SWC Swim Championships—

NHS Third Among A Dozen Teams

Newtown High School’s girls’ swimming and diving team earned a third-place finish in the South-West Conference championships this week. Brookfield, with 439 points, won the meet; Lauralton Hall of Milford was second with 424, and NHS scored 376 to beat out Weston (335) in the 12-team meet.

The diving finals were held Monday in New Fairfield and the swimming competitions took place Tuesday at Pomperaug High in Southbury (they were originally slated for October 30 and November 3, respectively, but postponed due to the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy).

“I thought the girls swam great last night. We had personal bests throughout the entire meet, and as always, the SWC championships lived up to be one of the most exciting meets of the season,” Newtown Coach Zach Gauvin said the day after the competition. “Heading into the meet I wasn’t entirely sure how we would swim considering the disruption from the storm last week, but the girls took it in stride and swam both mentally and physically tough.”

The Nighthawks had several top-five finishes, including a runner-up result in the 200 freestyle relay event. Newtown’s point-getters, with event, placement and times, are as follows:

200 yard medley relay: 4. Kelley Baylis, Zoe Eggleston, Megan McDonald, and Amanda Mele, 1:59.83.

200 individual medley: 7. McDonald, 2:25.14; 9. Zoe Eggleston, 2:25.86.

50 freestyle: 3. Amy Martinelli, 25.76; 7. Mele, 26.63; 16. (tie) Baylis and Katie Stawaisz, 27.88.

100 butterfly: 4. McDonald, 1:05.46; 7. Eliza Eggleston, 1:07.13; 15. Casey Klein, 1:10.97.

100 free: 3. Martinelli, 55.35; 14. Charlotte Gray, 59.21.

500 free: 5. Annika Fagerholm, 5:41.12; 11. Abby Fagerholm, 5:48.88.

200 free relay: 2. Eliza Eggleston, Zoe Eggleston, Mele, and Martinelli, 1:44.43.

100 backstroke: 9. Baylis, 1:06.73; 17. Gray, 1:09.29.

100 breaststroke: 4. Zoe Eggleston, 1:14.40; 7. Annika Fagerholm, 1:15.91; 9. Jane Sclafani, 1:17.31; 15. Ellen Atkinson, 1:20.47.

400 free relay: 4. Eliza Eggleston, Abby Fagerholm, McDonald, and Martinelli, 3:55.62.

Diving: 3. Noelle Benson, 302.80; 4. Gillian Ekwall, 296.30; 10. Natalie Poeltl, 234.95; 17. Morgan Winters, 169.90.

Gauvin congratulated Brookfield for an impressive performance and looked ahead to the rest of the postseason. “They have some great kids on that team and I know they’ve been working hard all season. For us, this was the first step in the championship season, and so far we are headed in the right direction.”

That next step is the state championship divisional meet, followed by the State Open. Visit www.casciac.org for details.                         —AH