Depth helps Avon upset Torrington in boys swimming

TORRINGTON, Jan. 29 – The Torrington High boys swim team won six individual events but in five of those events, Avon took second and third place. That helped keep the Falcons in the hunt  and Avon outlasted Torrington, 89-81 at the Torrington YMCA on Wednesday night.

The winner of each event earns six points while the second and third place finishers earn four and three points, respectively. In five of the six events, Avon’s depth negated Torrington’s individual victories. And this is a Torrington team that hopes to compete for the Naugatuck Valley League championship later this winter.

Avon (4-4) got off to a good start by winning the initial race of the meet – the 200-yard medley relay by 0.02 of a second. Kyle Emery, Billy Holloman, Matthew Bagley and Devon Chambers swam the race in 1:50.42. 

Bagley (100 butterfly), Riley Strassner (100 freestyle) and Holloman (100 breast stroke) won individual events for Avon.

Torrington’s Matthew Traub won the 200 free by just 0.34 over Strassner. Then, Avon’s depth began to kick in. In the 200 IM, Torrington’s Bradley Nichols won the race but Avon’s Stephen Pang and Erin Hartigan finished second and third, respectively. Holloman and Bagley were second and third in the 50 free. Holloman was just 0.11 behind the winner, Christopher Parotta of Torrington (25.19 seconds).

In the 500 freestyle, Hartigan and Annie Hayes finished second and third for Avon while Kyle Emery and Stephen Pang took second and third for the Falcons in the 100 backstroke.

It was just the second meeting between the two teams in the last eight seasons. Torrington won the other meeting in 2012, 85-83.

Avon 89, Torrington 81
At Torrington
200 yard medley relay: 1. Avon (Kyle Emery; Billy Holloman; Matthew Bagley; Devon Chambers) 1:50.40. 2. Torrington 1:50.42. 3. Avon (Stephen Pang, Danilo Bussyguin, Erin Harigan, Stephen DelGallo)1:59.32
200 freestyle: 1. Matthew Traub (T) 1:49.13. 2. Riley Strassner (A) 1:49.47. 3. Jack Wassik (T) 1:50.02
200 IM: 1. Bradley Nichols (T) 2:14.18. 2. Stephen Pang (A) 2:20.00. 3. Erin Hartigan (A) 2:22.87.
50 freestyle: 1. Christopher Parotta (T) 25.19. 2. Billy Holloman (A) 25.31. 3. Matthew Bagley (A) 25.53.
Diving: none
100 butterfly: 1. Matthew Bagley (A) 1:01.82. 2. Bradley Nichols (T) 1:02.21. 3. Megan Foley (A) 1:09.78.
100 freestyle: 1. Riley Strassner (A) 50.85. 2. Griffin Pelkey (T) 53.59. 3. Chris Parotta (T) 58.06.
500 freestyle: 1. Jack Wassik (T) 4:54.38. 2. Erin Hartigan (A) 5:35.73. 3. Annie Hayes (A) 5:58.58.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Torrington (Wassik; Traub; Pelkey; Parotta) 1:37.07. 2. Avon (Billy Holloman, Stephen Pang, Devon Chambers, Riley Strassner) 1:41.26 3. Avon (Jake Ernst, Connor Murphy, Sam Mallery, Stephen DelGallo) 1:46.76
100 backstroke: 1. Matthew Traub (T) 54.65. 2. Kyle Emery (A) 59.56. 3. Stephen Pang (A) 1:03.51.
100 breaststroke: 1. Billy Holloman (A) 1:08.31. 2. Griffin Pelkey (T) 1:10.16. 3. Joshua Coscia (T) 1:11.41.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Torrington (Wassik; Nichols; Nick Canino; Traub) 3:41.58. 2. Avon (Erin Hartigan, Matt Bagley, Kyle Emery, Riley Strassner) 3:42.42, 3. Avon (Fabrizio Tropea, Stephen DelGallo, Devon Chambers, Adrienne Nguyen) 3:59.38
Records: Torrington 3-2, Avon 4-4