Local Swimmers Push Xavier To Second Place At SCC

March 6, 2010 by Greg Lederer

Xavier High School (Middletown) head coach Keith Nichols enjoys matching up his swimmers at practice and meets. The strategy is designed for them to bring out the best of each other. Cheshire residents Michael and Alex Wilson, along with Kevin Kosciuk, Kyle Newton, and Will Thomann, benefited from that friendly competition at the Southern Connecticut Conference Finals, held Wednesday Night at Yale University.
“It helps because you train hard every day,” said Newton. “You are happy for them no matter what.”
“It's always a good challenge,” added Kosciuk. “You are not as sad when you lose to a teammate.”
Kosciuk contributed to two of three events, in which local swimmers went head-to-head in the final heat. Those points helped Xavier place runner-up (693 points) to six-time defending champion Fairfield Prep (866 points). Xavier sophomore Kevin Davila (54.52) and Kosciuk (54.55) swam neck-and-neck to nab the top two spots of the 100-yard butterfly.
“It's a good feeling to help the team by going first and second,” stated Kosciuk.
Kosciuk was excited for another runner-up finish (2:00.29) for the 200-yard individual medley, dropping two seconds from his previous best time. Thomann (2:00.53) finished right behind Kosciuk, along with adding a second bronze medal in the 100-yard backstroke (54.95).
“That was great. We've been pushing each other. It was our goal to get All-Conference,” said Thomann. “That (backstroke) was my best time ever. It felt great to look up at the end.”
Alex Wilson (sixth, 1:04.31) and Newton (fourth, 1:02.51) competed at the top of the 100-yard breaststroke. Newton earlier placed seventh in the 100-yard freestyle (50.42).
“I feel good,” added Newton. “We are about to start tapering.”
The local friends also factored into three runner-up relay times. Thomann and Newton combined on the 200-yard medley (Kevin Davila, Mike Wilson; 1:42.08) and 400-yard freestyle (Kosciuk, Tyler Naumann; 3:20.43). Mike Wilson, who swam the 50-yard freestyle (sixth, 23.1) and 100-yard backstroke (20th, 1:01.97), led off for the 200-yard freestyle team (1:31.49).
“I think we did great. We all swam good and snuck in some other guys with good times,” explained Thomann.
Junior John Maher, another Cheshire resident, competed the night before in SCC Diving Finals. Maher placed 13th (256.7) overall at Hamden High School.
Xavier tied the school-record with a 14-1 record this winter. Fairfield was the only team to beat them in both those seasons. Xavier took a 104-82 loss to the visiting Jesuits on Feb. 23.
“We swam great against them. We knew we had a chance and gave it everything we had,” Newton reflected.
They will host Fairfield again during the Class LL Championship, to be held March 17, at 3 p.m. Class LL Diving is slated for March 11, at 5:30 p.m. from Hamden High School.