Brookfield Swimmers Take Runner-Up in SWC Championship

The Brookfield boys swimming and diving team knew it was up against a juggernaut heading into the SWC Championship held at Masuk High School Friday night. Still, they felt they had an outstanding chance to knock off the four-time defending champion Panthers squad. 

Getting season best swims from all their swimmers still proved to be not enough against the Pomperaug team built on depth, as the Panthers out-pointed the field and runner-up Brookfield 597-552 for their fifth straight championship, all while failing to take first place in any single event.

“We ran out of kids, we didn’t run out of heart,” Brookfield head coach Brian Reiff said. “We battled the whole night. We’ll have our day. They have so much depth and quality swimmers, they did a great job.”

Brookfield started fast, setting an SWC record in the 200 Yard Medley Relay with a time of 1:39.99. For the record, Brookfield put the team of Luciano Souza, Janco Cornelius, Jeff Magin and Daniel Krensta in the pool.

“We started off setting the record in the medley relay,” Reiff said. “We kept rolling after that, kids kept doing great things. We had a great night.”

Krensta and Seamus Deakin placed third and fourth in the 200 Yard Freestyle to help Brookfield maintain its early lead after two events. Pomperaug’s depth began to show its worth in event three as they moved in front.  Their third, fourth, seventh and eighth place spots outdid Matt Moen and Nick Miller’s second and fifth place finishes.

Souza kept the Bobcats close with a second place time in the 50 Yard Freestlye.  Jack Dunn also earned the team big points with a seventh place time in the event.

Pomperaug did take first place in the diving competition held earlier in the week, outscoring Brookfield by 20 points. That edge plus three top five finishes off-setting Magin’s second place showing in the 100 Yard Butterfly turned a four-point advantage after four events into a 36-point advantage after six.

The Panthers looked to be pulling away when they again out-pointed Brookfield in the 100 Yard Freestyle even though their top finisher came in third compared to the Bobcats second place swim from Souza. Suddenly a close meet was slipping away as Brookfield was looking at 383-339 deficit with five events left.

The Bobcats were not ready to go quietly however, as the rallied to put serious pressure on the Panther squad. The 500 Yard Freestyle saw Brookfield place second, fourth, fifth and eighth to pull to within 24 points of Pomperaug. Moen, Deakin, Blake Holton and Jeff Janofsky all came up with their best times of the year to get Brookfield back in striking distance.

Pomperaug picked up two points on the Bobcats with a second place finish in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with Brookfield placing third. The Bobcats nearly gained additional 16 crucial points in the event, but their second team was beaten out by Bethel’s first team for the 11th and final point position.

In a race that displayed what Pomperaug swimming is all about, the 100 Yard Backstroke proved to be the end of the drama. The Bobcats' Magin and Miller placed first and second, giving those on the pool deck and in the stands the feeling that Brookfield might have just put itself in position to dethrone the champs.  When the final tallies were totaled however, Pomperaug’s depth had led them to out-point the Bobcats in event 10 with third, fourth, fifth and eighth place finishes, pushing their lead to an insurmountable 47 points.

Cornelius took third place in the 100 Yard Breaststroke for Brookfield, well ahead of the Panthers best finisher in seventh position. Still Pomperaug’s depth helped them increase their lead heading into the final event.

Brookfield closed the gap with a second place finish in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay but by that time the defending champs were already celebrating.

A compelling third and fourth place race between Joel Barlow/Immaculate (B-Mac) and Newtown may have decided what took place at the top of the team scores. Brookfield was looking for help in lowering Pomperaug’s scores heading into the meet, but top finishes, including three SWC records by the B-Mac team coached by Brookfield’s girls swimming and diving coach Brandt Nigro, did more damage to the Bobcats point totals than the Panthers.

“They’ve always had the top end swimmers,” said Nigro of the team he took over this season.  “This year we finally got more depth.”

B-Mac held off Newtown with a score of 311 to 293 in large part due to their top-heavy roster that earned seven first place finishes.  Of those seven, five kept Brookfield from earning top place points as they settled for second place.

“We were more at the top of meet than Pomperaug was, so every time he’s beating me he’s not changing anything for me,” Reiff said of Nigro’s squad putting up an impressive performance. “But he’s allowed to do that, he has a team too.  That’s sports, his kids are competing and they took some real key spots at the top of the meets.”

B-Mac’s Robby Harder was named the meet’s most outstanding swimmer for the second year in a row.  Harder took first place in the 200 Yard Freestyle and shattered the SWC record by over seven seconds in the 500 Yard Freestyle.  He also anchored the first place teams in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay and the SWC record setting 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. B-Mac’s Michael Pilyugin also set an SWC record in the 50 Yard Freestyle and took first in the 100 Yard Freestyle while being a part of the winning relay teams.

“They were close races, they could have gone either way.” Nigro said of taking points from the Bobcat squad. “Pilyugin swam out of his mind today. Robby will compete as one of the top swimmers in states.”

While being disappointed in failing to take back the SWC crown that they had held for five straight years before Pomperaug’s recent run, Brookfield still has its goal of defending its Class M State Championship in front of them.

“We got a week to get ready,” Reiff said of his team that improved their seed times for states with their best swims of the year in the championship meet.  “We have our work cut out for us.  We got a gutsy team, we got a young team.  We get bloodied here, and now we will go battle those guys.”

TEAM SCORES: 1. Pomperaug 597; 2. Brookfield 552; 3. Joel Barlow/Immaculate 311; 4. Newtown 293; 5. Weston 246; 6. New Fairfield 188; 7. Masuk 137; 8. Oxford 123; 9. Bunnell/Stratford 98; 10. Bethel 84; 11. New Milford 67