Plenty Of Wins Within A Loss For Improving Hawk Swimmers

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s boys’ swimming and diving team may have come up on the short end of a 104-74 score against visiting Staples High of Westport — a tough team from the FCIAC — on February 10 but, within the team loss were numerous individual wins, giving Coach Zach Gauvin plenty to be thrilled about as the regular season winds down.

“Today was easily the best meet that we swam all season and we had over a dozen best times, which is just unheard of,” said Gauvin, before adding up what turned out to be 14 top season times for his improving swimmers.

The team also had its first state championships qualifier as Sean Fahey earned a spot with his time of 1:01.65 in the 100-yard backstroke event. Fahey’s effort may not have been a best personal time, but it was the fastest backstroke effort at this meet — and Newtown’s lone first-place finish.

Most notably, Stephen Mais dropped a mind-boggling 16 seconds off his 500 freestyle time and finished in 5:35.91.

Other swimmers who recorded their best times are: Mike Lally, 2:05.24 in the 200 free; Brenden Peterson, 2:20.13 in the 200 free; Mike Poulter, 2:22.24 in the 200 free; Harrison Buzzi, 2:28.22 in the 200 individual medley; Peter Gryzbowski, 31.36 in the 50 free; Andrew Braun, 1:11.37 in the 100 butterfly; Danielle Chaloux, 1:17.95 in the 100 fly; Matt Hess 1:03.04 in the 100 free; Nicole Chaloux, 1:06.00 in the 100 free; Rachel Buzzi, 1:33.51 in the 100 breaststroke; Jack Benedict, 1:28.87 in the 100 breaststroke; Mike Lally, 5:36.47 in the 500 free; and Mike Poulter, 1:13.79 in the 100 backstroke.

“Top to bottom, everybody just swam out of their mind today. So it was just a great meet,” Gauvin said.

What’s most encouraging for Gauvin is that the swimmers are performing at a high level despite working extra hard in practice.

“We’re swimming the most yardage we have in the season, so the guys are definitely tired and that just gets me excited because I know come SWCs and state time we’re going to be dropping some serious times,” said Gauvin, referring to the South-West Conference championships that will be held March 1 and 2, followed by the state championships in early March.

“The guys more than exceeded my expectations on [in the meet against Staples]. To swim that well against one of the best teams in the state shows their mental toughness. Its especially encouraging knowing that once we get to championships that they will be getting even faster than they are now. Hopefully we can build on the experience gained, and finish the season strong,” Gauvin said.

The Nighthawks were scheduled to host New Milford on Senior Night on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press), and will close out the regular campaign with a visit New Fairfield on February 21.