Nighthawk Swimmers Edge Out Brookfield For Second

By Andy Hutchison

MONROE — Newtown High School’s girls’ swimming and diving team edged out Brookfield by a point to earn second place in the South-West Conference championships this week. Pomperaug of Southbury won the competition with 424 points. Newtown had 379 and Brookfield had 378 points to place third among 12 schools.

The diving competition was held at Weston High School on Sunday, November 6, and the swimming events took place at Masuk High in Monroe the next day — a few days after the originally scheduled dates which changed as a result of the aftermath of the October 29 snowstorm.

Newtown and Brookfield traded leads during the swimming portion of the finals, and NHS narrowly fended off the Bobcats in the end.

“I was sweating bullets on the deck there for a while,” said Newtown Coach Zach Gauvin, adding that he thought Newtown had earned second but the results were too close to call until they became official and were announced. “The girls were really excited.”

Gauvin said some Newtown swimmers recorded season-best times but that the team members did not swim as well as they might otherwise have if not for the team being limited to three days of practice in the week leading up to the championship. “All things considered I think we swam pretty well,” Gauvin said.

Newtown’s top finishes are as follows:

200 Yard Medley Relay: Second, 1:57.03. Kelley Baylis, Zoe Eggleston, Kelsey McEvoy, Amy Martinelli.

200 Yard Freestyle: Tie for seventh, Abigail Fagerholm, 2:09.51; Eliza Eggleston 2:09.51.

200 Yard Individual Medley: Eighth, Zoe Eggleston, 2:26.30.              

50 Yard Freestyle: Fifth, Amy Martinelli, 25.77.

1 Meter Diving: Tenth, Noelle Benson, 267.75.

100 Yard Butterfly: Second, Kelsey McEvoy, 1:03.19. Eighth, Eliza Eggleston, 1:07.83.

100 Yard Freestyle: Fifth, Amy Martinelli, 56.60. Ninth, Kelsey McEvoy, 57.99.

500 Yard Freestyle: Seventh, Annika Fagerholm, 5:40.95.

200 Yard Freestyle Relay: Third, 1:44.89. Amy Martinelli, Kelley Baylis, Amanda Mele, Kelsey McEvoy.

100 Yard Backstroke: Ninth, Kelley Baylis, 1:06.40.

100 Yard Breaststroke: Sixth, Zoe Eggleston, 1:14.21. Seventh: Annika Fagerholm, 1:14.87.

400 Yard Freestyle Relay: Fifth, 3:58.34. Amanda Mele, Abigail Fagerholm, Eliza Eggleston, Zoe Eggleston.