Berlin Swimmers Suffer First Loss

Four events into its meet against Farmington, the Berlin Redcoats trailed 33-13. After diving and the next event, Berlin was able to get as close as 10 points but the host Indians never allowed Berlin to get closer in claiming the win, 97-86 at Miss Porter's School.

"We had an idea of their times and thought there would be a lot of close races tonight," Farmington coach Scott Ferrigno said. "I thought it would go down to the last event but we were able to clinch it in the second to last which took some pressure off the girls in the last event."

Ferrigno said one of the keys was Abbie Lester, who came in second in diving to qualify for the states.

I figured they would go one-two becaue they are really strong at diving so to be able to split them up with a second place was big," Ferrigno said. "We are pretty balanced. We have some fast swimmers and some depth. We were able to get a bunch of fifths tonight which probably was the difference."

Katie Mihalek won the 200 free ad 500 free whie Farmington teammate Mary Kate Dyson won the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.

For Berlin, it was a case of some of the top swimmers having off nights and some of the younger swimmers having great nights.

"I thought we should have at least had the meet come down to the last relay," Berlin coach Amanda McCarthy said. "Half of our kids swam really well but the other half, to be honest, could have done better.

"We have only beat Farmington once in the history of the program so we knew it would be a tough meet. It was a big meet and maybe the girls were a little nervous. Your times are your times, there is no hiding from that. If we had swam to our best times or even close, this would have been a lot closer meet."

McCarthy was happy with freshmen Arian Silas and Kelsey Kozikowski. Kozikowski brought her time down in winning the 50 free and won the 100 fly. Brianna Cass was second in the 50 free. Silas swam well in the 200 IM and was third in the 100 fly. Katherine Burek also set a best time in the 100 breaststroke.

The Berlin divers were also strong. Leah Pawelczyk broke her own school record for the third meet in a row with a 193 The previous record was also hers with a 186.10.

Jenna Paradis was third in diving. She attempted a very difficult dive and struggled with it.

"I love close races," McCarthy said. "I love it when the girls compete and we have a close race, win or lose. I'm so competitive, I just want them to have their best times and see where they come out."

Farmington improved to 5-2-1 with the win and is at Southington next Tuesday.

Berlin falls to 6-1 and will swim at Windsor Locks Friday. Then comes three tough meets against Conard, Hall and Southington to end the season.