Hufziger Breaks Record As Swim Team Places Tenth In Class LL Meet
Newtown High School’s girls’ swimming and diving team placed tenth among 20 teams in the Class LL state championship meet. The diving competition took place at Bulkeley High in Hartford on November 11, and the swimming events were held at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven on November 17. Mary Hufziger set the team record in the 100 yard freestyle race with her sixth-place time of 53.82 seconds, good for 23 of the Nighthawks’ 237 points. Greenwich, with 897 points, won the LL championship.
Diver Kari Djonne, with a finals score of 440.95, was runner-up to Westhill/Stamford’s Rachel Burston (533.40). Djonne picked up 27 points for the team. Gillian Eckwall was fifth with a score of 400.90 for 24 points, and fellow Nighthawk Emma Wolfman came in 18th with a 320.20 for seven points.
In the first swimming event, Newtown’s 200 medley relay team of Megan Olszewski, Emma Brantl, Casey Klein, and Hufziger was seventh in a time of 1:55.93 to score 44 points.
In the 200 freestyle event, Bridget Duero placed 23rd in 2:03.62 for two points. Hufziger gave Newtown an 11th-place finish in the 50 free, sprinting to the finish in 24.93 seconds for 16 points. In the 500 free, Maddie Carter was 22nd in 5:29.11 for three points.
Newtown’s 200 free relay team of Brantl, Carter, Gianna Terracino, and Olszewski placed 15th in a time of 1:47.01 to score 24 points.
Klein was 12th in the 100 backstroke race, making her final touch in 1:02.79 for 15 points. Carter was 15th in the 100 breaststroke event, finishing in 1:12.82 for a dozen points.
The 400 free relay contingent of Terracino, Duero, Klein, and Hufziger came in ninth, clocking in with a time of 3:44.13 for 38 points.
Newtown’s season continues with the State Open, bringing together the top swimmers and divers from each of Connecticut’s four class sizes. The diving portion of the championship was slated to take place in Middletown on Thursday (after The Bee went to press), with the swimming events set for Saturday, November 21. They’ll take place at Yale University in New Haven, beginning at noon.