By Kim J. Harmon

MONROE – Their bodies may have been in Masuk, but their minds were at Shepaug.

With the Nighthawks being as strong as they have been, going 12-1 to this point in the 1999-2000 season, there are so few meets to look forward to with a sense of anticipation. Shepaug – which has become a friendly rival of Newtown only because of that program’s perennial strength – is one of them and while the ‘Hawks may have been busy with the Panthers on Tuesday, they were already thinking about the Spartans on Wednesday.

 

(NOTE: The meet with Shepaug ended after presstime.)

 

The ‘Hawks have always geared up for the meet with the Spartans because – like meets against Trumbull and Weston and even, in the past, Bunnell – it was one of their stiffest challenges of the season and their performance there would give them a fair accounting of themselves.

Perhaps in gearing up for the meet with Shepaug, the ‘Hawks were a little bit more than overwhelming for the Panthers of Masuk. Newtown crushed Masuk 96-82 (the ‘Hawks held a 96-44 lead before shutting it down and going unofficial) on Tuesday to raise their record to 12-1, 6-1 in the South-West Conference.

Ryan Eberts was a double winner for the ‘Hawks, who quickly put the meet out of reach within the first three events. They went 1-3 in the 200 medley relay, 1-2-4 in the 200 freestyle and 1-3-5 in the 200 individual medley. Eberts followed with a first-place finish in the 50 freestyle and later added a first-place finish in an off event for him, the 500 freestyle.

Masuk finished first in only one even in which Newtown swam officially, the 100 butterfly.

Joe Blanchard (200 free), Jeff Heller (200 individual medley), Greg Simoneau (diving) and Tim Lux (100 free) were all individual winners. The 200 medley relay team, which did not lead in the race until the final 20 yards, and the 200 freestyle relay team also took first-place finishes.

The Nighthawks will host their final dual meet of the season on Tuesday, February 15, against New Milford (Senior Night) and then the following day will travel to Southbury to take on Pomperaug High School.

As if the week won’t be busy enough, the ‘Hawks will be headed to Florida on Thursday, February 17 to train for the South-West Conference championship meet slated for Saturday, February 26, at Masuk High School.

NEWTOWN           96

MASUK               82

 

200 medley relay – 1. Newtown (Fries, Robinson, Kalb, Lux) 1:59.82, 2. Masuk 2:00.81, 3. Newtown 2:11.40.

200 freestyle – 1. Blanchard (N) 2:20.47, 2. Scharf (N) 2:20.66, 3. Pierce (M) 2:23.34, 4. Swink (N) 2:24.56, 5. DiMaria (M) 2:30.72.

200 individual medley – 1. Heller (N) 2:33.41, 2. Elliot (M) 2:49.49, 3. Robinson (N) 2:49.76, 4. Cole (M) 2:53.00, 5. Hopkins (N) 2:58.04.

50 freestyle – 1. Eberts (N) 24.96, 2. DiMaria (M) 25.10, 3. Fries (N) 25.81, 4. Smith (M) 26.12, 5. Kalb (N) 27.29.

Diving – 1. Simoneau (N) 177.75 points, 2. Monahan (N) 138.55, 3. Taylor (N) 103.75, 4. B. Taylor (M) 88.65, 5. Dahn (M) 85.79.

100 butterfly – 1. DiMaria (M) 1:06.91, 2. Heller (N) 1:07.74, 3. Modzelewski (N) 1:16.64, 4. Cole (M) 1:25.69, 5. Bass (N) 1:26.08.

100 freestyle – 1. Lux (N) 57.79, 2. Blanchard (N) 1:01.07, 3. Hankel (M) 1:02.56, 4. Scharf (N) 1:02.59, 5. Pierce (M) 1:04.21.

500 freestyle – 1. Eberts (N) 5:50.70, 2. Fries (N) 6:15.70, 3. Gambardella (M) 6:53.98, 4. Borkowski (M) 7:36.19, 5. Byers (N) 8:11.35.

200 freestyle relay – 1. Newtown, 2. Masuk, 3. Newtown.

Newtown swam unofficially the rest of the meet.