Conard hosted CCC West opponent Farmington on Tuesday at Cornerstone Aquatics Center in West Hartford.

Conard vs. Farmington girls swimming and diving. Oct. 1, 2024. Photo credit: Craig Rosenberg

Submitted article. Photos by Craig Rosenberg

Conard Girls Swimming and Diving opened their CCC West schedule with a hard fought win over Farmington on Tuesday afternoon, defeating the River Hawks 95-89.

Farmington took an early lead over Conard with the team of Julia Wysocka, Irene Chen, Alex Urbanowicz, and Cecilia Minard placing first in the 200 Medley Relay, and their teammates Ella Wagner, Kaya Wroblewski, Meagan Mandac, and Allison Rodriguez placed third, giving them a 10-4 advantage over the Red Wolves.

While the Red Wolves would go on to outscore the River Hawks 9-7 in the 200 freestyle behind Echo Jo, Kayla Lowney, and Luch Pincince, they were given a big scare after the conclusion of the race. Jo, who was in a tight battle for first with Farmington’s Jenney Liu, pushed hard into the finish, smashing their hand against the wall in the process. Jo immediately alerted the coaching staff that they believed they may have just broken their finger, putting their participation in the rest of the meet in question. “I’ve done this before,” Jo told their coaches, “I can just tape it and ice it and I’ll be fine.” Unfortunately for Jo, the officials advised that taping an injury mid meet was a rule violation and would result in a disqualification from any events they would go on to swim, so their options were to pull out of the meet or ice it and hope for the best. Jo didn’t hesitate; they asked for ice and said they’d be fine, turning their attention back to their teammates’ races.

Conard continued to chip away at Farmington’s lead in the 200 Individual Medley and 50 Freestyle, where Rachel Mathews, Ella Hall, and Lyla Harhay combined to outscore Farmington 9-7 in the IM, and Gracie Lowney, Claire Haverly, and Cece Peck notched another 9-7 split in the 50, pushing the score to a 31-31 tie at the break for diving.

Conard vs. Farmington girls swimming and diving. Oct. 1, 2024. Photo credit: Craig Rosenberg

Conard’s Gabby Alekshun, Mia Rosario, and Sanai Belabe easily handled the challenge from Farmington’s divers, sweeping the event with Alekshun taking first, Rosario second, and Belabe third. Conard now had its first – and much needed – lead of the day, going up 44-34 over Farmington.

Farmington answered back in the 100 Butterfly behind Chen who cruised to first, while Conard’s Mathews and Celia Filotto took the second and third spots. Mandac and Abigail Esposito were able to grab the fourth and fifth place spots to give Farmington a 9-7 advantage over Conard. Farmington’s momentum was short lived as G. Lowney won the 100 Freestyle and teammates Pincince and Haverly held off a challenge from Rodriguez to take fourth and fifth place.

In the 500, Jo held good to their assertion that they were fine, holding off a challenge from Wroblewski and taking first, while teammates K. Lowney and Ellie Harhay finished third and fifth respectively, increasing the Conard advantage to 14 with four events to go.

Conard vs. Farmington girls swimming and diving. Oct. 1, 2024. Photo credit: Craig Rosenberg

Conard increased their lead to 20 points after the 200 Freestyle Relay behind a first place finish from Haverly, Pincince, Jo, and G. Lowney, and third place finish from Hall, Lilah Krajc, Mathews, and K. Lowney. In the 100 Backstroke, L. Harhay, Peck, and Maddie Mancini scored 10 more points to push the score to 90-66 in Conard’s favor.

With two events to go, the Red Wolves needed just 3 more points to ensure a victory. Despite a 1-3 finish from Farmington’s Liu and Chen, Hall and Filotto combined to score 5 points for Conard, closing out the meet for the Red Wolves.

In the final event, the 400 Freestyle Relay, Haverly, Pincince, L. Harhay, and G. Lowney would go on to take first, while E. Harhay, K. Lowney, Peck, and Filotto would take third.

The Red Wolves are now 4-0, and 1-0 in the CCC West. Conard will face CCC West opponent Southington on Wednesday Oct. 9, at the Southington YMCA.

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