By Kim J. Harmon

MIDDLETOWN – With the diving trials and finals of the CIAC Class L championships taking place four days before the actual meet, three Newtown High School girls had the unique opportunity of making an impact before anyone swam a single stroke.

And – wow – what an impact.

Senior Shannon Kennedy, senior Melissa Metzger and junior Nicole Borruso finished second, third and fourth in diving and garnered a whopping 78 points. The impact of those 78 points cannot be overstated as the Lady Nighthawks captured the Class L title by only 21.5 points over Staples of Westport.

Even though those diving performances were huge, the funny thing is the three Newtown divers – who were wonderfully sharp during the South-West Conference championships – didn’t feel like they dove all that well.

“I had some good dives I was proud of, but I still felt I could do better,” said Borruso.

The girls “muddled” through the first eight dives and never had a sense of where they stood in the standings. Ellen Pelletier of Conard, Ashley Driscoll of Mercy, Shira Lewis of William Hall, Avery Ringquist of William Hall and Brenna Lindsay of Newington were all diving well in the ‘A’ grouping.

 “I had a hard warm-up and had a good first dive, but I didn’t feel like I was on all night,” said Metzger. “I had no idea how I was doing, but I thought there was no way I was in the top five.”

Then the current scores were announced.

“We were all in shock,” said Kennedy. “But at the break I went up and talked to my Dad and that always helps. It was the final three dives that did it for me.”

At the SWC championships, it was Metzger who finished second and Kennedy who finished third but at the Class L championships the roles were reversed. Even more shocking than the final finishes was the fact that Kennedy came in only 2.3 points behind Pelletier of Conard.

“Oh my god!,” said Kennedy. “One dive could have made the difference.”

Despite the finishes, there was still a little bit of dismay over their performances.

“It was my worst meet of the season,” said Metzger, “but I was happy we were able to get the team all those points.”

Borruso added, “In the end I think we realized (the officials) were just giving out low scores. If we dove as well as we did at SWCs, we would have finished one, two, three.”

The divers scored 78 points, but those points did not get factored into the Class L championship scoring until after the 50 freestyle … the traditional position for the diving event in a dual meet. At that point, the ‘Hawks were 39 points behind Staples.

But after the diving scores were factored in, that all changed. Suddenly the ‘Hawks were up 39 points, a jolt that gave the locals just enough cushion to hold off the Wreckers in the final seven events of the evening.

With their performances, Kennedy and Metzger qualified for the All-State team.

“We couldn’t have had such a great season without our amazing coach, Cindy (Friedman),” said Metzger. “We owe all of our success to her!”