Boys Swimming: Hug Repeats As S Champion

By NICK CARBONI The Hartford Courant

March 18, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — - A few years ago, Northwest Catholic-West Hartford senior John Hug's future in the pool wasn't looking quite as promising as he had envisioned it.

"I kind of hit a plateau," he said Tuesday after leading Northwest Catholic (272) to a sixth-place finish at the Class S championships. "I wasn't improving a lot."

Sacred Heart-Waterbury won the meet with 541.5 points.

The early struggles must have been a tough pill to swallow for Hug, a Simsbury native whose father Chris Hug (1981) and cousin Kevin Hug (2008) were Division I swimmers at Brown. So after his sophomore year, in which he didn't qualify for the State Open, Hug was on a mission.

"I upped my practice time by about 25 percent," he said.

The added effort helped Hug to slice through the water as a junior. He won the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle in last year's Class S meet, and took fourth in the 500 at the Open. He defended those Class S titles Tuesday, edging Lewis Mills' Luke Zalewski (1:45.79) in the 200 with a time of 1:45.35, and winning the 500 in 4:41.09, 16 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

"Last year was a vast improvement with his time," third-year coach Danahy Bonner said. "He's definitely the top swimmer that I've coached at Northwest."

Next year, Hug will follow family tradition.

"I'm also going to Brown," he said. "It kind of felt like home."

Championship Touch

After coaching Sacred Heart to its first team title since he was a swimmer in 1981 and '83, and the year after he graduated ('84), Ray Snyder joined his team in a celebratory jump in the pool.
"It feels great," he said before getting a dripping hand on the tournament plaque.

Green Light

Watertown's Brendan Murphy gave a little bit of credit to a special day after winning the 50 freestyle (21.19), and setting a Class S record in the 100 freestyle (46.84). "I'm pretty Irish," he said. "So I take it to heart."

Class M

Daniel Sweeney set three Class M records, and sophomore teammate Christian Higgins broke a 13-year-old state record, as New Canaan (615) won its second-straight Class M championship, and eighth class title overall (1981-82, 2002, 2004-06, 2008-09).

Sweeney set the Class M record in the 50 freestyle (20.82), and immediately returned to the pool to set the 100 butterfly record (49.82). The previous record was 50.86, set last year by Branford's Eric Sokolosky.

"I can't even believe it," Sweeney said.

He also anchored New Canaan's 200 freestyle relay team (Todd Ferreira, Sasan Tehrani, Jay Margherio), which won in a Class M record 1:25.59.

Higgins set a state record in defending his Class M title in the 100 breaststroke (56.08). Cheshire's Jared Proto had set the record of 56.81 in 1996.

The top local team was Wethersfield (316), which was fourth.

"It's been a while since we've placed this high," said coach Lee Schwartzman. "Our goal at the beginning of the year was to finish fifth. It's just icing on the cake."