Newtown Swimmers Start The Season

In Impressive Fashion

By Eileen Byrnes

Newtown 103- Masuk 81

Newtown 96-New Fairfield 79

Newtown 95- New Milford 79

With three wins, more than half the team already qualifying for Southwest Conference championships, nailing automatic qualifying times for States in nine events and breaking a pool record in the 400-yard relay, the boys’ swim and dive team is off to a sterling start.

Coach Matt Childs said he has never had a team secure so many postseason spots this early in the season. It is evidence of the depth and strength of the team, he noted.

Childs said Masuk was the strongest opponent yet, with the score fairly close in the first half of the meet. But Newtown always held the lead thanks to strong swims like those turned in at the 200-yard medley, which had the team of Anthony Fiore, Luke Fiore, Allen Hubbard, and James O’Connor just touching out the Panther swimmers, who in turn just squeaked past the team of Alex Kron, Chris Fragoso, Tony Fragoso, and Kevin Herring.

Masuk’s divers were stronger Tuesday than the blue and gold trio selected to compete, all of whom are new to diving this year, and it brought the guests within striking distance. So Childs asked his team to pour it on in the postdiving heats. Newtown answered the request by grabbing the top three spots in the 100-yard breaststroke, with Hubbard putting up an impressive time. Kron swam strong in the 100-yard backstroke, besting the next opponent by nearly four seconds. Stefan Toi handled the 100-yard freestyle with ease. Earlier in the meet, Luke Fiore, Chris Parker, and Abben Hung came in second, third, and fourth, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley, adding nine points to Newtown’s score, beating the seven points Masuk received for a first- and fifth-place finish.

The Nighthawks were gunning to beat New Fairfield this year and the taste of victory was particularly sweet after last year’s defeat that was decided in the final event. Newtown came off the blocks strong, placing first and second in the 200-yard medley relay. Wesley Hood broke his time from last year in the 50-yard freestyle. Luke Fiore had an impressive win in the 200-yard freestyle, with Kron just slightly behind in second place. Hubbard captured the 100-yard breaststroke again, with Tony Fragoso coming in second. The elder Fiore, Anthony, easily captured the 200-yard individual medley, with James O’Connor taking second place. While the Rebels were quicker in the endurance test that is the 500-yard-freestyle, Matt Iassogna, Hung, and Nate Crevier scored significant points for the team as the next finishers. Marissa Bobkowski and Allison Jagoe were strong on the diving board.

The first meet of the season was last week against New Milford and the depth of the Newtown team proved too much for the Green Wave. The 100-yard fly was a perfect example with a Nighthawks line up of Iassogna, Kyle O’Connor, and George Delia sweeping the heat. Patrick Stein also swam strong that day, getting his best time in 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke, which he won.

Jagoe had an awesome dive, coming just short of her best score from last year. A senior who is diving for the first time, Ryan Hudock, was also strong in the event.

Newtown was so far ahead of the Green Wave that the Nighthawks swam the last three heats exhibition, with their times being recorded, but not awarded placement or points.

In the final event, Childs told the relay team of the Fiore brothers, Hood, and Toi they had the talent to break the pool record. They did not disappoint, and with a time of 3:27.3, they smashed the record set last year by New Fairfield by three seconds.

Childs said he is confident that would not be the only record broken this year.

“That was a great swim,” he said of the relay team. “I think that we have a good chance of breaking three team records this year. We have a pretty deep team.”

The same quartet also took a first-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay.

Newtown is not expected to have any difficulty against Bunnell on Friday. The team will continue to practice during the holiday break, facing a small Bethel squad the first day back from school vacation. From there the schedule intensifies with face offs against rival Brookfield in mid-January and Pomperaug a week later.

But Childs said he likes what he has seen from his team so far. He said they are aware of what it has coming up and will be ready for the challenge.

“We have a lot of fast swimming yet to do,” Childs said. “We feel we have just begun to get the season going. We have people already swimming faster than they did last year. It’s moving in the right direction.”

 Newtown vs Masuk

200-yard medley relay – 1. Newtown (A. Fiore, Hubbard, L. Fiore, J. O’Connor) 1:51.52. 3. Newtown (Kron, C. Fragoso, T. Fragoso, Herring) 1:51.91, 4. Newtown (Morlath, Hung, Delia, Stein) 2:04.19. 200-yard freestyle – 1. Toi 1:53.80, 4. Iassogna 2:05.49, Donnelly 2:09.58. 200-yard individual medley – 2. L. Fiore 2:15.62, 3. Parker 2:25.45, 4. Hung 2:31.17. 50-yard freestyle – 1. Fiore 24.50, 2. J. O’Connor 24.68, 5. K. O’Connor 26.46. Diving – 3. Hudock 111.9. 100-yard fly – 2. Iassogna 1:02.14, 3. J. O’Connor 1:05.33, 4. Parker 1:05.94. 100-yard freestyle – 1. Toi, 50.96, 3. Kron 53.23, 4. Herring 55.13. 500-yard freestyle – 2. Donnelly 5:43.51, 3. Fragoso 6:13.85, 5. Mascher 6:32.79. 200-yard freestyle relay – 1. Newtown (A. Fiore, J. O’Connor, Toi, L. Fiore) 1:36.15 3, Newtown (Herring, Hubbard, Iassogna, K. O’Connor) 1:44.30. 100-yard backstroke – 1. Kron 59.75, 4. Delia 1:14.43, 5. Hiteshew 1:25.26. 100-yard breaststroke – 1. Hubbard 1:08.22, 2. Hung 1:12.96, 3. Stein 1:12.98. 400-yard freestyle relay – 2. Newton (Fragoso, Parker, Simonds, Donnelly) 3:59.65 4. Newtown (Batzer, Crevier, LaMarche, Mascher) 4:28.41

Newtown vs New Fairfield

200-yard medley relay – 1. Newtown (Fiore, T. Fragoso, C. Frogged, J. O’Connor) 1:51.23, 2. Newton (Hood, Hubbard, Iassogna, Toi) 1:52.24 4, Newtown (Delia, Hung, Donnelly M. Hubbard) 2:06.01. 200-yard freestyle – 1. L. Fiore 1:55.17, 2. Kron 1:56.34, 4. Herring 2:05. 200-yard individual medley – 1. A Fiore, 2:13.93, 2. J. O’Connor 2:25.15, 4. Stein 2:30.46. 50-yard freestyle – 1. Hood 23.76, 2. Toi 23.94, 4. K. O’Connor 25.84. Diving – 2. Jagoe 126.2, 3. Bobkowski 124.85. 100-yard fly – 1. Fiore 1:01.17, 3. C. Fragoso 106.73. 500-yard freestyle – 2. Iassogna 5:38.70, 3. Hung 6:34.01, 4. Crevier 6:36.16. 200-yard freestyle relay – 1. Newtown (Toi, Fiore, Kron, K. O’Connor) 1:37.4, 2. Newtown (Fiore, Fragoso, Herring, Hood) 1:38.74, 4. Newtown (Waterhouse, Batzer, Hoagland, Mascher) 1:56.19. 100-yard backstroke – 2. M. Hubbard 1:14.48, 3. O’Dell 118.46. 100-yard breaststroke – 1. A. Hubbard 1:08.64, 2. Fragoso 112.40, 4. Parker 1:13.01. 400-yard freestyle relay – 2. Newtown (Morlath, Stein, Crevier, Mascher) 4:08.22.

Newtown vs New Milford

200-yard medley relay – 1. Newton (A. Fiore, Toi, L. Fiore, Hood) 1:49.85, 2. Newtown (Kron, Hubbard, Fragoso, Herring) 1:52.40, 4. Newton (O’Dell, Stein, Delia, M. Hubbard) 1:49.85. 200-yard freestyle – 3. J. O’Connor 2:06.05, 4. Iassogna 2:06.13. 200-yard individual medley – 2. Parker 2:27.52, 3. Hubbard 2:34.62. 50-yard freestyle – 1. Kron 24.62, 3. K. O’Connor 26.70 4. Stein 26.94. Diving – 1. Jagoe 139.50, 2. Hudock 127.26, 3. Bobkowski 112.65. 100-yard fly – 1. Iassogna 102.19, 2. K. O’Connor 104.96, 3. Delia 1:07.78. 100-yard freestyle – 1. Hood 52.35, 3. Herring 56.75, Crevier 1:03.46. 500-yard freestyle – 1. Donnelly 5:51.10, 2. Parker 6:61.44, 4. O’Dell 7:10.07. 200-yard freestyle relay – 1. Newtown (Fragoso, J. O’Connor, Iassogna, K. O’Connor) 1:42.12, 3. Newtown (M. Hubbard, Crevier, LaMarche, Mascher) 1:53.12. 100-yard backstroke – 2. Fragoso 1:06.07, Morlath 1:14.21, Delia 1:16.69. 100-yard breaststroke – Stein 1:11.64, Hung 1:11.79, M. Hubbard 1:15.31. 400-yard freestyle relay – 1. Newtown (A. Fiore, Hood, Toi, L. Fiore) Pool Record 3:27.35.