The Newtown Torpedoes, a Parks & Recreation-sponsored swim program, held its annual Swim-A-Thon at Newtown High School on January 9. Money raised goes to the Newtown Scholarship Association to support The Daniel Barden Newtown Torpedo Scholarship, and also benefits the youth swim program.

The scholarship goes to a graduating Newtown High School swimmer in memory of Daniel Barden, a Torpedoes teammate who died on 12/14.

This year’s event included 66 swimmers, ages 6-14, who swam a total of 8,630 lengths of the pool, or 215,750 yards.

“They once again exceeded my expectations,” said event coordinator Lisa Irving, also an assistant coach with the Torpedoes. “It’s just awesome to see the kids come out and do this. It’s above and beyond sometimes what they think they can do.”

The amount of laps they swim, and endurance they show, is not only impressive and for a great cause, but stands to help the young swimmers as they gain strength and stamina for their upcoming meets.

Swimmers ages 10 and younger swam continuously for an hour, and the participants ages 11 and older were in the water for two hours straight. All told, the Torpedoes were making a splash during a four-hour stretch.

“This is a really fun event for the kids,” said Carl Fagerholm, who runs the Torpedoes’ program and serves as its head coach. “This is one of the highlights of the season.”

Student and parent volunteers were on hand to help encourage the children and tally their laps as they swam freestyle, and performed the backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly throughout the day.