“I feel a lot of joy and we feel accomplished as a team,” Pomperaug senior captain Timothy Regan said. “We worked hard all season and through a few years of a tough pandemic without states, so it feels good to finally be back and to come out on top.”
Daniel Hand was the runner up for the second straight season, this time with a point total of 435, while Farmington followed in third with 385 points.
In the first event of the day, defending champion Pomperaug earned a gold medal for the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:37.34 between Timothy Regan, Brayden Green, Cole McKirryher and Collin Thompson.
Regan, a senior, won his second gold medal of the day when he took first place in the 100 backstroke in 52.21 seconds.
“You expect success, but when everyone is exceeding their goals that is the best thing to see,” Regan said. “You come in with certain goals and everybody was exceeding their goals and doing better than they thought they could do.”
Panthers senior K.C. Green was also a multi-event winner. He took home the title in the 100-butterfly, finishing 53 seconds flat. He also won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 57.74.
Pomperaug sophomore Logan Keane also earned gold for his team, finishing first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.82.
“I am so excited for these guys and how well they swam,” Pomperaug coach Fran Pentino said. “It was probably one of the better state meets we’ve had, and we have had some good ones.”
After just six events, Pomperaug had a massive lead with 332 points while Daniel Hand and Farmington were tied for second with 179 points each.
“I always visualize a meet going this well, it doesn’t necessarily always happen,” Pentino said. “This one probably exceeded my expectations.”
Daniel Hand sophomore Elliot Lee took home three Class M individual titles. Lee finished first in the 200 IM with a time of 1:49.91 and proceeded to win the 100 freestyle which he completed in 46.03 (the seventh event of the day).
“It is an honor to represent Daniel Hand and help to get those points for the team,” Lee said. “The pool can be unpredictable. Anybody can have a really good swim or a really bad swim. Whatever happens happens.”
Lee was also the final leg of the first place Hand 400-Yard Freestyle Relay team along with Ian Looby, Jack Signorello and Joseph Starkey.
Senior Jack Signorello’s second place finish in the 500 freestyle helped create some distance for Hand over Farmington in the eighth event of the meet.
“It is a team effort, and our energy level in this meet has never been higher,” Lee said. “We came into this meet thinking we would show up, show out, and show what we truly are. We just wanted to show how hard we have worked over the past year.”
Other individual winners included Brookfield junior Jude Boukarroum finisher in the 200-Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:43.98 and Suffield Co-Op freshman Cody Lonsberry in the 500-Yard Freestyle in 4:40.60. Lonsberry finished seven seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
The East Lyme 200-Yard Freestyle Relay team consisting of Ken Chen, Brendan Fant, Ryan Huang and Eric Wang also earned a gold medal with a time of 1:29.35.
The Open swimming championships will take place on Saturday as the top teams from each Class Championship will compete at the final state meet.
“It is the last meet of our senior year for myself and a lot of my fellow teammates,” Regan said. “It is the first time for everyone else being at Opens. We are excited and we have two more days to rest before we come back and do it one more time.”
Team Scores: 1. Pomperaug 792.5; 2. Hand 459; 3. Farmington 385; 4. East Lyme 354; 5. Windsor 330.5; 6. Weston 306; 7. Masuk 302; 8. Middletown 294; 9. Brookfield 287; 10. Avon 254; 11. Wilton 248; 12. Suffield Coop 219; 13. Berlin 206; 14. HK Coop 160; 15. Lyman Hall-Coginchaug 152; 16. Wethersfield 121; 17. Notre Dame WH 108; 18. Torrington 97; 19. Abbott Tech 29; 20. Watertown 21.
200 Yard Medley Relay: 1. Pomperaug (Timothy Regan, Brayden Green, Cole McKirryher, Collin Thompson), 1:37.34; 2. Hand (Joseph Starkey, Matthew Gentil, Jonah Kehew, Elliot Lee), 1:38.19; 3. Farmington (Jakub Zukowski, Isaac Varghese, Tyler Grubelich, Ryan Zambrzycki), 1:39.51; 4. East Lyme (Ryan Huang, Dean Palermo, Eric Wang, Brendan Fant), 1:40.58; 5. Windsor (Jacob Stechschulte, Rorion Soroka, Ellis Rivera, Conner Staron), 1:43.09; 6. Middletown (Richard Bailey, Andrew Strickland, Zach Krantz, Drew Ngo), 1:43.17; 7. HK Coop (Colby Kish, Jack Ferguson, Alejandro Campo de la Vera, Connor Levy), 1:45.14; 8. Masuk (Keller Hall, Ryan Youngcourt, Samuel McHugh, Brendan Kirberger), 1:47.83.
200 Yard Freestyle: 1. Jude Boukarroum, Brookfield, 1:43.98; 2. Cody Lonsberry, Suffield Coop, 1:44.25; 3. Jack Fry, Pomperaug, 1:45.28; 4. Jack Signorello, Hand, 1:46.75; 5. Eric Wang, East Lyme, 1:48.90; 6. Kenneth Clark, Masuk, 1:49.40; 7. Graham Lewis, Weston, 1:49.84; 8. Brendan Kirberger, Masuk, 1:51.51.
200 Yard IM: 1. Elliot Lee, Hand, 1:49.91; 2. Timothy Regan, Pomperaug, 1:53.46; 3. Collin Thompson, Pomperaug, 1:55.99; 4. Edward Kim, Weston, 1:56.49; 5. Jack Ferguson, HK Coop, 1:58.82; 6. Joseph Starkey, Hand, 1:59.81; 7. Kristopher Janney, Brookfield, 2:01.76; 8. Alexander Lee, Farmington, 2:03.73.
50 Yard Freestyle: 1. Logan Keane, Pomperaug, 21.82; 2. Matthew DeStefano, Brookfield, 22.13; 3. Conner Staron, Windsor, 22.15; 4. Ryan Zambrzycki, Farmington, 22.43; 5. Jakub Zukowski, Farmington, 22.72; 6. Benjamin Steward, Wilton, 22.77; 7. Matthew Jamrozek, Berlin, 23.07; 8. William Sherlock, Weston, 23.40.
100 Yard Butterfly: 1. K.C. Green, Pomperaug, 53.00; 2. Jerick Lagamao, Lyman Hall-Coginchaug, 53.31; 3. Jude Boukarroum, Brookfield, 53.46; 4. Tyler Grubelich, Farmington, 54.07; 5. Samuel McHugh, Masuk, 54.50; 6. Calvin Chen, Farmington, 54.51; 7. Ryan Huang, East Lyme, 54.63; 8. Ellis Rivera, Windsor, 54.66.
100 Yard Freestyle: 1. Elliot Lee, Hand, 46.03; 2. Andrew Strickland, Middletown, 46.30; 3. Eric Wang, East Lyme, 48.34; 4. Collin Thompson, Pomperaug, 48.37; 5. Conner Staron, Windsor, 48.51; 5. Jack Fry, Pomperaug, 48.51; 7. Jakub Zukowski, Farmington, 50.17; 8. Ryan Zambrzycki, Farmington, 50.65.
500 Yard Freestyle: 1. Cody Lonsberry, Suffield Coop, 4:40.60; 2. Jack Signorello, Hand, 4:47.89; 3. Brendan Kirberger, Masuk, 4:48.57; 4. Colin Martin, Pomperaug, 4:49.10; 5. Kenneth Clark, Masuk, 4:56.06; 6. Graham Lewis, Weston, 4:57.15; 7. Chase Shapiro, Weston, 4:58.04; 8. Rhys Vale, Avon, 4:59.69.
200 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. East Lyme (Ken Chen, Brendan Fant, Ryan Huang, Eric Wang), 1:29.35; 2. Pomperaug (Nathan Markelon, Jack Fry, David Cappiello, Jaydon Farley), 1:30.85; 3. Weston (Edward Kim, Chase Shapiro, Graham Lewis, William Sherlock), 1:31.20; 4. Middletown (Drew Ngo, Zach Krantz, Richard Bailey, Andrew Strickland), 1:32.24; 5. Berlin (Marcel Dabek, Adrian Poloszczak, Logan Szczesniak, Matthew Jamrozek), 1:32.82; 6. Wilton (Jake Mercer, Vrishak Duriseti, Vishnu Duriseti, Benjamin Steward), 1:33.32; 7. Hand (Jonah Kehew, Ian Looby, Matthew Gentil, Jack Signorello), 1:33.48; 8. Windsor (Rorion Soroka, Steven Schwartz, Eric Quiterio, Vaughn Peoples-Hobson), 1:33.83.
100 Yard Backstroke: 1. Timothy Regan, Pomperaug, 52.21; 2. Joseph Starkey, Hand, 53.37; 3. Edward Kim, Weston, 53.39; 4. Jonah Kehew, Hand, 53.58; 5. Jerick Lagamao, Lyman Hall-Coginchaug, 54.88; 6. Ryan Huang, East Lyme, 55.87; 7. Brendan Fant, East Lyme, 57.62; 8. Samuel McHugh, Masuk, 57.96.
100 Yard Breaststroke: 1. K.C. Green, Pomperaug, 57.74; 2. Matthew DeStefano, Brookfield, 59.02; 3. Logan Keane, Pomperaug, 59.49; 4. Andrew Strickland, Middletown, 1:00.57; 5. Jack Ferguson, HK Coop, 1:00.62; 6. Alexander Lee, Farmington, 1:00.88; 7. Jeffrey Gao, Pomperaug, 1:01.31; 8. Isaac Varghese, Farmington, 1:01.69.
400 Yard Freestyle Relay: 1. Hand (Ian Looby, Jack Signorello, Joseph Starkey, Elliot Lee), 3:15.31; 2. Windsor (Ellis Rivera, Vaughn Peoples-Hobson, Eric Quiterio, Conner Staron), 3:16.87; 3. Pomperaug (Timothy Regan, Colin Martin, Jeffrey Gao, Robert Regan), 3:16.95; 4. Weston (Graham Lewis, Chase Shapiro, William Sherlock, Edward Kim), 3:20.55; 5. Farmington (Jakub Zukowski, Calvin Chen, Isaac Varghese, Ryan Zambrzycki), 3:22.12; 6. Brookfield (Ewan LeJava, Kristopher Janney, Matthew DeStefano, Jude Boukarroum), 3:24.25; 7. Suffield Coop (Cody Lonsberry, Matt Sinofsky, Seth Pagsanhan, Ian Danielson), 3:25.72; 8. Masuk 3:26.13.