Avon won the Splash Classic championship for the 11th straight year on Saturday.
PLAINVILLE, Feb. 25 – The girls on the Avon High boys swimming team had their moment in the spotlight Saturday and they earned it.
The Falcons dominated the annual Splash Classic meet at Plainville with three individual champions, a record-setting championship relay team, two silver medalists and three bronze medalists. Avon won the girls-only meet for the 11th consecutive year with a 150-point win over Northwestern Regional, 362 to 212.
The meet is a girls-only event for athletes that swim on boys swimming teams during the winter. The official CIAC swimming season for girls is in the fall. Girls are still invited to compete in the CIAC championship meets in the winter but they must meet boys qualifying times to do so.
Senior Laura Pringle won two events and swam on Avon’s record-setting 400-yard freestyle relay (Kelly Zhou, Sarah Preleski, Annie Hayes, Pringle) that won the event with a meet record and school record time of 3:42.72. The team was 14 seconds ahead of second place Northwestern to cap off an outstanding day for the Falcons.
Pringle set a new meet record in the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 59.78 seconds and beat Simsbury’s Lilia Dunnigan by more than five seconds in winning the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:15.46.
Avon sophomore Kelly Zhou beat Litchfield’s Sarah McCarthy by 0.24 of a second to win the 100 freestyle in 55.86 seconds. Teammate Annie Hayes was second in the 200 freestyle while Sarah Preleski was second in the 500 freestyle.
The Falcons haven’t lost this meet since 2006. “Yes, they feel the pressure to keep the streak going,” Avon head coach Diana Cesaro said. “They all get so excited to swim and the support for one another is amazing.”
Simsbury’s Molly Egan won two events – the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle. Egan broke the meet record in the 500 freestyle with her time of 5:17.42, breaking the mark set by Avon’s Erin Hartigan in 2014. Teammate Lilia Dunnigan, Simsbury was second in the 200 IM and third in the 100 breast stroke. Evelyn Neagov was third in diving. Simsbury was fourth with 133 points.
Granby was led by Madison McFarland, who was second in diving.
Avon got off to a good start in the meet with a third place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (Megan Boswell, Sarah Thomas, Pringle, Emily Foley) and putting four swimmers in the top six of the 200 freestyle – Hayes (2nd), Preleski (third), Zhou (fifth) and Jeanna Langan (sixth).
Avon’s Sarah Osiecki and Megan Boswell finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 200 IM while Emily Foley and Kayla Bucci were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 50 freestyle. Hayes was fifth in the 100 butterfly while Emily Foley finished fourth in the 100 freestyle.
Avon had three of the top six in the 500 freestyle with Preleski taking second, Emily Boswell finishing fourth and Langan taking sixth.
The girls will be swimming side-by-side with their teammates on Friday when Avon looks to defend their Central Connecticut Conference North White tournament championship at Wethersfield High. The Falcons won the tournament championship a year ago. Last week, Avon won their first-ever league title in boys swimming with a win over Hartford Public to capture the CCC North White division.
2017 Splash Classic
At Plainville
Team results – 1. Avon 362, 2. Northwestern Regional 212, 3. Southington 136, 4. Simsbury 133, 5. Litchfield 132, 6. Northwest Catholic 114, 7. Lewis Mills 61, 8. Granby 54, 9. Nonnewaug 41, 10. Wamogo 36, 11. Hartford Classical 29, 12. Bethel 28, 13. Woodland 22, 14. Shepaug 18, 15. East Hartford 6, 16. Conard 3
Individual results
200-yard medley relay: 1. Northwestern (Karoline Morton, Caroline Crone, Cassidy Stotler, Kelly Stotler) 1:55.29, new meet record (Old record, 1:55.79, Avon, 2016); 2. Southington 1:57.31, 3. Avon (Megan Boswell, Sarah Thomas, Laura Pringle, Emily Foley) 1:57.82, 4. Simsbury (Hannah Sullivan, Lilia Dunnigan, Joan Nicholson, Bailee Cota) 2:07.40, 5. Lewis Mills (Aubrey Surian, Kathryn Bergstrom, Sophia Yescott, Chloe Yescott) 2:10.81, 6. Litchfield 2:11.76
200 freestyle: 1. Molly Egan, Simsbury, 1:59.68, 2. Annie Hayes, Avon, 2:00.90, 3. Sarah Preleski, Avon, 2:02.28, 4. Laura Kunkel, Northwest Catholic 2:02.81, 5. Kelly Zhou, Avon, 2:05.28, 6. Jeanna Langan, Avon, 2:10.95
200 IM: 1. Laura Pringle, Avon, 2:15.46, 2. Lilia Dunnigan, Simsbury, 2:20.56, 3. Cassidy Stotler, Northwestern, 2:21.70, 4. Julie Hinckley, Woodland, 2:25.03, 5. Sarah Osiecki, Avon, 2:25.92, 6. Megan Boswell, Avon, 2:28.40
50 freestyle: 1. Natalie Smith, Northwest Catholic 24.74, 2. Julie Duszak, Southington, 25.09, 3. Sarah Meade, Southington, 25.36, 4. Emily Foley, Avon, 26.07, 5. Kayla Bucci, Avon, 27.27, 6. Adrianna Corona, Wamogo, 27.35
Diving: 1. Farrah Volpintesta, Bethel, 392.60, 2. Madison McFarland, Granby 372.15, 3. Evelyn Neagoy, Simsbury 363.05, 4. Caside Hughes, Northwestern 312.50, 5. Diana Goldman, Granby 294.15, 6. Sarah Beres, Litchfield, 269.40
100 butterfly: 1. Laura Pringle, Avon, 59.78, new meet record. (Old record, Megan Foley, Avon, 1:01.00, 2016); 2. Natalie Smith, Northwest Catholic, 1:02.24, 3. Cassidy Stotler, Northwestern 1:02.36, 4. Aubrey Surian, Lewis Mills, 1:02.96, 5. Annie Hayes, Avon, 1:03.10, 6. Julie Hinckley, Woodland, 1:07.54
100 freestyle: 1. Kelly Zhou, Avon, 55.86, 2. Sarah McCarthy, Litchfield, 56.10, 3. Kelly Stotler, Northwestern, 56.12, 4. Emily Foley, Avon, 58.28, 5. Sydney Johnston, Northwestern 1:00.44, 6. Claire Vailinois, Litchfield 1:00.59
500 freestyle: 1. Molly Egan, Simsbury, 5:17.42, new meet record (old record Erin Hartigan, Avon, 5:20.43, 2014); 2. Sarah Preleski, Avon, 5:27.94, 3. Aubrey Surian, Lewis Mills 5:28.89, 4. Emily Boswell, Avon, 5:47.07, 5. Caroline Crone, Northwestern, 5:53.05, 6. Jeanna Langan, Avon, 5:53.79
200 freestyle relay: 1. Avon (Emily Foley, Sarah Preleski, Annie Hayes, Kelly Zhou) 1:42.38, 2. Northwest Catholic (Meghan Shea, Franki Link, Laura Kunkel, Natalie Smith) 1:42.58, 3. Southington 1:44.05, 4. Litchfield 1:47.92, 5. Northwestern 1:50.47, 6. Simsbury (Lilia Dunnigan, Bailee Cota, Emma Zematis, Molly Egan) 1:51.22
100 backstroke: 1. Kelly Stotler, Northwestern, 1:03.58, 2. Sarah Meade, Southington, 1:03.81, 3. Megan Boswell, Avon, 1:04.45, 4. Laura Kunkel, Northwest Catholic, 1:04.72, 5. Emily Boswell, Avon, 1:05.07, 6. Karoline Morton, Northwestern, 1:06.87
100 breast stroke: 1. Caroline Crone, Northwestern 1:11.05, 2. Julie Duszak, Southington, 1:11.75, 3. Lilia Dunnigan, Simsbury, 1:12.45, 4. Sarah McCarthy, Litchfield, 1:15.09, 5. Sarah Osiecki, Avon, 1:15.18, 6. Abby Phillips, Granby, 1:17.65
400 freestyle relay: 1. Avon (Kelly Zhou, Sarah Preleski, Annie Hayes, Laura Pringle) 3:42.72, new meet record (Old record, Avon, 3:45.69, 2016); 2.Northwestern 3:56.70, 3. Litchfield 4:01.52, 4. Northwest Catholic (Meghan Shea, Catherine Wilcox, Natalie Smith, Laura Kunkel) 4:05.05, 5. Simsbury (Joan Nicholson, Emma Zematis, Hannah Sullivan, Molly Egan) 4:07.27, 6. Nonnewaug 4:28.89
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