The Haddam-Killingworth boys’ swimming and diving team took part in the Class S State Championship and finished fifth out of 29 teams with 280 points. Weston was the champion of the meet with 683.

“The team was definitely excited to race going into it and it was a very positive atmosphere. They all worked hard to this point of the year and were looking forward to it,” said Head Coach Devon Moore. “All week, we were analyzing other teams’ times and strategizing races, so they were in a good mental state and knew what they wanted to accomplish. It was really a team effort. They were all supportive of each other and swam their hardest.”

At the swimming portion of the meet at Wesleyan on March 18, HK displayed prominence in the relay section with the 200 free relay unit of seniors Elliot Lynskey, Garrett Mazziotti, Conor Champagne, and junior Connor McLaughlin finishing as runner-up with a time of 1:32.14, which was less than a second behind event winner Holy Cross (1:31.60). With the 200 medley relay, the grouping of freshman Jake Torello, Champagne, Mazziotti, and McLaughlin was fourth with a total time of 1:43.79. Finally, in the 400 free, McLaughlin, freshmen Michael Morman and Torello, plus sophomore Rachel Coady, swam to 10th (clocking in at 3:42.83).

“I’m really proud of my team’s performance. Despite having fewer than 10 kids [at states], I’m impressed that we were able to come in fifth,” said Champagne. “As a team, we worked hard all season and deserved it. I was very happy with my performances as I had personal bests in every event. I’m extremely proud of our two free relay teams coming in second and going All-State. Every member wanted to go All-State more than anything and I know I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the meet.”

For solo events, Mazziotti continued his strong season by racing to third in the 200 free thanks to a final mark of 1:46.52—two seconds behind champion Conor Robison of Sheehan (1:44.57)—prior to him finishing fourth for the 100 butterfly (53.90). McLaughlin also saw 11th for the fly (57.76). Champagne then had a top four solo spot in the 50 free by coming in fourth (finishing the race in 22.85) while he was sixth in the 100 free on a time of 50.74.

“Personally, I am pleased with my All-State honor in the 200 free, although I didn’t have my best meet and added time to both my individual events,” said Mazziotti. “Overall, I feel the team did very well in having seven swimmers qualify for the meet and I’m happy that we had two of our relays qualify for the State Open.”

Rounding out the day for HK, which had previously completed its first season in SCC Division II at 6-7, was Torello’s ninth-place showing in the 100 backstroke (time of 1:00.24) and Coady coming in 21st for the 500 free (5:40.69).

“We were definitely nervous going into the year because we were going against good teams that we didn’t know too much about,” said Coach Moore, whose team entertained top SCC competition in conference champion Fairfield Prep and runner-up Cheshire and finished 13th for the league championship. “We just went into each meet with our best lineup and went into every meet preparing for a battle. We also treated each meet realizing we could lose by a point and all would be close. We took everything on as a challenge and gave our all. We knew we could put up a good fight in each matchup, plus they saw the positives and learned from their experiences.”

Six days earlier at the Diving Championship in Plainville, senior Jamie Little finished in 21st place and scored four points that counted toward the Cougars’ final total.

At the State Open on March 21 at Yale, HK finished 27

^th

with 50 points. The same 200 medley relay group from states was 23

^rd

(1:44.80) while Mazziotti swam to 16

^th

for the 100 butterfly (53.71). The Cougars’ 200 free relay team also found 15

^th

(1:32.32).