Boys’ Swimming And Diving —

NHS Has Depth In Deep SWC

By Andy Hutchison

If recent history repeats itself and things go accordingly — or should we say swimmingly — the Newtown High School boys’ swimming and diving team will have strong representation at the South-West Conference Championship meet in February.

The maximum four participants in each event qualified for the SWC championships a year ago and head coach Matt Childs believe this year’s squad has the depth and talent to repeat that feat.

On the state level, Newtown competed in the Class LL a year ago and was one of the smaller schools in the class. This season, NHS is in Class L as one of the bigger schools in the field. Childs believes the quality of the state championship meets isn’t much different between the two classes. Both are fast, he notes.

A breakdown of this year’s team:

At The Helm: Childs is in his sixth season with the program, and fifth as head coach.

Last Year’s Results: Newtown was third in the SWC, fifth in the Class LL State Championships, and placed 14th in the State Open.

Shoes To Fill: Eight swimmers and three divers graduated, leaving plenty of opportunity for younger swimmers to step up.

This Year’s Captains/ Swimmers To Watch: Seniors Tony Fragoso (backstroke and breaststroke standout), Chris Parker and Patrick Stein (both intermediate relay and breaststroke) and junior Alex Kron (distance freestyle and backstroke) are captains. Junior Luke Fiore (sprint freestyle) is another key swimmer, according to Childs.

“Our expectations are pretty high. We did lose a lot [to graduation], but we had have a lot of good swimmers coming back,” Kron said. “I’m looking forward to this year. I think we have a lot of potential.”

Parker added that the younger swimmers have been working hard year-round and should contribute.

Strengths: “I think our overall depth is going to be a big strength,” Childs said.

Question Marks: Will the younger swimmers improve enough to play pivotal roles on the team? … Although the squad is deep overall, the Nighthawks will need more sprint freestyle swimmers to step up, Childs said.

Coach’s Goals: Childs would like to have his swimmers take advantage of all of the those SWC postseason slots. “With the numbers we have and the swimmers we have coming back I think that’s a realistic goal,” the coach said. He also wants to be among the top handful of teams in the SWC, but will be happy with any finish assuming his team members swim to their highest level.

As Childs said, how well the opposition does is out of Newtown’s control.

Circle It On The Schedule: Pomperaug (which NHS visits on January 21) stands alone as the top team in the conference. After that, any of a handful of teams, including Newtown, should jockey for top-five positioning in the SWC, Childs believes. Brookfield (away on January 6), Joel Barlow/Immaculate co-op (January 27 at home, 7 pm) and New Milford (season-opener, December 17, home at 4 pm) are tough schools, Childs said.

“I think our league, depthwise, is really improving,” Childs said.