthawk Swimmers Cruise Past Rival Pomperaug Panthers

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ swimming and diving team, on October 5, found a good way to erase the close-but-no-cigar memories of a pair of recent tough-to-swallow defeats. The Nighthawks traveled to Southbury and won handily over rival Pomperaug, a team that had narrowly defeated NHS in last year’s conference championship meet. Newtown got eight first place finishes among 12 events en route to a 100-81 triumph to improve to 5-2 overall.

After losing a pair of 95-91 heart-breakers to Brookfield and Weston in September matchups that came down to the final event, the 400 freestyle relay race, the Hawks made sure there would be no such late-meet suspense this time around. That may have been a bit of a surprise considering Pomperaug had done what Brookfield and Weston accomplished this year, nipping the Hawks with a 400 relay win, en route to the title in last year’s South-West Conference championships. Pomperaug may not be the same old powerhouse it has been (the Panthers graduated a number of strong swimmers and were handed their second loss of the year by the Hawks), but the win was particularly rewarding for Newtown’s team members.

“They were kind of down after those two losses but this is one of those meets that I’m hoping will turn our season around and really show them what their potential can be at the end of the season,” Newtown Coach Zach Gauvin said. “I think a victory today kind of makes them forget about that a little bit and helps them look forward to the SWC championship meet.”

The reason for Gauvin’s outlook stems from more than the fact Newtown won; the times for the swimmers were the best they’ve been all year long.

Newtown got the October 5 meet off to a positive start with the 200 medley relay team of Kelley Baylis, Zoe Eggleston, Megan McDonald, and Amy Martinelli winning in a time of 2:00.62. Martinelli won the 50 free in a time of 26.02, giving the Hawks a seemingly precarious 33-27 lead heading into the diving break. NHS, however, expanded its advantage to 48-30 thanks to a one-two-three finish in diving. Gillian Ekwall earned 169.05 points to lead the way, and the Hawks continued to pull away in the ensuing events.

McDonald won the 100 butterfly event in 1:05.11, Martinelli took home another first by claiming the 100 free race in 56.77, and Annika Fagerholm won the 500 free, making her final touch in 5:45.83.

The 200 free relay group of Eliza Eggleston, Zoe Eggleston, Amanda Mele, and Martinelli, took top honors in a time of 1:45.53. Baylis won the 100 backstroke race in a time of 1:07.29 to give Newtown a commanding 100-56 lead heading into the final two events.

“It was really great. We had an amazing meet. Those were the times we’ve been trying to pull all year,” senior captain Abby Fagerholm said. “I think it’s definitely reassuring to go against a team like that and pull out a win like that.”

Fagerholm helped Newtown improve to 6-2 with a 90-62 win over Stratforf on Tuesday as she won the 500 in a time of 5:48.53.

The Hawks will visit Lauralton Hall of Milford on October 12. After that, there are just two more regular-season meets — home against Bunnell of Stratford and Masuk of Monroe — before the SWC championships.