Date: Fri 24-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Quick Words:

Swim-Wappingers

Full Text:

Newtown Swimmers Finish Second At Wappingers Central School Invitational

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

NEWBURGH, NY - Talking like a salesman trying to sell timeshares or

memberships in a consumer club, head coach Brian Reiff - on a Friday night in

a freezing Howard Johnson conference room - had his Newtown High School swim

team convinced it could win the third annual Wappingers Central School boys'

swimming invitational at Mount Saint Mary's College.

Coach Reiff, though, wasn't selling his team a bill of goods. The thing he

didn't foresee, however, was the introduction of a new element, Cornwall High

School, and while the Nighthawks could have taken home the first-place trophy,

they settled - not unhappily - for the second-place trophy instead.

"We came here to win it," coach Reiff explained, "but I am very proud of these

guys."

After two consecutive fourth-place finishes at the invitational, coach Reiff

and assistant coach Carl Strait believed they had constructed a lineup which

had the best shot at winning the meet because Arlington High School, the 1995

champion, was at another meet last weekend.

Then in comes Cornwall which, with a very strong front line, finished first

with 277 points - 55 points ahead of second-place Newtown, which finished with

222 points.

Coach Reiff knew his team was in for a rough challenge when, in the opening

event, the 200 medley relay, Cornwall took first almost eight seconds ahead of

third-place Newtown. The eight-point jump Cornwall got in that event was the

only advantage it had over the Nighthawks through the 200 freestyle, 200

individual medley, and 50 freestyle.

It quickly became a two-horse race, though, with Monroe-Woodbury close enough

in third to warrant at least a glance or two over the shoulder.

But Cornwall, which finished first in six events, began pulling away from

Newtown with a powerful performance in the 100 butterfly. Cornwall took first,

fifth and seventh while Newtown finished fourth (Paul McBride, 1:04.43), ninth

(Tara Fiscella, 1:12.66), and 12th (Pieter Lott, 1:17.42).

The Nighthawks lost three more points to Cornwall in the 100 free, despite

good performances from Nick Perrone (fourth, 56.71) and Adam Peck (sixth,

59.85). In the 500 freestyle, though, Newtown got 12 points back Lance

Panigutti took sixth (5:55.58), Nick Taylor took seventh (5:55.8) and Ryan

Eberts took 12th (6:58.0) and all Cornwall was able to grab was eighth.

Newtown picked up two more points in the 200 freestyle relay when the

Nighthawks took second to Monroe-Woodbury, three seconds ahead of Cornwall in

third.

Then came the back-breaker in, incidentally, the 100 backstroke. Cornwall's

Kyle Rourke grabbed first in a strong finish of 58.47, but then Colin

Breivogel and Brian Appleby took fourth and fifth for Cornwall and the 37

points it scored just about clinched the meet.

Simon Hood was Newtown's top finisher in that event, coming in eighth at

1:08.04. Brian McGovern took 10th at 1:08.82 while Lott came in 11th at

1:11.97. Todd Burns gave Newtown its best individual finish when he took

second in the 100 breast at 1:11.75, over a second behind Cornwall's Quintin

Pennings.

The 222 points was the most the Nighthawks have scored in the invitational.

Wappingers Central

Swimming Invitational

200 medley relay - 1. Cornwall, 1:50.23; 2. Wappingers, 1:51.10; 3. Newtown

(Hood, McBride, Panigutti, Perrone), 1:57.56; 4. Our Lady of Lourdes, 2:03.99;

5. John F. Kennedy, 2:05.76; 6. Poughkeepsie, 2:06.02; 7. Monroe-Woodbury,

2:11.87; 8. Marlboro, 2:13.64.

200 free - 1. Zuckerman (MW), 1:55.45; 2. Gervais (M), 2:00.57; 3. K. Rourke

(C), 2:00.65; 4. Burns (N), 2:07.22; 5. W. Pennings (C), 2:07.62; 6. Taylor

(N), 2:08.59; 11. Panigutti (N), 2:11.60.

200 individual medley - 1. Mulvey (M), 2:13.93; 2. Carrington (W), 2:17.99; 3.

Q. Pennings (C), 2:18.02; 4. McBride (N), 2:21.12; 5. C. Rourke (C), 2:25.89;

6. McGovern (N), 2:26.82; 8. FIscella (N), 2:35.58.

50 free - 1. Alban (W), 23.85; 2. Eastwood (C), 24.07; 3. Perrone (N), 25.12;

4. Farber (MW), 25.93; 5. Dandridge (P), 26.07; 6. Anania (JFK), 26.22; 9.

Loring (N), 26.37; 10. Peck (N), 26.59.

100 fly - 1. Breivogel (C), 1:02.35; 2. Carrington (W), 1:02.81; 3. Farber

(MW), 1:04.27; 4. McBride (N), 1:04.43; 5. C. Rourke (C), 1:07.91; 6. Bekiaris

(MW), 1:09.69; 9. Fiscella (N), 1:12.66; 12. Lott (N), 1:17.42.

100 free - 1. Eastwood (C), 53.09; 2. Zuckerman (MW), 55.14; 3. Reale (W),

56.55; 4. Perrone (N), 56.71; 5. MArshall (W), 58.60; 6. Peck (N), 59.85.

500 free - 1. Gervais (M), 5:31.91; 2. Puretz (PD), 5:43.35; 3. Nicolis (OLL),

5:43.82; 4. Savarese (MW), 5:51.15; 5. O'Gara (JFK), 5:54.74; 6. Panigutti

(N), 5:55.58; 7. Taylor (N), 5:55.80; 12. R. Eberts (N), 6:58.24.

200 free relay - 1. Monroe-Woodbury, 1:38.83; 2. Newtown (Loring, Burns,

McGovern, Perrone), 1:41.54; 3. Cornwall, 1:44.52; 4. Wappingers, 1:45.93; 5.

Poughkeepsie, 1:47.09; 6. Marlboro, 1:49.98; 7. Our Lady of Lourdes, 1:51.54;

8. John F. Kennedy, 1:52.02.

100 back - 1. K. Rourke (C), 58.47; 2. Mulley (MW), 59.99; 3. Alban (W),

1:02.69; 4. Breivogel (C), 1:03.08; 5. Appleby (C), 1:06.55; 6. Browne (M),

1:06.37; 8. Hood (N), 1:08.04; 10. McGovern (N), 1:08.82; 11. Lott (N),

1:11.97.

100 breast - 1. Q. Pennings (C), 1:10.26; 2. Burns (N), 1:11.75; 3. Cappello

(JFK), 1:12.19; 4. Turletes (OLL), 1:14.55; 5. Foote (C), 1:16.42; 6.

Rosenthal (MW), 1:16.59; 8. Loring (N), 1:20.67; 10. B. Eberts (N), 1:20.77.

400 free relay - 1. Cornwall, 3:40.50; 2. Monroe-Woodbury, 3:43.92; 3.

Wappingers, 3:50.74; 4. Newtown, 3:51.32; 5. Marlboro, 4:12.55; 6.

Poughkeepsie, 4:41.01; 7. Our Lady of Lourdes, 5:42.00.