impressive performance

I just witnessed one of the most amazing, if not the most, performances by a high school athlete I've seen in my relatively short time covering sports professionally... and it was at a swim meet.
Pomperaug swimmer Travis McNamara set not only a Class L meet record, but a pool record in the 500 freestyle with a 4:29.74. Now if that time doesn't mean anything to you, consider this. The event was held at a college pool, which frequently hosts conference and New England championships.
The previous record at the Freeman Center (Wesleyan), which has been open for approximately a decade I believe, was nearly a full second slower than McNamara's mark. The Wesleyan team record was almost six seconds behind.
"You enjoy seeing such high level swimming," Farmington coach Scott Ferrigno said of the meet as a whole.
No kidding. Watching McNamara swim, with the seven next best swimmers in Class L trying to catch him, was like watching rowboats try to catch up to a motor boat. From the start of the race he was so smooth cutting through the water, and after one lap had already distanced himself by nearly a body length.
After 12 laps I turned to former Southington Athletic Director and CIAC member Bob Lehr and commented on how I was looking at the pool records on the wall to see how close McNamara might come. I speculated he might be within ten or 15 seconds.
As he raced through the final lap, everybody in the building was watching the clock. Now, as a member of the media, I am not supposed to cheer during events. But when he touched the wall I couldn't help but stand up and clap for him.
"With the level of swimming we have in Connecticut, it’s great," Ferrigno said. "Because, I know they have New England and college swim meets here, so it shows how strong Connecticut swimming is."
Truly impressive.

sad times in the Hill

It is an unfortunate time to be a Rocky Hill fan (or alum). The Terriers, who have never been a powerhouse in the winter season, scattering successful years including a boys Class S basketball title in 2002, are struggling through their worst collective season in years.
One editor in our office, who takes phone calls from coaches, pointed out that she has not taken a call from a Terriers coach after a win in weeks, be it basketball, boys or girls, wrestling, swimming, or hockey.
That is an exaggeration. But, the basketball and hockey teams have a combined 9-15 record since the start of the new year. The last win was the skaters, coming on January 21, while both basketball teams swept RHAM on January 18.
Meanwhile, the wrestling and swim teams continue to struggle with low numbers, a long-standing problem for both.
There is still hope for the basketball and hockey teams to make the state tournament, and maybe get things going. There was high hope in Terrierland for the girls in particular starting the season, and while I'm sure the girls are working as hard as ever, the results have been disappointing.
Here's to hoping February treats the teams better than January, and that there will be time to turn the seasons around.

results are in

I've been scouring the CIAC website for swim results all night, and they're finally all in from the class meets. Sad to say only four locals qualified for the state open meet as individuals (a couple Farmington relays as well). Those would be Taylor Friedmann (Berlin), Megan Sisson (Plainville), Alyssa "Millie" Mills (Plainville) and Monika Drogosz (Farmington). They get to brave the traffic of a Yale-Harvard game on Saturday for the open, also held at Yale in New Haven (Mills will actually compete Friday night in diving).
It was amazing to see just how dominant the Class LL and L schools were in taking the open spots. Until those two meets finished Wednesday night, a number of other locals were in contention for the open. There were also some in the larger classes who did well but were edged out for open spots. Among them in no particular order were Jillian Chudwick, Jen Noyes, Carly Huffman, Melanie Norton, Melly Marrington, Maria Bartolotta, Molly Martin and Kelsey Cronin.
The top individual finishes were Drogosz's second in the Class L 50 freestyle, Sisson's third in the Class S 500 freestyle and Friedmann's second in the Class M 200 freestyle. Drogosz and Friedmann each qualified for the open in two events.
Farmington placed fourth as a team in Class L, but was not terribly close to the top three.
Interestingly, Cheshire, which notably set the national record for consecutive dual meet wins, a streak that extends 21 years, came in second in Class LL to Greenwich for the third straight year. The Rams last won the title in 2004, when the Cardinals were second. Now that's consistent dominance from both programs.

love for the swimmers

I received a comment regarding the Northwest Conference swimming championships held Saturday on the campus of Wesleyan University. I was aware that the event was taking place but was assigned to an afternoon football game. I must admit I was not in the office on Saturday night, so I did not get a chance to talk to any coaches who called to report scores that night. However, perusing the Herald's website, I see a report that East Catholic won the event, edging out Scott Ferrigno's very good Farmington team, despite a record-setting performance.
The Indians' medley relay of Jenn Noyes, Audrey King, Melly Marrington and Monika Drogosz set a new conference record with a time of 1:54.57, an excellent time.
Marrington, Noyes and Drogosz each won individual events as well. The latter's 55.25 in the 100 yard freestyle is particularly impressive to me.
Taylor Friedmann (Berlin), one of the most consistently dominant swimmers in the area, won two events, the 200 and 500 freestyles.
Unfortunately I don't see any info on the top swimmers from Plainville, although I'm sure you could find the names Meghan Sisson, Melanie Norton and Jessica Jahr at or near the top as well as diver Millie Mills. I got the chance to watch that team swim against Farmington earlier this season and both sides impressed me.
Sometimes it is easy to overlook swimming with football, soccer and volleyball, team sports, garnering the most attention. But I will have my eyes on times at the state tournaments and state open over the next couple weeks to see how well these gifted athletes do in the pool.

what was that stat again?

I just wanted to give a "shout out" of congratulations to the Cheshire girls swimming team. The team, featured on ESPN's First Take program this afternoon, broke a national record for consecutive wins with their 235th consecutive dual meet victory.
Think about that. 235 teams in a row showed up at the pool to face the Rams and left defeated. The streak goes back to the 1980s.
Every town has sports it is better at, and every sport has its powerhouses, programs whose success breeds more success in the future. And swimming is a sport that often comes down to mere numbers. The larger the team, the more entrants in a race often and that leads to simple mathematical results.
But even with that in mind, 235 wins is remarkable, and almost unfathomable in any sport. Apologies to the Elkhart Central High (Indiana) squads from 1980-1994. Your mere 234 straight wins weren't enough.
I talked to a couple other coaches today about the feat, and they had nothing but good things to say about Cheshire coach Ed Aston and the team:

"I abolutely love it. Ed Aston has been around for years and years. He's brought swimming fame to Connecticut constantly. He's the level of program that we all want to be. And he's gotten what everybody wants.
He probably had his rough years like anybody else ... And he doesn't look to pad his schedule. He swims tough, tough competition all the time and that's what he goes after."
- Randy Doucette, Plainville head coach.

"You know, that streak started when I was in high school and swimming [against] Cheshire. I went to North Haven, so I know Ed Aston. I know the tradition that Cheshire has. I think it's wonderful for the sport to be recognized and for a team to be recognized for doing something so, just, phenomenal.
They are without a doubt the most dominant high school sports team in Connecticut, boys or girls, in any sport. And they proved it [yesterday]. I think it's a wonderful accomplishment and I hope they keep it going for a long time."
-Scott Ferrigno, Farmington head coach.