Sparked by a record-setting performance in the diving portion of the South-West Conference championships by Kari Djonne, Newtown High School’s girls’ swimming and diving team placed fourth among ten teams. The diving finals were held at New Fairfield High School on November 4, and the swimming events took place at Masuk High in Monroe on November 7.

Newtown scored 308 points. Weston High won the title with 531.5, Pomperaug of Southbury was runner-up with 514, and Brookfield came in third with 383. Host Masuk placed fifth with 259.

Djonne and Gillian Eckwall gave the Nighthawks a one-two finish in the diving event, as Djonne scored 557.95 to break the SWC record, and Eckwall had a 478.05. The duo scored 22 and 19 points, respectively, for the team. Diver Sarah MacMullan was sixth with a score of 338.45 for 15 points, and Kiera Sughrue placed eighth with a 326.55 for 13 points.

In the swimming portion of the championships, Newtown’s 200 yard medley relay team of Megan Olszewski, Emma Brantl, Casey Klein, and Mary Hufziger was fourth in a time of 1:57.03 for 34 points. The relay contingent trimmed more than two seconds off their seed time coming into the race.

Bridget Duero placed 12th in the 200 yard freestyle race, in a time of 2:08.61 for seven points. Brantl was 13th in the 200 individual medley relay race in a time of 2:26.44 for six points. Mary Hufziger earned fourth in the 50 yard freestyle event in a time of 25.68 for 17 points. Olszewski was 11th in the 50 freestyle, sprinting to a time of 27.08 for eight points; and Gianna Terracino came in 13th in the 50 free with a time of 27.29 for six points.

In the 100 yard butterfly event, Klein finished tenth in 1:04.01 for ten points; and Julia DiMartino came in 17th in 1:07.95 for two points. Hufziger earned a fourth-place finish in the 100 yard freestyle event in a time of 54.67 to score 17 points; and Terracino was 14th in the event in 1:00.61 for five points.

Maddie Carter was 11th in the 500 yard freestyle race, making her final touch in 5:39.76 for eight points; she dropped more than three seconds from her seed time. Duero was 14th in the event in a time of 5:48.52 for five points. Cecilia Schoeni came in 16th in the 500 with a time of 5:55.53, trimming nearly two seconds from her seed time for three points.

The 200 free relay team of Brantl, Olszewski, Terracino, and Hufziger was third in 1:47.49 for 36 points.

Klein came in fourth in the 100 yard backstroke race in a time of 1:03.60 for 17 points; Olszewski placed 11th in 1:08.47 to earn eight points. In the 100 yard breaststroke event, Maddie Carter placed seventh in 1:14.46 for 14 points; Brantl was 15th in 1:16.98 to score four points.

Newtown’s 400 yard relay team of Terracino, Duero, Klein, and Carter was fifth in 3:57.37 for 32 points.