Naugy 200 free relay wins Class L title

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MIDDLETOWN — Pomperaug High School has a lot going for it lately. Junior Katie Stevens is among the top 11 contestants on American Idol and, as expected, the school’s boys’ swim team ruled the Class L championships Wednesday night at Wesleyan University. But Naugatuck managed to disrupt the Panthers’ mojo, at least once, at a meet where PHS scored more than twice as many points as its closest competitor.

The Greyhounds quartet of Dalton Fennell, James Vaz, Trevor Heller and Kyle Conrad won the 200-yard freestyle relay in one minute, 28.74 seconds, .61 of a second faster than the second-place Pomperaug entry.

Naugy finished sixth overall, with 345 points, behind Cheshire, Newtown, Amity and Conard. Just 38.5 points separated the runner-up Rams from the Hounds. Pomperaug racked up 852.5 points.

The NHS 400-yard free relay squad, which entered as the No. 1 seed, finished third, in 3:17.78. Chris Branco, Vaz, Heller and Conrad couldn’t quite keep up with the Panthers, who won in 3:16.12, and Newtown.

Heller had a solid evening, individually, as well. He finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly, in 53.90, and seventh in the 50 free, in 22.31. Conrad touched the wall seventh in the 100 free, in 49.20, and Branco earned the No. 8 spot in the grueling 500 free, in 5:02.34.