Schools

Daigneault's Two Titles Leads Hall Swimmers to 5th Place Finish

All-State sophomore won individual titles in the 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley.

Sophomore Gabrielle Daigneault won individual state titles in the 500 freestyle and 200 individual medley, pacing to a fifth-place team finish in the state Class LL swimming and diving divisional meet at Southern Connecticut State University on Thursday evening.

Daigneault placed first in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:04.48, just barely touching out second-place Morgan Karetnick of Greenwich, who finished in 2:04.82.

She won the 500 free in 4:57.71, nearly two and a half seconds faster than her nearest competitor, sophomore Verity Abel of Staples, who finished in 5:00.12.

The performances helped Hall to 411 team points; only state champion Greenwich (877 points), Amity Regional (606), Trumbull (513) and Glastonbury (437) finished higher.

, led by All-State diver Taylor Hadra, placed 11th with 157 points.

Other noteworthy performances for Hall included the following:

  • The 400 free relay team of Daigneault, junior Sarah Mantz, Eliza Maciag and senior Jessie Ustjanauskas placed second in 3:32.73.
  • The 200 medley relay team of Ustjanauskas, Daigneault, Hayley McClure and Eliza Maciag placed third with a time of 1:50.21.
  • Ustjanauskas and Sarah Mantz placed third and fourth, respectively, in the 100 free, touching out in 53.78 and 53.84.
  • Sarah Mantz placed fifth in the 50 free with a time of 24.94, shaving nearly a half a second off her qualifying time, while Maciag was ninth (25.14) and McClure was 18th (26.12).
  • Maciag was fourth in the 100 backstroke (59.59), while Ustjanauskas was ninth in 59.24 and Sarah McHale was 18th in 1:04.49. Ustjanauskas placed behind Maciag despite swimming in a faster time because Maciag swam and a higher heat.
  • The 200 free relay team of Sarah Mantz, Kelley Mantz, Brigid Wynn and McClure placed ninth with a time of 1:41.73.                                        
  • Freshman Maria DiBella placed 13th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:15.84, nearly six seconds better than her preliminary time, and she was ninth in the 500 free in 5:17.61.
  • Sophomore Hayley McClure was 11th in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:01.40, while freshman Quinn Mitchell was 19th with a time of 1:03.42.

Hadra Steps Out

Conard’s Taylor Hadra earned All-State recognition for her second-place finish in the diving competition, which took place on Monday.

Hadra, a junior, amassed 340.25 points, better than everyone else in the 24-member field except Greenwich sophomore Emily Stotesberry, who finished with a whopping 433.05 points.

It was a terrific performance for Hadra, considering that 13 divers were seeded higher than she was.

“I can’t say that I was expecting it,” Hadra said. “It was a surprise. I hadn’t dove well the lasy two meets, but I worked hard this year.”

It was a sort of coming out party, of sorts, for Hadra, who stepped out of the long shadow left by her sister, Dana, also a Conard diver who graduated last year and is now diving at Boston College.

“She was always a little bit better than me,” said Taylor Hadra, who also qualified for the State Open with her performance.

Senior Margaret Preston placed fifth for Conard in the diving competition with 309.15 points, while Chieftains junior Shannon Bouvier placed 16th with 250.60 points.

Other Conard noteworthy performances included the following:

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  • The 200 medley relay team of senior Shannon Burke, freshman Jennifer Lombard, sophomore Ketherine Wegener and freshman Tessa Sinatro placed 14th in 2:05.96;         
  • Lombard placed 21st in the 100 breaststroke in 1:14.58.
  • Sophomore Kathleen Lynch was 23rd in the 200 free in 2:05.95 and 22nd in the 100 butterfly (1:04.83).
  • Junior Zoe Barlow was 23rd in the 100 free (58.54).
  • The 200 free relay team of Kelly Olguin, Lynch, Lydia Howard and Barlow was 12th in 1:49.27 and the four combined to place 13th in the 400 free relay in 3:59.65.


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