Newtown High School’s boys’ swimming and diving team, on January 6, returned from a two-week break from meets by easing back into competition with an 89-77 win over the visiting Bunnell-Stratford co-op team. Newtown, after sealing the team win in the 500 yard freestyle race, exhibitioned the final four events and improved to 2-1 this winter.

The 200 medley relay team of Michael Poulter, Seth Barrett, Tommy Horan, and Owen Gray kicked things off with a first-place finish in a time of 1:54.2. Barrett won the 200 individual medley race in a time of 2:23.5. Layton Harrell won the 50 free in 24.6. After a clean sweep in the diving events led by freshman Kyle Gaynor’s first-place score of 158 — the Bunnell-Stratford team, with only 15 competitors, has no divers — Harrell claimed first in the 100 butterfly competition, making his final touch in 1:01.9. Horan won the 100 free in 52.5, and Peter Fagerholm earned the top spot in the 500 free, completing the race in 5:24.9.

Although the Nighthawks exhibitioned the final four races, they did record the fastest times in each. In the 200 free relay race, Harrell, Barrett, Matthew Hess, and Gray combined for a time of 1:45.3. Horan was the fastest to finish the 100 backstroke race, at 59.9. Barrett had the best time in the 100 breaststroke race, with a time of 1:09.5. The 400 free relay contingent of Harrell, Fagerholm, Poulter, and Horan finished in 3:49.7.

Soon, the Nighthawks will face tougher competition and it’s likely all 12 events will have significant meaning in upcoming races. Although Newtown got perennial South-West Conference powerhouse and defending Class L champion Pomperaug of Southbury out of the way in the first meet of the season, it still has competition with, among others, New Fairfield, Weston, and Brookfield, on the slate.

“From here on out we’ve got to be all business,” Newtown Coach Zach Gauvin said. “There are some good squads, so we’ve got to get ready for them.”

The Nighthawks, after hosting New Milford and Bethel on back-to-back Tuesdays — January 13 and 20, both at 4 pm — will visit what stands to be a challenging New Fairfield squad on January 27 (also at 4 pm), then host defending Class S state champion Weston at 4 pm on February 3. They’ll then head to defending Class M state champ Brookfield for a 7:30 pm race on February 10, before closing out the regular season with a 7 pm visit from Joel Barlow of Redding at 7 pm on February 18.

There is still a lot of swimming ahead of the Nighthawks before they embark on the postseason, beginning with the SWC championships in early March,and continuing with the Class LL state championships and State Open.

Gauvin, who is striving for his swimmers to finish among the top three in the SWC a year after his team came in third, is mostly pleased with his team’s early/midseason efforts.

The Newtown coach said that his team — which has somewhat of a new look following the graduation of seven postseason point-getters a year ago — can get back into its routine and pick up the practice pace even more following some missed pool time due to holidays and snow canceling practice.

Gauvin is impressed with the performances of some of the new-to-the team swimmers who are stepping in nicely, including freshmen Fagerholm, Harrell, and Gaynor.

“There’s always room for improvement. We’ve been training really hard,” he said.