The high energy and strong scent of chlorine linger through the air, signifying that the swim teams are officially back in season.
On Dec. 7, the boys and girls swim teams were back in action as they both took a victory against Governor Livingston in their first meet.
Led by captains seniors Danny McGann, Charlie Jeckell and Ben Nematadzira, the boys team left GL in their dust by taking a 102-68 win. Jeckell thought the boys performed well for their first meet, saying, “It was good to see us compete again. We haven’t been together doing this since the state finals last year.”
Through the course of the meet, the boys placed first in two of their relay matches. The 200 free relay took first place with a time of 1:31:98 with Jeckell, Danny Pierce, Michael Fisher and Dylan Largrimans competing. The 200 medley relay swam by Ben Lane, Hudson Wilcomes, Logan Swenson and McGann, secured first place as well with a time of 1:43:03.
It is always hard jumping into a new season, especially with the hardship of losing the seniors from the previous year. The boys team lost five extremely valuable seniors. According to Wilcomes, “Knowing that you yourself have to step up and take the spots that the seniors left” is one of the ways the team will have success for the remainder of the season.
Coming off a state championship win against Cherry Hill, an undefeated season and the first win of the season, Mcgann said the team is “trying to stay humble. Knowing that we have a lot more work to do, we’re not satisfied with one state championship.”
The girls meet told a similar story. Senior captains Emily Constable and Clare Logan were not swimming in the meet, but senior captain Bella Giacobbe led the team throughout each race. The girls team crushed Governor Livingston, 111-59, with a strong performance, even though their team only has 16 swimmers.
Dominating the relays, the girls took first in the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay. They also won the 400 freestyle relay, the last event of the night, with a time of 2:00.06 with Giacobbe, Keri Kapuscinski, Ceci Wiggins and Brooke McAndrew dominating with their collective effort.
Missing a few strong swimmers and restructuring following the loss of a strong senior class, the underclassmen really had to step up. Wiggins, a sophomore, won the longest event of the night, a 500 freestyle, beating everyone in her heat by more than 10 seconds. Freshman Jane Kavanagh won the 50 freestyle for the girls in her first ever high school race.
The girls are looking to three-peat as North 2, Public A sectional champions, after last season winning the sectional title after an undefeated season. Giacobbe knows the girls need to keep working on “teamwork, just being more of a team.” Repeating their win streak will be a challenge for the Blue Devils, but after an impressive beginning to the season, the dream seems within reach.
Both teams won their meets with room to spare and have no intention of slowing down. The boys head coach, Jeff Knight, knows this is just the beginning, and this meet was a good first test. “When you see the kids coming in and some of the times the kids were putting up, it really bodes well for us long term, so I’m really really happy with the overall results today.”
Both teams are taking on Cranford away on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m., wishing to continue their strong start to their season.
