MONROE — Highlighted by a pair of team record-setting swims by Alexa Kwarcinski, the Newtown High School girls’ swimming and diving team raced and dove to third place in the South-West Conference Championships. The diving competition was held in Weston on October 30 and the swim events were at Masuk High on November 2.

Pomperaug of Southbury won the championship with 523 points, Weston was second with 466, and Newtown third with 404; the next closest team was Brookfield with 292.50 points.

In the diving competition, Ella Hall came in second with a score of 369.65; Brookfield’s Ava Gravgaard was first with a score of 378.75. NHS diver Shannon O’Connell scored 268.70 and tied for ninth, Nicole Gutrie had 265.90 to place 11th, and Geneva Whorf scored 249.60 for 12th.

Newtown had one first-place finish in the swim portion of the championships as the 200 yard freestyle relay of Diellza Limani, Ella Seaver, Zoe Petertonjes, and Kwarcinski clocked in with a time of 1:41.96; Pomperaug’s relay was well over a second behind in 1:43.17.

Kwarcinski was second in the 200 yard individual medley race in a time of 2:11.21; Weston’s McKenzie Parsons was first in 2:09.73. With her runner-up finish, Kwarcinski broke Abby Atkinson’s 2005 NHS mark of 2:12.19 in the process. Kwarcinski said she was just a second and a half off the mark in the second meet of the season.

“I knew I was going to get it. It was such a good meet to do it at,” she added.

Kwarcinski later broke a record that has not stood for nearly as long. She placed second in the 100 breaststroke race in 1:07.76, just behind Bethel-Immaculate’s Julia Herbert who won in 1:06.83. The time was good enough to edge out Pomperaug’s Vanessa Fry (1:07.93) and overcome teammate Grace Fischer’s NHS record time of 1:08.09, set just last year.

“She’s been eyeing these records all year. She’s been working hard. I’m super proud of her,” Newtown Coach Becky Osborne said.

Kwarcinski and Fischer broke each other’s records last season and the teammates continue to work off each other’s success.

“The two of them have been going back and forth — they push each other,” Osborne said.

Newtown’s 200 medley relay team of Seaver, Fischer, Petertonjes, and Kwarcinski placed second at the conference meet, exactly one second behind Weston’s winning relay time, as the Nighthawks finished in 1:52.01.

Petertonjes was second in the 200 freestyle in 1:58.45, and Sierra Marx was 16th in the event in 2:15.27.

In the 200 IM, in addition to Kwarcinski’s standout time, the Hawks had Lilian Accettella place 11th in 2:23.78 and Madelyn Marcisz place 13th in 2:29.28.

Limani sprinted to seventh in the 50 free with a time of 26.14, Seaver came in ninth in 26.78, and Maddy Watson was 13th in 27.34.

In the 100 butterfly race, Petertonjes came in fifth, making her final touch in 1:00.38, Fischer was eighth in 1:02.53, and Marcisz came in 15th in 1:07.99.

Limani gave Newtown its fastest swim in the 100 free, taking fifth in 57.09, Accettella came in ninth, clocking in at 58.84, and Watson was 14th in 59.85.

Anna Shew claimed fourth in the 500 free, making her final touch in 5:38.16, Lauren Smiley was tenth in the race in 5:53.86, and Angela Wennerholm came in 14th in 6:00.05.

In the 100 backstroke event, Seaver was 14th in 1:08.76, Smiley 15th in 1:09.48, and Emily Metzger 16th in 1:09.61; Marx finished in 18th with a time of 1:09.69.

The breaststroke event featured Kwarcinski’s second-place effort along with Fischer taking fifth in 1:08.96 and Shew coming in 11th in 1:13.58.

Newtown’s 400 relay comprising Smiley, Shew, Accettella, and Limani was fourth in a time of 3:51.44.

Swimmers Audrey McLean, Emma Sheehan, Ella Viau, Bridget Gioffi, Indigo Land, and Kaila Sullivan, along with diver Grace Kase, also represented the Hawks in the championships.

The Nighthawks had a combination of competitors whose seasons wrapped up in the SWC meet and those who are working toward continuing success in the State Championships and State Open. That said, watch for potential for Kwarcinski to break her own marks and for many of the other Nighthawks to improve on times in the coming weeks.

“We want them to do well, we want them to peak — but we don’t want them to peak too soon,” Newtown’s coach said. “Some of them still have three more weeks of the season left.”

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.