Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Girls-Swim-Preview-1995

Full Text:

Girls Swim Preview 1995

If there is one thing to be sure of at Newtown High School - especially in the

area of the pool - it's change.

The revolving door of the swimming coaches' office has swung wide open once

again (that would make the fifth time in the last five years) and admitted yet

another new face looking towards flexing the muscles of the Newtown High

School girls' swim team.

Last year the door swung open and in came Trish Norman and Doug Saunders, a

pair of upbeat coaches who had a modicum of success with a team that finished

3-4 overall, 2-3 in the Western Connecticut Conference.

But Saunders has gone back to school and Norman has stepped aside Á but

remains on deck as the assistant Á as the newest coach, Joanne Johnson, a

former All-American breaststroker from Division III Cortland State, assumes

the whistle and reigns of the office.

And right away she has the Lady Indians aimed at the upper levels of the

newly-formed South-West Conference.

The first thing that appears to be in her favor is the experience and depth of

the team and the fact that the only graduation losses the Lady Indians

suffered were those of Veronica Leddy and Sarah Hiruo.

Of course, Leddy's absence will be sorely missed, being one of the top

swimmers in the now defunct WCC, but with the returning swimmers and a load of

fast new freshman in the water, coach Johnson seems to have grabbed a hold of

a team on its way up.

" I see a few star swimmers and I also see a lot of depth, " she said. " Also,

you usually see a difference between the fast lanes and the outside lanes, but

the girls are close. I would like to move those outside lanes up because I

think they have the ability. "

The top returnee is, of course, the flexible and versatile senior, Caragh

Reilly, who should - especially with sophomores Annie Lux, Katie Hanan, and

Becky Crane - provide a very strong foundation for the rest of the team to

build upon for the 1995 season.

It was Hanan and Crane, along with Margaret Forde, who gave the team the

biggest boost in 1994 by taking over the diving chores left vacant by Jamie

Gardner. All three, with the experience of gymnastics behind them, became

superior divers almost overnight.

Mix in the presence of experience swimmers like Farracy Goodman, Christine

Foster, Ginny Eaton, Kelsey Lyddy, Lisa Zinn, Moira Curran, Jill Murphy, and

Alyson Nickse and the Lady Indians appear poised on making themselves known

quickly around the SWC.

" I know that Newtown swimming hasn't won in a while, " said coach Johnson, "

and I would like to see them have a winning season. I don't care if it's 6-5,

as long as it's a winning season.

" I also want these girls to see themselves achieve things or times that they

have never achieved before, " she added. " There are a few people who are

close to breaking some records on the board and I think I can take them there.

"