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Richard, Downey each finish third at Class M meet for 2nd straight year

WEST HARTFORD, March 14 – Andre Richard and Brendan Downey each finished third in their respective events as the Avon High boys swimming team finished seventh at the Class M championship meet at Cornerstone Pool.

For the second year in a row, Richard took third in the 50 yard freestyle with a school-record time of 22.39 seconds. He was just behind North Haven’s Will McCleery (22.18) and New Fairfield’s Paul Ritter (22.24).

Downey took third in diving with an outstanding performance, scoring 400.50 points. His best mark to his date in the season was 276.90 points. Downey also finished third in diving a year ago, too.

Richard finished ninth in the 100 freestyle but had the fifth fastest time in the event. His time of 49.50 seconds was the best time in the B race. But Richard missed qualifying for the A final by 0.37 of a second last week so ninth is the best he could place. Swimmers in the B race can’t displace swimmers in the A race.

Avon’s 200 yard freestyle relay (Justin Arroyo, Alec Traktovenko, Chris Chute, Andre Richard) finished fourth with a time of 1:32.18 seconds. The same four swimmers also competed in the 400 yard freestyle relay and helped the Falcons take sixth with a time of 3:30.93.

In the 100 breast stroke, Arroyo led the Falcons with a seventh place finish in 1:03.77 while Traktovenko (1:02.86) was ninth and Lance Morgan (1:07.90) was 14th.

In the 200 individual medley, Arroyo (2:09.12) was eleventh while Traktovenko (2:10.38) was 13th. In the 200 medley relay, Avon (Megan Boswell, Lance Morgan, Erika Nguyen, Downey) finished 14th.

Downey qualified for Saturday’s State Open in diving along with the 200 freestyle relay team. Richard is the first alternate in the 50 freestyle.

Canton swimmer doesn’t qualify for finals

PLAINVILLE, March 10 – Senior Gracey Boman spent the year training with the Avon team along with teammate Margaret Babbitt. Boman qualified to compete in two events at the Class S boys swimming championship meet but wasn’t among the top 24 to make the finals.

Boman finished 34th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:06.19, slower than her seed time of 1:04.78. In the 100 breast stroke, Boman was 33rd with a time of 1:14.26, also a bit slower than her seed time of 1:13.48.

Since 2009, the Collinsville Press has been providing award-winning coverage of sports and news in the Farmington Valley and across Connecticut.

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