By Kim J. Harmon

MIDDLETOWN – What has already been a remarkable season got even more remarkable on Tuesday night for Newtown High School senior Kane Kunst, who captured an individual title in the 100-yard backstroke at the CIAC Class L state swim championships at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

Kunst had already proven himself to be one of the most accomplished swimmers in the history of Newtown High School (he holds or shares three school records), and had already proven himself in the South-West Conference (with individual titles in the 500-yard freestyle this year and 100-yard backstroke last year).

It was time to make a mark at the state level.

Shortly after finishing second in the 100-yard butterfly (his time of 53.57 was just .85 seconds behind Drew DiChiara of Cheshire), Kunst got back in the water for the 100-yard backstroke determined to better his No. 2 seed time of 56.72 (earned at the CIAC Class L trials last weekend).

And he did better it – by a whopping 2.11 seconds, dropping to 54.61 and edging Tim Sowecke of Cheshire (the No. 1 seed) by .53 seconds for the championship. Kunst had finished fourth in the 100-yard backstroke at the 1999-2000 Class L meet, with a 56:50 mark.

“It was an amazing finish for him,” said coach Brian Reiff.

No one should be surprised at what Kunst has been able to accomplish. Ever since Kunst swam exhibition heats with the Newtown High School swim team when he was in eighth grade, coach Brian Reiff knew he had some serious talent on his hands.

Kunst was one of the main driving forces this season for the Nighthawks, who took a couple steps back from their exceptional 1999-2000 season but still performed far better than many people had figured.

“It’s almost like a Michael Jordan thing,” said coach Reiff. “The kids swim at a better level because of him. He’s a workhorse.”

The Nighthawks shifted gears a little, too, when coach Reiff decided to switch focus from the 200-yard freestyle relay to the 400-yard freestyle relay. In the CIAC Class L trials at the Freeman Center of Wesleyan University, the Newtown High record in the 200-yard freestyle relay took a beating when Matt Fries, Jeff Heller, Brian Kotwicki and Kunst shaved another two seconds off of it and lowered it to 1:33.71.

So, with that record already in the bag (a record time which, incidentally, seeded Newtown eighth in the event), the ‘Hawks shifted their focus to what is a very imposing 400-yard freestyle school record of 3:26.

The ‘Hawks entered the finals seeded first in the consolation heat of the event with a time of 3:36.35 and looking to shave 10 seconds off that time.

“They are going to go for it,” said coach Reiff just hours before the meet, “and they are determined to get it.”

It was a grand effort, but the quest was simply too hard – the ‘Hawks finished out of the point scoring.

Newtown finished ninth overall at 117 points (Cheshire won with 407 points, Amity was second at 365, and Pomperaug came in third at 238). Fries had the Nighthhawks’ other top individual finish, coming in eighth in the 100-yard backstroke at 58.83. In the relay events, the 200-yard freestyle relay team came in eighth at 1:37.87.

Although it was a strong finish for the ‘Hawks (Kunst is not done yet, however, as he is heading on to the CIAC State Open in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke), it could have been a little better if the division wasn’t so stacked.

“There were teams like Pomperaug who put four kids in an event,” explained coach Reiff, “and they managed to bump some of my kids out of the heats. It was some tough competition in Class L this year.”

The Class L Championships

Boys Swimming

Team results: 1. Cheshire, 407; 2. Amity, 365; 3. Pomperaug, 238; 4. Notre Dame, 215; 5. William Hall, 213; 6. Naugatuck, 189; 7. Farmington, 184; 8. Fitch, 124; 9. NEWTOWN, 117; 10. Conard, 85; 11. Ridgefield, 58; 12. Shelton, 44; 13. Simsbury, 26; 14. Newington, 24; 15. Windsor, 23; 16. New Milford, 11.

200 medley relay – 1. Cheshire, 1:39.15 2. William Hall, 1:39.76 3. Amity, 1:43.70 4. Pomperaug, 1:43.82 5. Notre Dame, 1:45.23 6. Naugatuck, 1:46.23 7. Farmington, 1:46.55 8. 1:38.05.

200 freestyle – 1. Jon Kunces, Naugatuck, 1:46.19; 2. Lou Krasenics, Notre Dame, 1:46.34; 3. Seth Colwell, Amity, 1:47.07; 4. Zac Czaplicki, Notre Dame, 1:47.25; 5. Colin Porter, Farmington, 1:49.13; 6. Doug Johnson, Cheshire, 1:49.58; 7. Tom Mazzaferro, Cheshire, 1:50.16; 8. Elliot Vallez, Ridgefield, 1:50.53.

200 individual medley – 1. Adam Bauer, Pomperaug, 1:59.97; 2. Dave DelGobbo, Cheshire, 2:01.29; 3. Mark McVeety, Amity, 2:01.62; 4. Dave Cofrancesco, Amity, 2:01.78; 5. Keith Sandroni, Pomperaug, 2:03.68; 6. Matt DiChiara, Cheshire, 2:06.67; 7. Brian McVeety, Amity, 2:07.68; 8. Zach Guglin, Amity, 2:07.72.

50 freestyle – 1. Alex Wald, Hall, 22.21; 2. Brendan Carroll, Cheshire, 22.31; 3. Thomas Swan, Pomperaug, 22.34; 4. Joe Rana, Hall, 22.72; 5. Drew DiChiara, Cheshire, 22.74; 6. Rob Hazard, Farmington, 22.97; 7. Timothy Parker, Fitch, 23.02; 8. Rich Tirrell, Farmington, 23.06.

Diving – 1. Brian Mariano, Naugatuck, 499.95; 2. Kimberly Grant, Fitch, 337.40; 3. Mark Gilbert, Fitch, 301.80; 4. Katie Massacottie, Naugatuck, 278.50; 5. Ben Berenson, Hall, 274.90; 6. Brian Ditman, Amity, 262.40; 7. James Sattin, Hall, 261.85; 8. Doug Schmidt, Amity, 261.55; 9. Igor Belagoradsky, Amity, 256.05; 10. Jennifer Murphy, Simsbury, 252.40; 11. Danny Concalves, Shelton, 244.00; 12. Peter Schmidt, Pomperaug, 232.30; 13. Erika Sorensen, Farmington, 240.00; 14. Matt Arey, Windsor, 224.10; 15. Mark Cheshire, Farmington, 221.85; 16. Jon Buckingham, Notre Dame, 218.55.

100 butterfly – 1. Drew DiChiara, Cheshire, 52.72; 2. Kane Kunst, Newtown, 53.57; 3. Ryan Canning, Cheshire, 54.48; 4. Elliott Vallez, Ridgefield, 54.70; 5. Andrew Tattle, Hall, 54.96; 6. Matt DiChiara, Cheshire, 55.13; 7. John Sanders, Notre Dame, 55.82; 8. Thomas Swan, Pomperaug, 57.16.

100 freestyle – 1. Jon Kunces, Naugatuck, 48.07; 2. Tim Sowecke, Cheshire, 48.29; 3. Seth Colwell, Amity, 48.94; 4. Brendan Carroll, Cheshire, 49.31; 5. Alex Wald, Hall, 49.60; 6. Cole Porter, Farmington, 49.96; 7. Doug Johnson, Cheshire, 50.32; 8. Jordan Bernier, Farmington, 50.74.

500 freestyle – 1. Lou Krasenics, Notre Dame, 4:45.57; 2. Zac Czaplicki, Notre Dame, 4:48.85; 3. Matt Crowley, Amity, 4:51.82; 4. Tom Mazzaferro, Cheshire, 4:53.54; 5. Eric Erasmus, Cheshire, 4:59.40; 6. Ralph Rienzo, Notre Dame, 5:01.67; 7. Trevor Vernal, Notre Dame, 5:03.54; 8. Andrew Sparkes, Conard, 5:03.99.

200 freestyle relay – 1. Farmington, 1:30.63; 2. Pomperaug, Southbury, 1:30.66; 3. Cheshire, 1:30.75; 4. Fitch, 1:31.22; 5. Naugatuck, 1:31.80; 6. Amity, 1:32.03; 7. Hall, 1:32.15; 8. Newtown, 1:37.87.

100 backstroke – 1. Kane Kunst, Newtown, 54.61; 2. Tim Sowecke, Cheshire, 55.14; 3. Vin Colwell, Amity, 55.86; 4. Peter Allison, Hall, 56.72; 5. Chris Diette, Amity, 57.75; 6. James Haman, Pomperaug, 58.19; 7. Matt Fries, Newtown, 58.83; 8. Dave Augliera, Cheshire, 58.94.

100 breaststroke – 1. Adam Bauer, Pomperaug, 58.64; 2. Ryan Canning, Cheshire, 1:01.21; 3. David Cofrancesco, Amity, 1:01.84; 4. Dave DelGobbo, Cheshire, 1:02.66; 5. Mark McVeety, Amity, 1:02.78; 6. Brian McVeety, Amity, 1:03.02; 7. Joel Batalan, Cheshire, 1:04.50; 8. Danny Eng, Cheshire, 1:04.71.

400 freestyle relay – 1. Pomperaug, 3:20.92; 2. Notre Dame, 3:21.04; 3. Farmington, 3:21.65; 4. Naugatuck, 3:23.36; 5. Cheshire, 3:24.00; 6. Amity, 3:24.47; 7. Hall, 3:27.64; 8. Fitch, 3:30.63.