By Kim J. Harmon

NEWBURGH, New York – It wasn’t the best team that Newtown has ever brought down to the annual Wappingers Falls Swimming Invitational, but it certainly turned in one of the best performances ever.

With a stunning effort by Kane Kunst – which included two first-place finishes and a new meet record in the 100-yard backstroke – and a great finish by the 400-yard freestyle relay team, the Nighthawks slipped ahead of Poughkeepsie by seven points to finish third overall last Saturday at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York.

“It was a really good meet for our kids,” said head coach Brian Reiff, who has seen the Nighthawks struggle to a 3-7 record during the 2000-01 dual meet season thus far. “It felt like we finally won something. These kids have been working really, really hard and they swam great.”

The ‘Hawks finished ahead of Pougkeepsie in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a superb time of 3:36.19 - with Bryan_Kotwicki (55.92), Jeff_Heller (55.07), Matt Fries (54.66) and Kunst (50.54)_all turning in excellent splits.

Kunst took first in the 100-yard butterfly in 55.74 (almost six seconds ahead of his nearest competitor) and later on took first in the 100-yard backstroke with a new meet record of 55.68 (almost three seconds ahead of his nearest competitor).

There were plenty of other solid performances, as well.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the ‘Hawks finished second in 1:50.75 behind Fries (backstroke, 23.99 in the backstroke), Heller (27.00 in the butterfly), Tim Robinson (32.96 in the breaststroke) and Kunst (26.28 in the freestyle).

In the 200-yard freestyle, Kathleen Scharf (2:13.81) and Garrett Swink (2:16.58) finished eighth and ninth while Jim Morlath (2:36.72) took 12th. In the 200-yard individual medley, Heller (2:25.75) took sixth and in the 50-yard freestyle, Kotwicki (25.46) was eighth while Robinson (27.23) was 14th.

Four of the best performances of the day, though, came in the 100-yard butterfly, the 100-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard backstroke. In the fly, Heller came in third in 1:04.73; in the free, Fries was  fourth at 55.23 and Kotwicki was seventh at 56.91; and in the back, Fries was fifth at 1:03.34.

Those are the kinds of performances that helped the Nighthawks take third overall – perhaps their most satisfying finish at Wappingers Falls since they first made the trip to Newburgh, New York several years ago.