Conard Girls Swimmers Break 3 Records at State Class L Meet

Three Conard High girls swimming records fell at the state Class L meet at Wesleyan University on Nov. 12.

The 200 free relay team of sophomores Maria Armillei, Clara Capone and Marisa Haverty, and freshman Emma Dowd placed fourth with a time of 1:41.22, breaking the previous Conard record set in 2008.

Capone also broke two other Conard records - in the 50 and 100 free - at the Class L meet.

Capone touched out in the 50 free in 24.09, which was good enough for second place and All-State status.

She also swam the first leg of the 400 free relay in 52.47, which shattered the 100 free school record.

A swimmer can break an individual record in a relay if she swims the first leg of that relay, according to Conard High swimming coach John Smachetti.

Capone also holds the school record in the 100 back, which she set as a freshman.

“She’s clearly a leader in the pool, both in training and in meets,” Smachetti said of Capone. “It’s nice as a coach to have a swimmer to put in an event and know she is going to win that event.”

Smachetti said that, overall, he was pleased with the seventh-place finish at the Class L meet.  Conard sent 11 swimmers and three divers to the state class meet, all of whom performed well.

Freshman Tatiana St. Juste had personal bests in two individual events, Smachetti said, and the 400 relay team (the same as the 200 free team - Armillei, Capone, Haverty and Dowd) was just 1.5 seconds off the school mark.

“[St. Juste] is going to be a star shining bright for us,” Smachetti said.

Divers Jacqueline Palmero, Madison Soucy and Kirsten Bednarz all turned in solid performances, Smachetti said.

“The divers had very solid performances for us,” he said. “The Conard diving program has been exceptional as long as I can remember.”

All of which was good enough to place seventh place. Darien and New Canaan were first and second, respectively, in Class L.

Smachetti said that Class L was the toughest division this year, citing Darien’s and New Canaan’s 1-2 finish at the State Open on Nov. 16.

Conard placed 16th out of 57 teams at the State Open.