Strassner earns two top 20 finishes at State Open

AVON, March 19 – The Class M boys swimming championships were complete. Avon High freshman Riley Strassner was the only swimmer to qualify for the upcoming State Open. But he wasn’t the only swimmer at the pool the next day for practice. Another five of his teammates were ready to go – even through for them, the season was over.

“They were not ready to have this season end and wanted to finish with the team,” Avon High coach Diana Cesaro said. “That, to me, is why I coach. They weren’t sick of swimming or waiting for the season to end. They wanted more. And they were already looking forward to how they could do even better next year.”

Strassner earned 24 points for Avon at the State Open swimming championships at Wesleyan University on Saturday, March 16. He finished 12th in the 200 freestyle with a season-best time of 1:45.29 and was 16th in the 100 freestyle in 48.89 seconds.

Strassner did set a new school record in the 100 freestyle with his time of 48.33 seconds at the Class M championship. Diver Mimi Murphy set two new school records for girls in six dives (155.65 points) and 11 dive events (260.05).

The Falcons finished 5-7 on the year and won the Splash Classic, the unofficial girls swimming state championship meet for the seventh straight year.

“We did accomplish our goals this season,” Cesaro said. “I knew it was going to be a growing season. We also had all of our swimmers improve. The goal was (for swimmers to get their) best time every meet and a majority made that goal.

“It was an exciting season, full of injuries but in the end even those who were injured came back with personal best times.”

Avon was the only team with two girls that qualified to swim at the Class M boys finals. Sophomore Lauren Cooper and junior Kathryn Emery both qualified in the 100 backstroke. Emery finished 17th and Cooper finished 23rd as both swam their fastest times of the season.