Avon swimmers pick up five wins, capture Splash Classic again

Swimming at the 2026 State Open championships (Photo by John Dufour-TPG via Imagn Images courtesy of the CIAC)

The Avon High boys swimming team picked up five wins in 11 meets this season and finished second at the CCC North championship meet in West Hartford under first-year head coach Todd Dyer.

Junior Abir Dutta won two events at the CCC North championship meet, capturing the 200-yard freestyle in a season-best time of 1:50.37 and the 500 free in a season-best time of 5:03.82.

Since Avon doesn’t offer varsity swimming in the fall for girls, any interested girl is welcome to compete on the boys team but they must meet boys times to qualify for the CIAC championship meet.

At the girls-only Splash Classic, a meet for girls across the state that compete during the winter season, Avon won the event for the 15th time since 2004 and the second straight season.

The Falcons were led by Sara Robertson who won the 100-yard backstroke and three top two finishes in relay races.

Avon (5-6, 2-3 CCC North) had a fine day at the CCC North championship meet with Dutta winning two events. Cooper Brown was fourth in the 500 free with a time of 5:28.93 and fifth in the 200 free with a time of 1:58.44.

William Shine finished fifth in the 100 breast stroke with a time of 1:09.95.

Charlotte Sohn finished fourth in the 100 breast stroke with a personal-best time of 1:08.56 while Robertson was fifth in the 100 backstroke in 1:02.64.

At the Class M championships at Cornerstone in West Hartford, Avon finished 14th with a score of 153 points. The Falcons were led by diver Lizzie May, who was sixth with a total of 324½ points, good enough to qualify for the State Open championships.

Dutta was less than a second off his personal-best time in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:50.86 to finish in 15th place. He was also 15th in the 500 freestyle in 5:14.12.

Avon’s 200-yard freestyle, consisting of Dutta and three freshmen – James Yan, Jude Matthews and Cooper Brown – finished 12th with a time of 1:39.69 while the 400 freestyle relay (Dutta, Yan, Matthews, Brown) was 10th with a time of 3:39.04.

Sohn swam a personal best time of 1:08.47 in the 100 yard breaststroke to finish 18th.

May was the only Avon competitor at the State Open. She finished sixth with a score of 324.15. It’s the best finish for an Avon diver at the Open since Sarah Grandy finished second in 2023 and 2022.

At the Splash Classic in January, Robertson won the 100 backstroke with a winning time of 1:07.91. Avon’s 200 yard freestyle relay (Robertson, Sohn, Sarayu Reddy and Merrill Bonelli) finished first with a winning time of 1:57.51, a full second ahead of second place Holy Cross.

Avon’s 200 freestyle relay (Bianca Ma, Kaelyn Haughery, Sarayu Reddy, Mehek Bhargava) finished second with a time of 1:54.67, more than five second behind Shepaug Valley.

In the 400 freestyle relay, Avon (Sohn, Bhargava, Bonelli, Robertson) finished second with a time of 4:02.93 behind Shepaug.

Bonelli was third in the 50 freestyle with a personal best time of 26.73.

Freshman Sadie Rubin of Granby won two events – 200 IM and 100 breast stroke. Holy Cross’ Dorina Dobruna won two events and two silver medals while her Crusader teammate Lily Torrance won two events, took second and finished third.

2025-26 Avon boys swimming
Fri. Dec. 19: South Windsor 100, Avon 84
Sat. Jan. 10: Hall 93, Avon 92
Tue. Jan. 13: Avon 97, Granby/East Granby 78
Sat. Jan. 17: Bristol co-op 100, Avon 86
Sat. Jan. 24: Avon 97, Rocky Hill 83
Wed. Jan. 28: Avon 96, Newington 72
Fri. Jan. 30: Avon 101, Plainville 72
Tues. Feb. 3: Wethersfield 102, Avon 72
Tues. Feb. 10: E.O. Smith/Tolland 94, Avon 82
Fri. Feb. 13: Avon 101, Shepaug 84
Thur. Feb. 26: Manchester 94, Avon 76

CCC North championships
At Wethersfield (Feb. 28)
Team results – 1. Wethersfield 357, 2. Avon 233, 3. Manchester 205, 4. Newington 184, 5. Rocky Hill 139, 6. E.O. Smith/Tolland 135
2026 CCC North boys swimming results (SwimCloud)

Class M championships
At West Hartford (Cornerstone, March 10)
Team results – 1. Pomperaug 755½, 2. Wilton 565, 3. Brookfield 511½, 4. Wethersfield 421, 5. Notre Dame-West Haven 353½, 6. New Canaan 353, 7. Masuk 280, 8. Middletown 252, 9. E.O. Smith/Tolland 237, 10. Xavier 204, 11. Fitch/St. Bernard/Stonington 192, 12. New Milford 176½, 13. Newington 162, 14. Avon 153, 15. Simsbury 130, 16. Bulkeley 113, 17. Windsor 71, 18. Cheshire 70, 19. Torrington 64
2026 CIAC Class M championships (CIAC)

GIRLS SWIMMING

2026 Splash Classic
At Plainville (Jan. 15)
Team results – 1. Avon 232, 2. Shepaug Valley 179, 3. Watertown 172, 4. Holy Cross 168, 5. Nonnewaug 140, 6. Northwestern Regional 130, 7. Lakeview 116, 8. Simsbury 81, 9. Granby 55, 10. Manchester 30, 11. Housatonic 25, 12. Ellington
Individual events
200 yard freestyle relay: Avon (Sara Robertson, Charlotte Sohn, Sarayu Reddy, Merrill Bonelli) 1:57.51, 2. Holy Cross 1:58.51, 3. Watertown 2:03.42, 4. Shepaug 2:06.02, 5. Lakeview 2:06.03, 6. Nonnewaug 2:06.74
200 freestyle: Elena Chalfant, Manchester, 2:03.05, 2. Makayla Malagutti, Holy Cross, 2:10.44, 3. Heather Foley Simsbury 2:11.51, 4. Mia Cavallo, Watertown 2:11.71,5. Nylah Aesif, Watertown, 2:17.06, 6. Violette Weirshousky, NWR 2:17.65
200 IM: Sadie Rubin, Granby, 2:12.96, 2. Pheobe Conklin, Housatonic 2:13.55, 3. Victoria Bargellini, Shepaug, 2:20.62, 4. Charlotte Sohn, Avon, 2:21.02, 5. Aubrey Watson, Nonnewaug 2:25.33, 6. Catherine Viveros, Nonnewaug 2:35.69
50 freestyle: Dorina Dobruna, Holy Cross 25.73, 2. Ashley Rubbo, Lakeview 26.19, 3. Merrill Bonelli, Avon, 26.73, 4. Abigail Perun, Shepaug, 27.28, 5. Emily Stewart, Nonnewaug 27.67, 6. Mehek Bhargava, Avon 27.95
Diving (6 dives): Isabelle Deforge, Nonnewaug 223.35, 2. Maeve Bean, NWR 204.45, 3. Elise Keil, Watertown 190.70, 4. Lizzie May, Avon 183.50, 5. Cameron Tisi, Shepaug 181.45, 6. Tori Dimatteo, Holy Cross 173
100 butterfly: Victoria Bargellini, Shepaug 1:00.73, 2. Sofi Brenson, Granby 1:01.40, 3. Pheobe Conklin, Housatonic 1:02.06, 4. Sully Santovasi, Lakeview 1:02.86, 5. Catherine Viveros, Nonnewaug, 1:09.58, 6. Makayla Malagutti, Holy Cross, 1:10.12
100 freestyle: Lily Torrance, Holy Cross, 56.60, 2. Ashley Rubbo, Lakeview 56.83, 3. Julia Campbell, Watertown 57.68, 4. Sara Robertson, Avon 58.87, 5. Abigail Perunm Shepaug 59.80, 6. Merrill Bonelli, Avon, 1:00.66
500 free: Mia Cavallo, Watertown 5:54.59, 2. Heather Foley, Simsbury 6:02.44, 3. Nylah Aesif, Watertown 6:12.13, 4. Violettte Weirshousky, Northwestern, 6:13.15, 5. Mackenzie Schutte, Northwestern 6:18.10, 6. Beca Viruega, Avon, 6:30.55
200 free relay: 1. Shepaug  (Abigail Perun, Brianna Johnson, Libby Planz, Victoria Bargellini) 1:49.04, 2. Avon (Bianca Ma, Kaelyn Haughey, Sarayu Reddy, Mehek Bhargava) 1:54.67, 3. Northwestern 1:56.05, 4. Watertown 1:56.10, 5. Simsbury 1:59.67, 6. Lakeview 2:01.29
100 back: Sara Robertson, Avon, 1:01.19, 2. Doria Dobruna, Holy Cross 1:01.78, 3. Elena Chalfant, Manchester 1:03.14, 4. Sully Santovasi, Lakeview 1:03.59, 5. Sofi Brenson, Granby 1:05.74, 6. Aubrey Waldron, Nonnewaug 1:05.96
100 breast stroke: Sadie Rubin, Granby, 1:07.91, 2. Charlotte Sohn, Avon 1:08.87, 3. Lily Torrance, Holy Cross 1:10.24, 4. Julia Campbell, Watertown 1:11.15, 5. Marta Alio Prieto, Avon 1:19.01, 6. Mehek Bhargava, Avon 1:19.42
400 free relay: Holy Cross (Dorina Dobruna, Sophia Vargas, Makayla Malagutti, Lily Torrance) 3:57.03, 2. Avon (Charlotte Sohn, Mehek Bhargava, Merrill Bonelli, Sara Robertson) 4:02.93, 3. Watertown 4:04.39, 4. Nonnewaug 4:03.35, 5. Lakeview 4:12.81, 6. Northwestern 4:15.12
2026 Splash Classic full results (SwimCloud)