East Lyme - It was moments after Tuesday's meet when Fitch/Stonington swim coach Ken Berg said, "Thank God for Dakota Williams."

Williams, a Fitch senior, swam the anchor leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay, the meet's final event. He came from behind to win the race for the Falcons.

Berg could've just as easily said, "Thank God for Stonington," it's new co-op partner.

Matthew Planchon, a Stonington sophomore, swam the anchor leg for Fitch/Stonington's third-place 400 freestyle relay team. That clinched a 93-90 win for the Falcons and the program's first outright Eastern Connecticut Conference regular-season title since the 2006-07 season.

"They've added the extra points that we needed to bring us to the next level to win the meets that we otherwise wouldn't be able to win," Williams said. "If we only had six swimmers, or nine swimmers even, we probably wouldn't have been able to win. We only won by three points."

Fitch has always lost the numbers game to the Vikings. The Falcons, for example, have had the Swimmer of the Meet at four of the last five ECC championships meets.

East Lyme, however, has used its combination of talent and bodies to win 11 of the last 12 championships, as well as six successive regular season titles.

"The Fitch kids are used to swimming with seven, eight or nine kids," Berg said. "They've always been tough."

Fitch/Stonington (9-1, 8-0) won nine of 12 events Tuesday and had just enough place-winners to win the meet.

"Winning the regular season is more important to me than anything," Berg said. "You can't overwhelm your opponent with numbers. ... You go to the ECC championships, fifth place is going to get you 12 points. Fifth place here gets you one."

The Vikings are 10-5 overall, 8-2 in the ECC.

"We have a very young team, and we have nine seniors who are teaching and leading our eight freshmen," first-year East Lyme coach Jen Lyman said. "We have a lot of freshmen that weren't used to this environment. They're not sure what it all means, but after a day like today, I think they all know what it means. And then we have seniors that showed them today what needs to be done in the future to make sure that we can secure more success."

Williams won the 200 individual medley (2:07.31) and set a pool record in the 100 freestyle (47.75). East Lyme's Harry Traystman set the pool record in 2009 (48.09).

Sam Kokomoor won the 200 freestyle (1:55.32) and 100 butterfly (59.16) for Fitch/Stonington. Also, Aaron Lewis won the 500 freestyle (5:23.86) and junior John Moody of Stonington won the 100 backstroke (1:40.08).

The Falcons also swept the relays. Freshman Patrick Nowak, another Stonington athlete, teamed with Moody, Kokomoor and Williams to take the 200 medley relay (1:46.47), while Alex Belair, Sean Estep, Nowak and Lewis prevailed in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.08).

Ben Kirvelevicius (50 freestyle, 23.04), Ethan Opsahl (100 breaststroke, 1:07.86), and Ben Prouty (diving, 150.35 points) won for East Lyme.

The Vikings led 85-83 before the 400 freestyle relay. Estep, Kokomoor, Moody and Williams won the event for Fitch/Stonington. Malik Mitchell, Will Ferguson, Lewis and Planchon (who's battling the flu) placed third and clinched the meet.

"It feels so good," Williams said of the win. "My freshman year, we came really close to doing it, but we just couldn't do it, so it feels great."

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED