Perfect So Far, Swim Team Strives To Keep Up Winning Ways

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s girls’ swimming and diving team is off to a fast start this fall. The Nighthawks improved to 4-0 with wins over Joel Barlow of Redding and New Milford this past week.

“We’ve been swimming some pretty good competition thus far and I’m happy with things — the way the team’s progressing this season — and hoping it keeps progressing in the right direction,” Newtown Coach Zach Gauvin said.

One of the keys to Newtown’s early-on success is the team’s return to its home pool for practices. Last year, the Nighthawks had their daily three-hour practice windows sliced in half because school renovations meant the team had to travel to Oxford to train.

“I think the extra pool time has absolutely helped. You can notice when, the last 25 yards every race, we’re kind of running people down, which is nice to see. It shows that our endurance level is getting up there. But I always think it can be a little bit better,” Gauvin said.

“We’ve been training since the summer really hard. During the meets we’re really supportive of each other. We really push ourselves,” senior captain Bianca Solano said.

A mix of veterans, including Solano, and new-to-varsity swimmers have been huge contributions thus far.

“It’s a really fun experience. Everyone’s so nice and supportive — it’s a great team to be on,” said freshman Amy Martinelli, one of those first-year Nighthawks.

The Nighthawks already sent a message to the conference by beating always-tough Brookfield, and look to remain unbeaten when they swim against host Weston this Friday, September 30. Gauvin liked what he saw in wins over Barlow and New Milford, and he was able to test some of his swimmers in different events.

“These last two meets I felt the girls swam well, considering they swam a lot of different events than there normally used to. Hopefully this experience will help them in our next big meet this Friday at Weston,” the coach said.

Even with the winning ways, and the fact the Nighthawks knocked off Brookfield, Solano says the Hawks don’t want to get overly confident. “We don’t want to get too full of ourselves,” she said. “With the practice and effort we put in, we hope we can keep our winning streak.”

Results from Newtown’s 97-84 win over visiting Joel Barlow of Redding on September 23:

200 yard medley relay, first, Kelley Baylis, Annika Fagerholm, Sally Martinelli, Amanda Mele 2:05.13. 200 freestyle, first, Amy Martinelli 2:07.51; second, Eliza Eggleston 2:13.83. 200 individual medley, first, Annika Fagerholm 2:30.72; second, Megan McDonald 2:33.84; 50 free, first, Amanda Mele 27.36; second, Charlotte Gray 28.04. Diving, first, Noelle Benson. 100 butterfly, second, Sally Martinelli 1:12.33. 100 free, first, Abby Fagerholm 1:00.66; third, Kelley Baylis 1:03.21. 500 free, second, Megan McDonald 6:01.08; third, Annika Fagerholm 6:03.42. 200 free relay, first, Bianca Solano, Kelley Baylis, Charlotte Gray, Amy Martinelli 1:50.45. 100 backstroke, first, Zoe Eggleston 1:07.17; second, Abby Fagerholm 1:11.03. 100 Breaststroke, first, Annika Fagerholm 1:17.27; second, Michelle Isabella 1:18.33; third, Jane Sclafani 1:19.24. 400 free relay, first, Zoe Eggleston, Amanda Mele, Eliza Eggleston, Abby Fagerholm 4:08.63.

Results from Newtown’s 96-82 win at New Milford this past Tuesday:

200 medley relay, first, Kelley Baylis, Abby Fagerholm, Kelsey McEvoy, Amanda Mele 2:00.97. 200 free, first, Amy Martinelli 2:10.36; second, Charlotte Gray 2:19.05. 200 IM, second, Annika Fagerholm 2:30.96; third, Megan McDonald 2:34.73. 50 free, first, Kelsey McEvoy 26.59; third, Claire Bassett 29.81. Diving, first, Natalie Poeltl; second, Lauren O’Connell; third, Noelle Benson. 100 fly, second, Sally Martinelli 1:11.37; third, Shannon McDonald 1:18.34. 100 Free, first, Zoe Eggleston 1:00.05; second, Bianca Solano 1:01.99. 500 free, first, Abby Fagerholm 5:48.06; second, Amy Martinelli 5:48.97; third, Megan McDonald 6:01.55. 200 free relay, first, Kelsey McEvoy, Michelle Isabella, Zoe Eggleston, Bianca Solano 1:50.15. 100 back, first, Kelley Baylis 1:05.85; second, Charlotte Gray 1:13.33. 100 breaststroke, first, Annika Fagerholm 1:15.51; second Michelle Isabella 1:19.90; third, Ellen Atkinson 1:24.09. 400 free relay, first, Amy Martinelli, Zoe Eggleston, Amanda Mele, Abby Fagerholm 4:07.77.