By Kim J. Harmon

It is a peculiar quirk of the sport of swimming that a coach can pretty much tell, to the point, what the score of a swim meet is going to be even before the swimmers hit the water.

Coach Carl Strait knew that Newtown’s South-West Conference tussle with Masuk last Friday was a statistical dead heat – rather, a 93-93 just tie waiting to happen. But coach Strait also knew about the best laid plans of mice and men.

Although he somewhat figured on a 93-93 tie, what he got instead was a rather thrilling 94-91 loss.

It went down to the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, with Newtown needing a 1-2 finish just to eke out a one-point win. The Nighthawks, down 90-81 at the time, got first place, alright, but had to settle for third and fell three points short.

A meet that close could have swung in a lot of places over 13 events – with a swimmer either falling off her expected time or coming up with a better than expected time – but where it probably swung was diving. The ‘Hawks were without their top diver, Tracey Samuels, while the Pantherettes took the board with three very talented divers and enjoyed a strong advantage.

Yes, a two-point deficit ballooned into a 13-point deficit after Masuk went 1-2-3 in diving. Ally Leuzzi finished fourth with 102 points, one of her best performances.

But even down 13 points, the ‘Hawks made a remarkable comeback attempt. With Ashley Molden, Margaret Ashey and Liz Portnoy going 1-3-5 in the 100 butterfly, the ‘Hawks immediately trimmed four points off that deficit. Molden had a stunning finish in the event, surging from behind in the final 25 yards to take first by 74/100ths of a second.

Masuk increased its lead to 11 points following the 100 freestyle, but the ‘Hawks knocked it all the way down to five points when Melissa Rusehski, Kerin Sovern and Rachel Rastelli went 1-3-4 in the 500 freestyle. Rushefski coasted to a 20-second win while Sovern missed second place by just one second.

A 1-3 finish in the 200 freestyle relay would have put Newtown on top by a point, but Masuk put together a strong foursome and easily took first in the event. Newtown took second and fell back to an 11-point lead.

But Molden,, Rastelli and Jamie Minalgo struck again for the ‘Hawks, going 1-3-4 in the 100 backstroke to trim the Masuk lead back to five points. Minalgo took fourth place by 45/100ths of a second.

Masuk, however, stretched its lead to nine points – giving the Pantherettes some breathing room – in the 100 breaststroke. Sovern took second and Margaret Randall took fourth and Masuk took a 10-6 advantage in the event.

That brought it down to the 400 freestyle relay and all the Pantherettes had to do was finish first or second in the event to hold off the Nighthawks. Although the ‘Hawks did take first, Masuk finished second just three seconds back to capture the meet.

Molden (100 butterfly and 100 backstroke) and Rushefski (200 freestyle and 500 freestyle) were double winners once again. Ashey (200 individual medley) was the only other individual winner. Katherine Matz (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle) twice finished second.

The ‘Hawks dropped to 3-6 on the season with the loss and then dropped further down with a 99-79 loss to Lauralton Hall on Tuesday. They hope to regain some winning form when they entertain Pomperaug on Friday at 7 pm and then Jonathan Law the following Thursday, October 26, also at 7 pm.

Masuk               94

Newtown            91

 

200 medley relay - 1. Masuk 2:05.13, 2. Newtown 2:05.57, 3. Newtown 2:24.25.

200 freestyle - 1. Melissa Rushefski (N) 2:13.90, 2. Duffy (M) 2:29.27, 3. Chrissy Glander (N) 2:41.05, 4. Mason (M) 2:44.38, 5. Caitlin Palmer (N) 2:48.53.

200 individual medley - 1. Margaret Ashey (N) 2:31.17, 2. Duffy (M) 2:35.34, 3. Donafria (M) 2:42.90, 4. Heather Rebb (N) 2:57.47, 5. Liz Portnoy (N) 3:06.95.

50 freestyle - 1. Hanrath (M) 27.18, 2. Katherine Matz (N) 28.49, 3. Roberts (M) 29.37, 4. Rickards (M) 30.25, 5. Heather Rebb (N) 30.97.

Diving - 1. Peck (M) 167.00 points, 2. Quinn (M) 160.45 points, 3. Wiedemann (M) 137.30 points, 4. Ally Leuzzu (N) 102 points.

100 butterfly - 1. Ashley Molden (N) 1:10.62, 2. Donafrio (M) 1:11.36, 3. Margaret Ashey (N) 1:11.91, 4. Rickards (M) 1:17.29, 5. Liz Portnoy (N) 1:21.22.

100 freestyle - 1. Duffy (M) 58.80, 2. Katherine Matz (N) 1:03.04, 3. Kruk (M) 1:07.79, 4. Heather Rebb (N) 1:08.71, 5. Jean Marie Morlath (N) 1:09.44.

500 freestyle - 1. Melissa Rushefski (N) 5:58.06, 2. Duffy (M) 6:18.92, 3. Kerin Sovern (N) 6:19.93, 4. Rachel Rastelli (N) 6:58.34, 5. Johnson (M) 7:46.32.

200 freestyle relay - 1. Masuk 1:53.60, 2. Newtown 2:03.75, 3. Masuk 2:16.71.

100 backstroke - 1. Ashley Molden (N) 1:06.91, 2. Masuk 1:11.51, 3. Rachel Rastelli (N) 1:19.96, 4. Jamie Minalgo (N) 1:22.33, 5. Masuk 1:22.78.

100 breaststroke - 1. Hanrath (M) 1:12.58, 2. Kerin Sovern (N) 1:16.53, 3. Bosch (M) 1:26.73, 4. Margaret Randall (N) 1:28.24, 5. Kruk (M) 1:29.56.

400 freestyle relay - 1. Newtown 4:15.04, 2. Masuk 4:18.44, 3. Newtown 4:48.35.