By Kim J. Harmon

SOUTHBURY – First place?

Come on, with powerhouses Brookfield and Pomperaug in the way, it was never a question of whether or not the Newtown High School swim team would finish first at the South-West Conference championships last weekend in Southbury.

Because the answer would have been – no way.

So the Nighthawks focused their energy on third place and beating out a New Fairfield team that won a dual meet thriller during the regular season . . . and that’s exactly what they accomplished last weekend.

The ‘Hawks scored 312 points (not that far back from second-place Pomperaug, which scored 405 points) and easily earned third place at the SWC Championships. New Fairfield finished fourth with 224 points and Weston took fifth with 194 points.

“We did unbelievably well,” said head coach Rory Perry. “We did everything we wanted to – and more.”

CJ Maurer and Andrew Heller turned in the best individual performances for the ‘Hawks – with Maurer earning a second-place finish in diving (just 5.45 points in back of Peter Schmidt of Pomperaug) and Heller earning a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (3.48 seconds behind Pat Seeley of Brookfield).

Maurer defeated Schmidt during the dual meet season, but while admitting Schmidt was very consistent in his 11-dive performance, Maurer also admitted one poor dive probably cost him the individual title.

But he was looking at a bigger picture.

“Coach had all the seeds mapped out and if everything went according to that,” he said, “we would have beaten New Fairfield by only three points. But we did so much better because everyone had personal best times. That was the most satisfying part of the meet.”

The ‘Hawks shaved almost 90 seconds – all told – off their previous personal best times. Eric Taylor sliced 15 seconds off his time in the 500 freestyle while Jim Morlath cut 13 seconds off his time in the 500 freestyle. Then there is Paul Ashey, who shaved 12 seconds off his time in the 200 freestyle, and Scott Whalley, who shaved nine seconds off his time in the 500 freestyle.

Six seconds here, five seconds there – it all added up to a spectacular finish.

Meanwhile, the 200-yard freestyle relay team was third at 1:38.99 (5.75 seconds behind Brookfield) and the 400-yard freestyle relay team was also third at 3:39.47 (16.73 seconds behind Brookfield). Steve Truitt finished fourth in the diving competition with 277.65 points while Bryan Lacouture was seventh and Lauren Borusso was 11th.

“They did so well,” said coach Perry, “I had kids move to different events. They swam out of their minds! We had best times all across the board and now we’re hoping to do a lot better at states.”

The Nighthawks finished the dual meet season at 6-4 (losing to Brookfield, Pomperaug, Shepaug and New Fairfield), but that little payback will help spur them on as they head to the CIAC Class L championships next week.

Heller (100 butterfly, 200 individual medley), Zack Moliver (200 individual medley), Chris Jacob (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle), Paul Ashey (100 backstroke, 200 freestyle), Maurer (diving), Truitt (diving), Lacouture (diving), Eric Taylor (500 freestyle and 200 freestyle), and Tim Robinson (50 freestyle, 100 breaststroke) will all be competing at states.

TEAM SCORES: 1. Brookfield 540, 2. Pomperaug 405, 3. Newtown 312, 4. New Fairfield 224, 5. Weston 194, 6. Bunnell 142, 7. Masuk 106, 8. Bethel 85, 9. Foran 83, 10. New Milford 75, 11. Immaculate 6.

Individual Results

Top 3 + NHS finishers

200 medley relay – 1. Brookfield 1:43.09, 2. Weston 1:50.39, 3. Pomperaug 1:52.83, 5. Newtown 1:54.28; 200 freestyle – 1. Heyer (Bu) 1:45.28, 2. Goldberg (Br) 1:51.49, 3. Traynor (NF) 1:52.34, 5. Taylor (N) 1:56.58, 9. Ashey (N) 2:01.21, 14. LaMarche (N) 2:11.26, 16. Modzelewski (N) 2:17.34; 200 individual medley – 1. Edwards (Br) 2:02.15, 2. Seeley (Br) 2:09.19, 3. Gannon (NF) 2:13.24, 6. Heller (N) 2:15.05, 10. Moliver (N) 2:20.29, 11. Maher (N) 2:23.00; 50 freestyle – 1. Manoni (Br) 22.62, 2. Smith (P) 23.27, 3. Loftus (Br) 23.49, 6. Jacob (N) 24.12, 7. Robinson (N) 24.42, 19. Truitt (N) 26.15, 23. Maurer (N) 26.85; Diving – 1. Schmidt (P) 323.85 points, 2. Maurer (N) 318.40 points, 3. Puco (P) 280.95 points, 4. Truitt (N) 277.65 points, 7. Lacouture (N) 239.40 points, 11. Borusso (N) 202.55 points; 100 butterfly – 1. Seeley (Br) 55.15, 2. Heller (N) 58.63, 3. Siegel (W) 59.56, 13. Morlath (N) 1:06.82; 100 freestyle – 1. Heyer (Bu) 47.73, 2. Smith (P) 50.89, 3. Dodge (W) 52.26, 10. Jacob (N) 53.62, 21. LaMarche (N) 59.43; 500 freestyle – 1. Traynor (NF) 5:02.30, 2. Goldberg (Br) 5:05.89, 3. McCloskey (Br) 5:14.27, 4. Taylor (N) 5:17.80, 12. Morlath (N) 5:58.69, 17. Modzelewski (N) 6:12.50, 18. Whalley (N) 6:14.31; 200 freestyle relay – 1. Brookfield 1:33.24, 2. Pomperaug 1:33.72, 3. Newtown 1:38.99; 100 backstroke – 1. Edwards (Br) 52.49, 2. Baker (Br) 59.58, 3. Wener (P) 1:02.22, 7. Ashey (N) 1:04.24, 10. Moliver (N) 1:05.82; 100 breaststroke – 1. Rosen (W) 1:05.52, 2. Manoni (Br) 1:07.47, 3. Gannon (NF) 1:08.33, 6. Robinson (N) 1:09.19, 7. Maher (N) 1:10.00; 400 freestyle relay – 1. Brookfield 3:22.74, 2. Pomperaug 3:29.17, 3. Newtown 3:39.47.