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Avon girls capture Splash Classic championship for 10th straight year

CP team Winners

Avon has captured the Splash Classic championship for the 10th straight year.

PLAINVILLE, Feb. 27 – The girls on the Avon High swim team continue to dominate at the annual Splash Classic swim meet, the unofficial state championship meet for girls that compete on teams during the boys swimming season.

The Falcons won the Splash Classic for the 10th consecutive season with a dominant performance, winning the event by 165 points with a 405-240 win over Northwestern Regional. Simsbury was fifth in the meet and Granby was tenth. Avon swimmers won five events and set new meet records in four of them.

The official girls swimming season is during the fall. During the winter season, girls are allowed to compete on boys swim teams and they can swim in the CIAC championship meets. But they must meet boys qualifying times.

Avon’s Sarah Preleski won the 500-yard freestyle by more than 20 seconds over teammate Emily Boswell while senior Ryley Higgins beat teammate Megan Boswell to the wall to capture the 100-yard backstroke in 1:04.08. Preleski and Higgins won their respective events for the second straight year. Megan Foley won the 100 butterfly in a meet record time of 1:01.00, beating Northwest Catholic’s Natalie Smith by nearly three seconds.

From left, seniors Ryley Higgins, Stephanie Rosenthal, Adrienne Nguyen and Megan Foley on the Avon High swim team hold the Splash Classic championship trophy.

From left, Avon High seniors Ryley Higgins, Stephanie Rosenthal, Adrienne Nguyen and Megan Foley hold the Splash Classic championship trophy.

Preleski also swam on Avon’s record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay team (Preleski, Sarah Osiecki, Annie Hayes, Megan Foley) that knocked more than two seconds off the meet record they set a year ago. The team’s time of 3:45.69 is also a new school record, shaving 2.23 seconds off the previous record.  Preleski was also second in the 200 freestyle and sixth in the 50 free.

Avon’s 200-yard medley relay (Megan Boswell, Stephanie Rosenthal, Megan Foley, Emily Foley) won with a new meet record time of 1:55.79, breaking the old record that the team set a year ago at the Splash Classic. That’s also a new school record.

Avon’s 200-yard freestyle relay team (Hayes, Alexandra Lin, Higgins, Emily Foley) set a new school with their time of 1:42.88 but the Falcons finished second behind Northwest Catholic with a meet record time of 1:41.67. Both Northwest Catholic and Avon broke the meet record in the race.

Diver Christina Samaniego set a new school record in diving (11 dives) with her score of 286.85, snapping the old mark of 260, and finishing fourth in the Splash Classic.

The Falcons celebrate in a championship in Plainville.

The Falcons celebrate in a championship in Plainville.

Three Avon relay teams would have placed highly but schools are limited to just one team in relay races that can score. In the 200 medley relay, the team of Jade Strassner, Sarah Thomas, Karen Zhou and Alexandra Lin would have placed fourth with their time of 2:02.17.

In the 200 free relay, the Avon team of Sarah Preleski, Kayla Bucci, Sarah Osiecki and Kelly Zhou would have taken third with their time of 1:45.72. Finally, the Falcons team of Adrienne Nguyen, KellyZhou, Kayla Bucci and Ryley Higgins would have been fourth in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:54.21.

Several Avon swimmers came home with multiple individual medals:

  • Sarah Preleski: First 500 free; sixth 100 free
  • Ryley Higgins: First 100 back; second 200 IM
  • Megan Foley: First 100 butterfly; fifth 100 free
  • Emily Boswell: Second 500 free; fifth 100 back
  • Megan Boswell: Second 100 back; seventh 200 IM
  • Annie Hayes: Third, 200 free; third, 100 free
  • Emily Foley: Third 50 free, fourth 100 free
  • Jennifer Wall: Fourth 200 IM; seventh 100 back
  • Karen Zhou, Fourth 100 fly; Fifth 200 free 
  • Alexandra Lin: Fifth, 50 free; seventh 200 free

The 405 points was the most scored by Avon in a single Splash Classic meet in its ten-year championship run.

2016 Splash Classic
At Plainville
Team results – 1. Avon 405, 2. Northwestern Regional 240, 3. Northwest Catholic-West Hartford (NWC) 139, 4. Shepaug 111, 5. Simsbury 84, 6. Litchfield 79, 7. Wamogo 60, 8. Southington 56, 9. Bethel 47, 10. Granby 44, 11. Hartford Classical 35, 12. Woodland Regional 29, 13. Joel Barlow 24, 14. Farmington 16, 15. Danbury 16, 16. Conard and Gilbert 4, 18. Lewis Mills 1

Individual results
200 yard medley relay: 1. Avon (Megan Boswell, Stephanie Rosenthal, Megan Foley, Emily Foley) 1:55.79, new meet record. Old record 1:55.95, Avon (Megan Boswell, Stephanie Rosenthal, Megan Foley, Emily Foley), 2015; 2. Northwestern 1:59.42, 3. Shepaug 2:01.36, 4. Litchfield 2:03.78, 5. Southington 2:08.66, 6. Wamogo 2:09.81, 7. Simsbury (Allison May, Maxime Braun, Emily Fritz, Lucia O’Sullivan) 2:10.69

200 free: 1. Laura Kunkel, NWC, 1:58.30, 2. Sarah Preleski, Avon, 2:01.02, 3. Annie Hayes, Avon, 2:03.53, 4. Rachael Pulica, Northwestern, 2:04.51, 5. Kelly Zhou, Avon, 2:08.78, 6. Leah Vancour, Northwestern 2:10.52, 7. Alexandra Lin, Avon, 2:10.74

200 IM: 1. Kiley Stotler, Northwestern, 2:11.10, new meet record. Old record, Stotler, NWR, 2:11.28, 2015; 2. Ryley Higgins, Avon, 2:21.85, 3. Renee Varga, Joel Barlow, 2:21.95, 4. Jennifer Wall, Avon, 2:26.61, 5. Katie Morton, Northwestern, 2:28.73, 6. Haley Pesce, Shepaug 2:28.86, 7. Megan Boswell, Avon, 2:30.04

50 free: 1. Natalie Smith, NWC, 24.76, 2. Laura Kunkel, NWC, 25.26, 3. Emily Foley, Avon, 25.65, 4. Sarah McCarthy, Litchfield, 26.50, 5. Alexandra Lin, Avon, 26.65, 6. Sarah Osiecki, Avon, 26.94, 7. Adrienne Nguyen, Avon, 27.46

Diving: 1. Katka Zoner, Farmington, 374.55, 2. Maddie McFarland, Granby, 341.85, 3. Lauren Parente, Northwestern 305.30, 4. Cristina Samaniego, Avon 286.85, 5. Sophie Bjornson, Bethel, 282.05, 6. Victoria Duszak, Southington, 275.00, 7. Sarah Allyn, Northwestern, 263.85

100 butterfly: 1. Megan Foley, Avon, 1:01.00, new meet record. Old mark. Kelly Culkin, Avon, 1:01.42, 2012; 2. Natalie Smith, NWC 1:02.56, 3. Kayla Bucci, Avon, 1:06.24, 4. Karen Zhou, Avon, 1:07.95, 5. Rachael Pulica, Northwestern, 1:10.61, 6. Elena Davis, Northwesternm 1:11.69, 7. Emily Fritz, Simsbury, 1:13.16

100 free: 1. Micaela O’Malley, Shepaug, 55.35, 2. Bianca Ceolin, NWC 55.98, 3. Annie Hayes, Avon, 56.72, 4. Emily Foley, Avon, 57.38, 5. Megan Foley, Avon, 57.66, 6. Sarah Osiecki, Avon, 57.99, 7. Kaitlyn May, Simsbury, 59.38

500 free: 1. Sarah Preleski, Avon, 5:24.69, 2. Emily Boswell, Avon, 5:45.12, 3. Leah Vancour, Northwestern, 5:49.95, 4. Haley Pesce, Shepaug, 5:54.72, 5. Julie Hinckley, Woodland, 5:57.40, 6. Gabrielle Kahn, Bethel 5:59.12, 7. Caroline Crone, Northwestern, 5:59.64

200 free relay: 1. NW Catholic (Frankie Link, Natalie Smith, Bianca Ceolin, Laura Kunkel) 1:41.67, new meet record. Old record 1:45.00, Avon (Sarah Preleski, Kayla Bucci, Emily Foley, Annie Hayes); 2. Avon (Anne Hayes, Alexandra Lin, Ryley Higgins, Emily Foley) 1:42.88, 3. Northwestern 1:49.71, 4. Shepaug 1:51.11, 5. Wamogo 1:54.87, 6. Simsbury (Maxime Braun, Emily Fritz, Megan Russell, Kaitlyn May) 1:55.87, 7. Hartford Classical 1:57.92

100 back: 1. Ryley Higgins, Avon, 1:04.08, 2. Megan Boswell, Avon, 1:04.38, 3. Renee Varga, Joel Barlow 1:04.55, 4. Micaela O’Malley, Shepaug, 1:05.22, 5. Emily Boswell, Avon, 1:05.37, 6. Jade Strassner, Avon 1:05.76, 7. Jennifer Wall, Avon, 1:06.41

100 breaststroke: 1. Kiley Stotler, Northwestern, 1:07.70, new record. Old mark 1:08.60, Molly Gustafson, 2010; 2. Julie Duszak, Southingotn, 1:10.20, 3. Caroline Crone, Northwestern, 1:13.07, 4. Katie Morton, Northwestern, 1:14.48, 5. Charlotte Miller, Wamogo, 1:15.17, 6. Stephanie Rosenthal, Avon, 1:15.83, 7. Amber Wright, Shepaug, 1:16.20

400 freestyle relay: 1. Avon (Sarah Preleski, Sarah Osiecki, Annie Hayes, Megan Foley) 3:45.69, new meet record. Old record 3:47.92, Avon (Sarah Preleski, Ryley Higgins, Megan Foley, Annie Hayes), 2015; 2. Northwest Catholic 3:50.14, 3. Northwestern 3:51.01, 4. Litchfield 4:09.62, 5. Simsbury (Allison May, Lucia O’Sullivan, Tiffany D’Andrea, Claire Vailionis) 4:09.62, 6. Granby (Victoria Myers, Abigail Phillips, Claire Hutchinson, Celeine LaTona) 4:24.54, 7. Bethel 4:30.95

2016 Splash Classic results

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 30 years.

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