NEW HAVEN — Pomperaug continued a strong recent run in Class M boys swimming Thursday night with its third straight divisional state championship.
The Southbury school dominated at the Hutchinson Natatorium on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University.
While Pomperaug claimed the team crown, there were some strong performances from the Lyman Hall Co-op and Cheshire.
Lyman Hall junior Jerick Lagamao came in highly seeded in the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke and had strong performances in both events.
Lagamao nabbed third place in the butterfly with a time of 51.94 seconds, which lowered his own school record. Lagamao maintained his No. 3 seed with the swim and improved greatly on his qualifying time of 54.07.
In the 100 backstroke, the event in which he captured the Southern Connecticut Conference crown, Lagamao was second in Class M with a 52.91, also a school record for Lyman Hall. He led halfway through the race before top-seed Jonah Kehew of Hand took control down the stretch to win in 52.01.
“Two school records: I’m so proud of him; I’m very happy for him. We ended on a positive note,” Lyman Hall coach Donna Neary said. “He works really hard. He enjoys it and helps everyone else also. He’s a pleasure to have around.”
Cheshire had a pair of title contenders in Alexander Fang and Kristian Adlianitski. The senior duo went 2-3 in the 100 freestyle as Adlianitski placed second in 49.16 and Fang third in 49.32.
“Kristian has been our 500 guy all season and, when it came to state time, I asked him what he wanted to do,” Cheshire coach Rob Duguay said. “He was phenomenal and that was a great time for him.”
Thursday marked just the second time this season Adlianitski competed in the 100 free. Middletown junior Richard Bailey won the event in 48.15.
Also for Cheshire, Silas Wang and Adlianitski entered as among the top seeds in the 100 breaststroke. Wang nabbed third with a 1:00.56 and Adlianitski was seventh in 1:01.17.
Fang, Adlianitski and Wang also swam on the 200 free relay with fellow senior Zackary Schnitzer. The team placed third with a time of 1:31.90 after entering the event as the No. 2 seed.
Fang was also in the championship heat of the 50 freestyle. He placed eighth in 23.33.
Fang has been swimming with a shoulder tendonitis all season and will be shut down for Saturday’s State Open.
“He works hard and leads by example,” Duguay said.
Cheshire had just 10 swimmers on the roster this winter and eight were in the pool on Thursday.
“It’s always tough to stay positive when you have 10 guys, and they fought hard,” Duguay said. “They are small, but mighty and all of the meets this year we were doing our jobs, but we were losing out on depth. It’s tough for the guys to stay positive, but they stayed positive.”
Pomperaug won the 200 yard medley relay with the team of Jason Hu, Logan Keane, Cole McKirryher and Robert Regan to open the meet. Pomperaug also won the 200 free relay in 1:30.14 with the quartet of David Cappiello, Thomas Manzo, Colin Martin and Collin Thompson.
Brookfield’s Jude Boukarroum maintained his top qualifying seed with a win in the 200 freestyle in 1:41.05. Boukarroum was also first in the 500 free (4:36.72).
Daniel Hand junior Elliot Lee broke the Class M record to win the 200 IM in 1:49.56. Lee later went won the 100 fly in 49.70.
Xavier’s Samuel Enes won the 50 free 21.91.
Prior to Thursday, Lyman Hall sophomore Lincoln Busa placed 10th in diving with a 298.90. The event was won by Wilton junior Griffin Casey (472.05).
The final relay, the 400 free relay, went to Daniel Hand’s Lee, Adam Signorello, Kehaew and Matthew Gentil (3:16.02).
Neary said after the meet this will be her final season coaching the boys LH Co-op.
“I wanted to finish with the nine seniors and it was nice to be here to see Jerick break the school records,” Neary said.