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North Haven Girls’ Swimming Makes History with 2nd-Place Performance at States

Two weeks after rewriting the school record book at the SCC Championship, the North Haven girls’ swimming and diving team added another chapter at the Class M State Championship.

The Indians claimed six first-place finishes, four of which were school-record performances, on their way to finishing in second place as a team at states. North Haven’s finish marked its best all-time performance at the state meet, and making this achievement even more impressive is the fact that Head Coach Martha Phelan’s squad earned its runner-up status with just 11 athletes competing. North Haven tallied 464 points to only place behind Lauralton Hall (600 points) in the 22-team field.

“I am beyond thrilled and feel our performance was validation for North Haven’s total commitment to being our best. I am so proud,” said Phelan, who’s assisted by diving coach Bob Lewis. “It has been a whirlwind season with the team peaking at the perfect time. This team has given their all to me and represented their school with pride, sportsmanship, and passion.”

Sophomore Angela Gambardella topped her historic performance from the SCC Championship by winning the same two events, while breaking her own school records in both, at the Class M Championship at Southern Connecticut State University on Nov. 15. First, Gambardella swam a time of 2:06.59 in the 200-yard individual medley to defeat runner-up Caroline Sargent of Lauralton Hall (2:10.54) and break her school record of 2:06.70 from SCCs. Toward the end of the meet, Gambardella went a 1:03.82 in the 100 breaststroke for a comfortable victory over second-place Madeline O’Connor of Brookfield (1:08.63). That performance also marked a school record for Gambardella, who had posted a time of 1:04.33 when she prevailed at the SCC Championship.

“The night was really exciting. We had a lot of girls swim best times, and many records were broken,” Gambardella said. “We all worked so hard this season, and it’s really exciting to see all that hard work pay off. All the energy the team brings makes the night so much fun, and I was really happy to see everyone perform well.”

However, Gambardella wasn’t the only Indians’ swimmer who won two events at states. Maddie Bergin continued her exceptional freshman season by taking top honors in both the 50 and 100 freestyles, breaking her own school record in the latter event. Bergin’s first victory came in the 50 freestyle, where she swam a time of 24.44 seconds to just touch out Masuk’s Elizabeth Stoelzel (25.00). Bergin had previously set the school record at 24.32 when she placed third at SCCs.

Then in the 100 freestyle, Bergin finished with a mark of 53.03 to beat out Lauralton Hall’s Katherine Begg (53.68) and better her own school record of 53.27 from when she won at the conference meet.

“The guidance of [Phelan and Lewis] and the support of my teammates made the night an amazing and exciting experience,” said Bergin. “We’ve worked so hard as a team this season, and it was amazing to experience our hard work pay off.”

As if this wasn’t enough, Gambardella and Bergin also competed for a pair of relays that earned first place, one of which broke a school record. In the first event of the night, North Haven’s 200 medley relay of Bergin, Gambardella, senior Jasmine Nguy, and fellow senior Laura Borrelli prevailed behind a time of 1:51.43, finishing ahead of the second-place team from Lyman Hall, which recorded a time of 1:53.22. By virtue of this performance, North Haven’s quartet broke its own school record of 1:51.90 that they set when they took second at SCCs.

On top of that, the Indians’ 200 freestyle relay of Gambardella, Borrelli, freshman Riley Jooss, and Bergin went a 1:40.89 to take first place ahead of the team from Lauralton Hall (1:41.76). North Haven’s grouping came just one one-hundredth of a second from breaking its own school record of 1:40.88 from their third-place showing at the SCC Championship.

Gambardella and Bergin both made All-State in their two individual events, while North Haven’s victorious relays also garnered All-State accolades, and they all competed in the State Open Championship at Yale University on Nov. 18. Gambardella has now made All-State in the 200 IM and the breaststroke in each of her first two seasons as a member of the Indians.

In addition to swimming on the victorious 200 medley relay, Nguy came in eighth place in the 100 backstroke by swimming a time of 1:04.73. She also teamed up with sophomore Kiersten Winter, sophomore Mackenzie Montesi, and Jooss on the 400 freestyle relay team that finished in seventh at 3:53.74. Winter also came in ninth place for the 200 IM with a lifetime best of 2:17.26 to go with a 13th-place performance in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.92).

Borrelli finished 11th in the 50 freestyle (26.08) and was 13th in the 100 freestyle (56.43) for North Haven. Jooss took 12th place in the 200 IM at 2:20.67 and also finished 12th in the 100 butterfly by reaching the finish line in a time of 1:03.89 with both marking lifetime-best performances.

Sophomore Abby Kirtland took 17th place in the 100 backstroke (lifetime best of 1:06.46) with Montesi finishing right behind her in 18th with a lifetime best of 1:06.47. Montesi also paced her way to 17th place in the 500 freestyle by a swimming a time of 5:36.10, which was also a lifetime best. Freshman Molly Coyle finished 22nd in the 200 IM at 2:29.11.

Seven days before North Haven’s swimmers hit the water at states, the Indians had two athletes compete at the Class M Diving State Championship, and their points counted toward their team’s final point total. Sophomore Ava Santacroce finished in sixth place, while junior Isabella Alogna finished 12th at the Diving Championship, which was held at Bulkeley High School.

At the State Open, Gambardella placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:04.12 and finished fifth in the 200 IM at 2:06.71. Bergin came in seventh for the 50 freestyle with a mark of 24.26 to break her own school record and then finished 11th for the 100 freestyle at 53.21. For the relays, North Haven's 200 medley relay finished 12th with a time of 1:52.64, while its 200 freestyle relay was 15th at 1:41.32. All totaled, the Indians scored 141 points and finished in 11th place at the Open.