Swim season will soon be underway as Westfield prepares for a competitive schedule once again after a heartbreaking ending to last season. Westfield finished second in the Public A state tournament last year after falling to Cherry Hill East in a tight meet in the championship. However, this one meet did not determine the success of the team last year, as the Blue Devils were also sectional champions and finished with a 14-1 record.
The loss to Cherry Hill East is the perfect motivator for the boys as they enter the 2022-23 season. Senior co-captain Leo Mangiamele said, “The loss against Cherry Hill last year left all of the guys on the team feeling a sense of defeat which didn’t sit right with anyone. Collectively as a team, we’ve been able to turn that into motivation in order to really work hard and give everything we’ve got in order to put ourselves in the best spot this year.”
Even with the loss of 11 seniors, the team has a strong core of five returning seniors who look to lead their team to another state final. Seniors Mangiamele, Nathan Welsh and Colin Kavanagh were named co-captains and are trusted to guide their team over the course of the long season. “Being a captain requires constant support and solidarity. I want to push the team to develop the skills needed to win the state championship,” said Welsh. “I want to use the emotions left over from last year to motivate our guys to finish the job this year.”
The first step toward a state-championship run is preparation and continuing to build as the Blue Devils look to meet their high expectations. Even though the team graduated one of the best senior classes Westfield has ever had, head coach Jeff Knight is confident in his team’s ability to “fill those holes” because they have a lot of “young guys that are hungry, and looking to make their mark.”
The members of the team have been working both in and out of the pool since the day their season ended last year simply because “they got so close to winning it all that they know what they want and how to get there,” said Knight.
Knight explained that they view the season as split into three stages. Currently, they are in the building stage, though the main focus is on the championship stages of January and February.
“This is where we set the foundation so that we can be prepared for when it matters most,” said Knight.
The road to winning is no cakewalk, and the team is well aware of that. Westfield’s busy schedule will require a lot of resilience. Westfield will take on rivals Christian Brothers Academy, which is ranked second in the state, and Bridgewater-Raritan once again this season after both teams put up strong fights against the Blue Devils last year.
Westfield enters as the fourth-ranked team in the state and looks to move up in the rankings one meet at a time, after drowning each of its opponents. The season officially begins on Dec. 13 against Oratory Prep, where the boys look to set the standard for a victorious season.
