Date: Fri 13-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Girls-Swimming

Full Text:

Girls' Swimming Preview - 1996

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

Not all the signs of construction at Newtown High School this fall are outside

with the torn up parking lots or inside with the bare hallway floors or

exposed wires and conduits overhead.

Because somewhere down deep in the soon-to-be excavated bowels of Newtown High

School, in the snug confines of the Otto Heise pool area, coach Joanne Johnson

is building the Lady Nighthawks into a winner.

The foundation was laid last year.

Now it's time for the framework . . . the flooring . . . the sheetrock . . .

the electrical wiring and the plumbing.

And - with a good bit of luck and a little more help from the new union, a

cadre of young freshman swimmers - maybe the whole thing will be finished by

the end of the season.

" I'd like to say we have a shot at winning (the SWC championship), " said

coach Johnson, in her second season after guiding the Lady Nighthawks to a 7-3

record a year ago, " but after hearing what all the other teams have - I don't

know. It's a young team and I don't know if they have that drive or that

maturity yet, but we do have the talent for a future title. "

The Lady Nighthawks have as solid a framework as a team could have, with

freshmen sensations Jamie Ryan, Jessica Carino and Stephanie Nickse coming

back as sophomores and stronger than before.

A scary thought for opponents, considering Ryan herself already owns two

Newtown swim records and is on the prowl for more.

That framework is buttressed with the return of Moira Curran and tri-captains

Lauren Kalb, Becky Crane and Alyson Nickse and reinforced with the addition of

some very promising freshmen like Sara Leddy, Kari Fisher, Katie Ryan, Sarah

Lux and Lauren Coulter.

" We have a very strong, but very young team, " said coach Johnson, who will

be assisted by Christer Rundlof, a former star with the Newtown High boys'

swim team, and Jen Borrell. " It could get really hard for us only because we

start swimming the big guys early. We have Seymour, Plainfield, New Fairfield,

and Lauralton Hall right off the bat. It's awful. But it could get easier in

October. "

The Lady Nighthawks, though, had another joist that bolsters the construction

of this winner - an extremely, unbeleivably, almost absurdly deep diving team

coached by Eileen Cabral, a former Division I collegiate diver.

Crane, Megan Lynch, and Jackie Shea are the stalwarts from 1995. The newcomers

are Brianna Littlejohn, Kara Henry, Karen Privalsky, and Emily Cwikla and all

of them - after going to diving camp over the summer - look good.

In fact, everything looks good.

" Things are looking up in Newtown, " said coach Johnson.

Exactly.

Schedule

All home meets are held at Newtown High School's Otto Heise Pool. All meets

begin at 4 pm.

SEPT 11, SEYMOUR; 13, at Plainfield; 17, HOLY CROSS; 20, NEW FAIRFIELD; 25,

STRATFORD; 27, BROOKFIELD.

OCT 1, at Lauralton Hall; 4, POMPERAUG; 8, JONATHAN LAW; 15, at Foran; 18, at

Bunnell; 22, MASUK; 25, at Weston.