West Hartford’s Conard and Hall girls swimming and diving teams share the CCC West title after Wednesday night’s meet ended in a tie. [Updated]

By Jon Fiskewold and John Smachetti

Not only were West Hartford bragging rights on the line, but the CCC West title was also up for grabs as Hall hosted Conard at Cornerstone Aquatics Center on Wednesday night with both teams bringing a 4-0 record in conference dual meets to the pool.

With the benefit of hindsight, the outcome almost seemed preordained between the West Hartford swimmers and divers. Following a spirited senior night ceremony, where the girls on each team seemed to cheer almost as passionately for the crosstown competition as they did their own departing teammates, the fabled Hall vs. Conard girls swim meet ended in a 93-93 tie.

The meet opened with an amazing finish as Conard anchor, Claire Dombrofski came from behind to win the 200 Medley relay by a mere 1/100th of a second. The race was back and forth with Julia Seguro giving Hall the lead after the backstroke. Tess Sherry – swimming against Mindy Zhao – then brought Conard back into the lead after the breastroke leg, only to see senior captain Meghan Tiernan give the edge back to Hall. Dombrofski pressed Ziggy Edney the entire 50 yards and out-touched her at the finish. With Hall taking second and third, Conard held a slim 8-6 lead.

The Hall combination of senior captain Molly Nordquist and Miriam Youel scored a 1-2 finish in the 200 freestyle to give Hall their first lead of the meet at 16-14.

Hall extended their lead in the 200 IM with Tiernan taking first, backed by Katherine Manaresi (third), while Tess Sherry finished in second place. After the 200 IM, Hall lead by 6, 26-20.

Conard’s Aspen Rosner teamed up with Dombrofski and Cecelia Peck for a 1-3-5 finish over Edney and Seguro in the 50 free, and at the dive break, Hall held onto a narrow 32-30 lead.

Holding that lead would prove challenging against Conard’s formidable dive team, led by reigning class L champion Ali Colburn, who along with Rachel Giroux and Gabrielle Alekshun swept the event. Hall senior Mayalin Glooch turned in an impressive performance in the six-dive event but finished fourth, and while freshman Kate Hynes scored points, at the end of the diving competition, Conard had a 43-35 lead.

In the 100 butterfly, Molly Nordquist teamed up with Zhao and Claire Nordquist for a 1-3-4 finish as Liv Sherry stopped the sweep in the event, finishing second. The gap closed to 48-46 Conard.

The 100 freestyle was taken by Tiernan, although Conard pulled off a 2-3-4 to win the event 9-7 and extend the lead back to 4 points, 57-53. The 500 freestyle had a similar finish with Hall’s Youel taking first in the grueling event with a 5:29.46 finish, while the team of Meghan Jo, Lyla Harhay, and Sophia Pincince finished 2-3-4 for Conard, followed by Hall senior Kate Healy in fifth. Conard took the event 9-7, opening up a lead of 66-60.

The 200 freestyle was a key event for Hall as they went 1-3, taking the event 10-4 and bring the meet to its first tie score at 70.  The team of Zhao, Edney, Youel and M. Nordquist let the way for Hall. Hall’s third place team included junior Gwen Bye, seniors Manaresi and Jane Grove, and freshman Sophia Adelman.

Conard won the backstroke event 9-7 to recapture the lead as T. Sherry, Rosie Alonzo, and Gracie Lowney finished 1-4-5 over Hall’s Seguro and C. Nordquist.

The breastroke event split 8-8 as last season’s Class L 100 breaststroke champion, L. Sherry, bested Zhao for the win. Manaresi took third for Hall while Ella Hall and Bye rounded out the scoring for fourth and fifth.

With only the 400 freestyle left, Conard held on to a slim, two-point lead at 87-85.

At this point, the meet looked like it could end in a tie as the Hall A relay team had been faster this season than the Conard A relay team, but the Conard B relay team had the advantage over the Hall B relay team. As had been the case in previous meets, the Hall team of Youel, Edney, C. Nordquist, and Tiernan bested the Conard team of Dombrofski, J. Harhay, T. Sherry, and L. Sherry, while the Conard B relay team of Claire Haverly, L Harhay, Rachel Mathews, and Jo bested the Hall B relay team of Lexi Dominquez, Claire Culmo, Jessica Vickerman, and Healy.

Hall took the event 8-6 – and a victor would not be crowned in the meet, which ended in a 93-93 finish.

The last time the meet ended in a tie was 35 years ago, back in 1987.

Before the meet, Hall senior captains Jacqui Fox, Kate Harker, M. Nordquist, and Tiernan indicated they expected a close meet – although not necessarily a tie. Hall remains unbeaten against Conard, a streak that extends back to 2016, while Conard ends the regular season competition undefeated in dual meets, with a record of 7-0-1. The West Hartford teams now share the title of CCC West champions.

Both Conard and Hall will prepare for the CCC West Divisional meet with diving on Tuesday at Newington and swimming at Cornerstone on Wednesday. That will be the last competition for the team before they had to the state tournament where Hall will compete in Class L and Conard in Class LL.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article has been updated and now reflects details about the performance of both Conard and Hall swimmers and divers.

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