Sports

Mental Toughness Key: Girls' Swim And Dive Heads Into Postseason

By Andy Hutchison

Published: Oct 30, 2026 6:50 am

Newtown High School's girls' swimming and diving team visited a Bethel-Danbury three-school squad at New Fairfield High's pool in the regular-season finale on October 27. The Nighthawks had some individual event wins and runner-up swims, but came up short by a score of 98-76.

"Unfortunately we did not have the numbers to pull off a win against the co-op team from Bethel, Danbury, and Immaculate (BDI). As tonight was the last meet of the regular season, emotions were high on the pool deck. Mental toughness is going to be really important as we head into the postseason. We have SWC Championships on Nov 7 and from there we'll see how many girls will be moving on to Class L State Championships," Coach Lisa Irving said.

Nighthawk diver Aliyah Reuther will compete in the South-West Conference diving competition at Weston High on Wednesday, November 4, beginning at 5:30 pm. The swimming events will be held at Masuk High in Monroe Saturday, November 7, at 10 am.

In the season finale, Reuther was first in the diving competition (score not available). The 200 yard medley relay team comprising Ella Murphy, Indigo Land, Reagan Garvin, and Sierra Marx came in second with a time of 2:09.81, just under a second behind the winning time.

Marx was second in the 200 freestyle race in 2:15.47. Land won the 200 individual medley race, clocking in at 2:36.94, edging out BDI's fastest competitor by less than a second. Jolene Brackett was second in the 100 free in 1:07.81. Marx won the 500, making her final touch in 6:00.03.

The 200 free relay of Murphy, Brackett, Garvin, and Marx was second with a time of 1:58.85. Murphy was runner-up in the 100 backstroke race in 1:12.09. Brackett took second in the 100 breaststroke event in 1:28.35. The 400 free relay team of Madi Weston, Giulia Rossi, Emma Sheehan, and Brackett came in first with a time of 4:43.20.

Newtown finished third as follows: 200 free, Rossi 2:35.96; 50 free, Weston 29.88; 500 free, Sheehan 6:40.67; 200 breaststroke, Lia Suarez 1:41.21.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.

Reagan Garvin races for the Nighthawks this fall. —Bee Photos, Hutchison

Sierra Marx and the Hawks will race in the SWC Championships at Masuk High in Monroe on November 7.

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Mental Toughness Key: Girls' Swim And Dive Heads Into Postseason

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