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03/17/2018 12:00 AMThe athletes on the Haddam-Killingworth boys’ swimming and diving team had their sights set on finishing near the top of the standings at last week’s Class S State Championship. Despite having just seven swimmers compete at the meet, the Cougars clawed their to a third-place finish at states, while carving out their place in H-K history.
Head Coach Mary Kate Almeida’s team was a top contender entering the Class S State Championship that was held at the Cornerstone Aquatic Center in West Hartford on March 14. After all, the Cougars had earned high seeds in the top heats of several events based on their performance at the Class S Qualifying meet on March 10 at Plainville High School.
At the subsequent State Championship, Haddam-Killingworth claimed the bronze medal by swimming to third place with a total of 455 points, only finishing behind runner-up Holy Cross with 575 points and champion Bloomfield, which scored 630 points. This showing marked the Cougars’ all-time best finish at a state postseason meet, and the fact that they did it with just seven swimmers made the entire day all the more special for Coach Almeida’s club.
“To do this with seven swimmers and no divers is impressive,” said Almeida. “We had three snow days in the past week, so we didn’t have practices, but each of them spent their own time at the YMCA for practices so they were ready for states. They all went above and beyond and put so much effort in.”
The Cougars didn’t a feature a state champion in any of the 12 events contested at the Class S meet, although they did boast a few second-place showings. H-K’s 200 medley relay quartet of seniors Jake Torello and Max Revis, sophomore Eli Houlton, and freshman Kyle Mazziotti clocked in with a time of 1:41.41 to take second place, finishing behind Holy Cross (1:39.32). The 200 freestyle relay of Revis, senior Mike Morman, Zach Houlton, and freshman Chris Garrelts posted a time of 1:33.33 to place second to Holy Cross (1:31.99). Both of these relays earned All-State honors for H-K.
For individual events, sophomore Zach Houlton was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle with a mark of 1:46.72, only finishing behind Sacred Heart’s Dan Walsh (1:45.62). Houlton later swam a 4:47.37 to take second place in the 500 freestyle, which was won by Northwestern’s Derek Fantano (4:46.97). Houlton was an All-State honoree for both freestyle events with his runner-up finishes.
“Zach dropped seconds off his times, so all year long, he went up against swimmers not as fast as him. But at states, he was very competitive,” Coach Almeida said. “We had three seniors [Morman, Torello, Revis] that made All-State, and they were so thrilled and happy with their performances, which makes it all worth it.”
In the 400 freestyle relay, Mazziotti, the Houlton brothers, and Morman came in third place with a time of 3:19.27.
Elsewhere in individual events, Mazziotti finished fourth in both the 100 backstroke (55.51) and the 100 freestyle (48.25) for the Cougars. Mazziotti had previously set the H-K school record for the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.29 seconds at the Class S Qualifying meet.
Additionally for H-K at the State Championship, Torello finished fifth (56.78) in the backstroke; Eli Houlton finished fifth (54.83) for the 100 butterfly, and Revis placed 10th (56.99); Garrelts swam to seventh place for the 50 freestyle in 23.17 seconds; Revis took seventh for the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.25; Eli Houlton finished eighth (51.48) in the 100 freestyle, while Garrelts placed 12th (51.76), and Morman finished 15th (53.02); plus Morman finished eighth in the 200 individual medley at 2:10.41, and Torello was 14th (2:11.73).
This year, the Cougars were led by their quartet of senior captains, who were Torello, Revis, Morman, and Simon Brown. Almeida said that her senior leaders served as the perfect extension of H-K’s coaching staff by guiding the upcoming prospects of the program throughout the season, after which they all made a big splash at states.
“At the beginning of the year, they were all working hard, and we had a big group of freshmen that came into the team this season,” said Almeida. “The seniors stepped up as well and did a great job with helping out the freshmen and sophomores. Some of them took on a role of helping the younger guys and making sure they were in a good place before races.”
From the Sidelines
Rounding out the top 10 team finishes at the Class S State Championship were Sheehan (4th, 382.5 points), Northwestern (5th, 370), Sacred Heart (6th, 236), Seymour (7th, 231), Watertown (8th, 204), Shepaug Valley (9th, 202), and Granby Memorial (10th, 189).
Mary Kate Almeida completed her first season as the H-K boys’ swimming and diving team coach after coaching the girls’ squad last fall. She was assisted by Pat Dougherty during the winter season.
The Cougars compiled a dual-meet record of 6-4 this year. H-K also finished second out of four teams in the inaugural Nutmeg Conference Championship meet.