East Lyme — One-by-one, the champions of each event were announced at Saturday afternoon’s Eastern Connecticut Conference swimming and diving championship.

Over-and-over, Fitch was announced as the winner.

Fitch dominated the meet just as they had all season, winning eight of 12 events to repeat as champions at the East Lyme Aquatics Center.

The co-op, which includes Ledyard, Stonington and Wheeler, had to fight last season to get past rival East Lyme and win the championship by 15 points.

Fitch finished with 563 points on Saturday. East Lyme was runner-up with 378.

“I mean, we worked really hard (this season),” said Wheeler senior Mike Urgo, “but also, more realistically, I think it was honestly. …. East Lyme lost a lot of seniors, unfortunately. And I mean, this year, we had a lot of improvement. A bunch of freshman and sophomores joining the team really made an impact like (freshman) Sterling (Welsh). And (sophomore) Evan Hespeler, he made a huge improvement from last year. It was a mix of improvement (by Fitch) and a loss of seniors (at East Lyme).

“We lost our two regular season meets (to East Lyme last season) so we didn’t really know if we were going to win and it was basically very close (at the championship meet). It was like a miracle (to win), really, and this year is kind of just cementing our dominance, which I think is awesome.”

Fitch was a perfect 6-0 to earn the ECC regular-season title as well.

“We were the team this year that was deep in swimmers,” Fitch head coach Katey Kokomoor said. “And we worked hard. All the swimmers in the ECC have worked hard. Our group worked especially hard. The Christmas holidays, we do doubles. When families are going on vacation and celebrating our guys are in the water at six in the morning and again at three in the morning every day.

“So we had to put the work in and we were very fortunate this year that we were the team with the depth.”

Urgo, The Day’s 2022 All-Area Swimmer of the Year, earned Swimmer of the Meet honors for the second straight season. He repeated as champion in both the 50-yard freestyle (21.94 seconds) and 100 freestyle (47.50). He also teamed with sophomore Jacob Lin, senior Sam Ainscough and Welsh to win the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.38).

Lin repeated in the 100 butterfly (52.35), won the 200 individual medley (1:58.11) and teamed with seniors Harrison Bied and Sohum Balsara and Hespeler to win the 200 medley relay (1:48.93).

Hespeler was also a double champion. He won the 100 backstroke (58.76) and the 500 freestyle in (5:07.74), the latter which was over 23 seconds better than his seed time.

“I did something similar at ECCs (last season),” Hespeler said about his 500 freestyle performance. “I just wanted to improve more and drive. It really was all about the mindset and practice, of course.”

East Lyme senior Eric Wang repeated as the 200 freestyle champion (1:53.53). He teamed with Albert Zhu, Eduardo Morcos and Ken Chen to win the 400 freestyle (3:28.69), too.

Alex Gonzalez of St. Bernard won the 100 breaststroke (1:03.66) and Waterford freshman Luke Westkott won the diving (267 points).

n.griffen@theday.com

ECC SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

At East Lyme

Team Results

1. Fitch, 563 points; 2. East Lyme, 378; 3. Waterford, 303; 4. Norwich Free Academy, 198; 5. St. Bernard, 37.

Individual results

200-yard medley relay — 1. Fitch (Evan Hespeler, Harrison Bied, Sohum Balsara, Jacob Lin), 1:48.93; 2. East Lyme; 3. Waterford; 4. NFA.

200 freestyle — 1. Eric Wang (East Lyme), 1:53.53; 2. Luke Lambert (Fitch); 3. Connor Foerster (East Lyme); 4. John Chirico (Fitch); 5. William Bao (East Lyme); 6. Colin Westkott (Fitch).

200 individual medley — 1. Jacob Lin (Fitch), 1:58.11; 2. Alex Gonzalez (St. Bernard); 3. Balsara (Fitch); 4. Alex Startz (Waterford); 5. Adit Sahasrabudhe (East Lyme); 6. Ian Liu (East Lyme).

50 freestyle — 1. Mike Urgo (Fitch), 21.94; 2. Ken Chen (East Lyme); 3. Jack Ballou (Fitch); 4. Eduardo Morcos (East Lyme); 5. En-Ming Holtz (East Lyme); 6. Noah Westkott (Waterford).

Diving — 1. Luke Westkott (Waterford), 267 points.

100 butterfly — 1. Lin (Fitch), 52.35; 2. Startz (Waterford); 3. Sam Ainscough (Fitch); 4. Ryan Zhuang (East Lyme); 5. Paul Deon Jr. (Waterford); 6. Brendan Bezanson (NFA).

100 freestyle — 1. Urgo (Fitch), 47.50; 2. Wang (East Lyme); 3. Ken Chen (East Lyme); 4. Morcos (East Lyme); 5. Lambert (Fitch); 6. Sterling Walsh (Fitch).

500 freestyle — 1. Hespeler (Fitch), 5:07.74; 2. Balsara (Fitch); 3. Foerster (East Lyme); 4. Liu (East Lyme); 5. Colin Westkott (Fitch); 6. Anna Gosselin (NFA).

200 freestyle relay — 1. Fitch (Sterling Welsh, Lin, Ainscough, Urgo), 1:32.38; 2. East Lyme; 3. Waterford.

100 backstroke — 1. Hespeler (Fitch), 58.76; 2. Jack Ballou (Fitch); 3. Ethan Jones (Waterford); 4. Welsh (Fitch); 5. Dominick Zuliani (Fitch); 6. Ryan Zhuang (East Lyme).

100 breaststroke — 1. Gonzalez (St. Bernard), 1:03.66; 2. Ainscough (Fitch); 3. Noah Westkott (Waterford); 4. Sahasrabudhe (Fitch); 5. Holtz (East Lyme); 6. Bezanson (NFA).

400 freestyle relay — 1. East Lyme (Albert Zhu, Morcos, Ken Chen, Wang), 3:28.69; 2. Fitch ; 3. Waterford; 4. NFA.

Swimmer of the Meet — Urgo (Fitch).