Young Swimmers Aim For Success

By Andy Hutchison

The Newtown High School boys’ swimming and diving team is striving for some success this campaign, all the while keeping an eye on the future. A group of strong swimmers are back in the fold following last year’s fourth-place finish in the South-West Conference championships and eighth-place result in the Class LL state championships.

Among 11 graduates were Dan Hufziger and Abben Hung, who set the school records in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 breaststroke, respectively.

This year’s team has 35 swimmers, including 16 newcomers in this reloading year. “We’ve got a lot of kids this year — at ton of kids — which is great,” Newtown Coach Zach Gauvin said.

Gauvin added that he will work with the first-year high school swimmers to properly develop their stroke techniques so they avoid common shoulder injuries and work toward future success.

The Nighthawks are led by captains Sean Fahey, who is a distance freestyler and backstroker; Stephen Mais, a freestlyer; and Kaitlyn VosWinkel, a diver. VosWinkel is one of several girls on the team who played other fall sports during the girls’ swim campaign.

Sophomore Austin Adamcheck, who swims the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly, sophomore distance freestyler Mike Lally, along with junior diver Samantha Freitas are among others Gauvin is expecting big things from.

Gauvin is shooting for a top-five finish in the SWC meet, and to send as many individuals to the state competition as possible. Pomperaug of Southbury and Joel Barlow of Redding are among the top teams in the conference and the Brookfield meet always generates plenty of local interest.

The Hawks were scheduled to begin the season against visiting Masuk of Monroe on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press). They visit the Bunnell-Stratford team on December 20, and return home after the holiday break to host Brookfield at 7 pm on January 3.