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WESTON, Conn. With everyone on the pool deck screaming and Lauralton Halls swimmer gaining slightly, Weston swimmer Katie Johnson dug as deep as she could as the anchor leg in the meet-ending 4 x 100 free relay. My friend told me before I went, dont leave anything in the pool, Johnson said.
She held on to give Weston the win in the race, sealing a 93-93 tie between the two undefeated South-West Conference girls swimming powers. The Trojans beat Lauralton of Milford by two points to win the Class S state title last year, and the teams are again equally matched.
You dont want to lose any meet, especially when you come in 8-0, Weston coach Tom Grace said. You want to inflict as much damage on them as you can, see what each team has, feel them out a little bit. They are the only team in the SWC well see at states. That was a hard-fought meet by both teams.
The meet was tight the entire way. Weston led 42-36 after diving, near the meet midpoint. Weston picked up 12 points in the 500 free to build a 67-59 lead, but Lauralton won the next three races to take a two-point lead into the final relay. Alex Edgar, Kiersten Daly and Brenna Nimkoff gave a slight lead to Johnson, who took it from there.
That was very close, but we all pulled it out together, she said. We have a friendly rivalry with Lauralton. This was just a little preview of what its going to be like at states. Its going to be very tense when we see them there.
Johnson had a big meet for Weston, winning the 50 and 100 free and anchoring the winning 200 medley relay. Hannah Schroeder won diving, and Olivia Clark came back after her exhausting 500 free victory to take the 100 breaststroke. The Trojans needed every point they could get, and Grace found just enough to get the tie.
Weston has never finished undefeated during Graces 10-year run as coach. With home meets remaining against Joel Barlow and Pomperaug, the Trojans are close to wrapping up an unbeaten regular season.
We swim much different in dual meets and SWCs than we do in states, Grace said. Everything we do is geared toward the state meet.
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