One last chance, one final relay. It all came down to this.
The girls needed to place first and third in the 400 freestyle relay, scoring ten points, in order to tie Summit. Or else, they would face their first loss of the season.
In Lane 2, swimmers Jane Kavanagh, Keri Kapacinski, Sydney Gross and Clare Logan needed to beat out Summit’s Lane 3 relay while Lane 4 for Westfield would try to take the third place spot against the other relays in the pool.
The task seemed easy enough: swim as fast as you can and do not stop until you hit the wall. With Westfield and Summit both wearing their full tech swimsuits, gliding in the water would be easier. In this race, every hundredth of a second mattered.
Up on the blocks, they took their marks, got set, and with a buzzer beep, they were off. Each swimmer would complete 100 yards before passing the torch to their relay teammate. For the first three swimmers, Westfield trailed behind Summit, trying to at least catch up to their feet. They barely were holding on to second place. All eyes were on the pool.
“I think that whenever you swim against top competition, that there is going to be energy. And a lot of energy that’s only going to make us swim faster,” said head coach Steve Whittington.
And when Logan dove into the pool, the energy in the YMCA reached new heights. There was not a second of silence for the last 50 seconds of the race: parents, teammates, even people recording the stats were electric. Teammates lined the pool, jumping up and down, hoping if they screamed loud enough, it could push Logan into first.
“My toughest event was definitely the 400 freestyle relay because I had swam my events all in the second half and was really tired. I was nervous before the relay, but I knew we could do it,” said Logan.
Crashing into the final wall, Logan looked up and saw she had out-touched her opponent by two tenths of a second. Everyone on deck paused, waiting for the final time. When the board read first place, once again the crowd erupted. The girls had not only championed an amazing final race, but they proved in their first real test exactly what they were capable of.
They had done it. Westfield had come back and tied. A joyous moment yet short-lived.
“When the race had begun, we noticed that our B relay [Lane 2] was closer to the Summits A relay [Lane 3]. With the pressure and what was at stake, we made a quick decision to put Clare in the B relay in order to secure the win against Summit’s A relay, and a third place finish for our A relay [Lane 4]. In no way did we know this was illegal or considered ‘cheating,’” said senior captain Emily Constable.
According to NJSIAA.org, if swimmers are not listed on the entry form, they are not permitted to be substituted once the race has begun. The officials also did not sign off on this change prior to the race, causing Westfield’s changed relays to be disqualified.
Although the girls ended up taking a 93-75 loss after the two disqualifications, they did exactly what was asked of them. They swam. Fast.
Also, the meet cannot be defined by this final moment. In the beginning heats, Summit edged in front of Westfield, putting more points up on the board.
“I knew the first half of the meet that Summit would be heavily loaded with good swimmers and that our second half of the meet was pretty powerful. I just tried to let them know that we are still in the meet, regardless of what the score says, we can come back little by little. And, we did,” said Whittington.
Westfield crawled back. Constable made a huge contribution to the team’s points, helping Westfield stay in contention. She won the 200 IM with an impressive time of 2 minutes and 11.13 seconds, and Constable led off the 200 freestyle relay that took first place late in the meet.
“It was tough being down a few swimmers but everyone stepped up, and we had a great meet. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but I’m so proud of everyone and can’t wait to see how we bounce back from this the rest of the season,” said senior captain Bella Giacobe.
“I think we saw a lot of positives coming out of the meet,” said Logan. “Lots of best times and lots of big swims from a lot of our girls. I think after this loss, we have to refocus and keep working hard to try and get faster in order to beat tough competition the rest of the season.”
The girls gave Summit a great meet by not going down without a fight. The girls will prepare to bounce back on Tuesday against Elizabeth at Dunn Sports Center at 4:00 p.m.
On the boys end, the meet can also be considered as their first tough competition of the season. However, their ending result told an entirely different story.
The boys started off the meet winning their first event: the 200 Medley relay, led by junior Danny Pierce. Out of the gate, they were ready for the test.
“We knew in Union County that Summit was going to be one of the more formidable foes that we were going to see, so we wanted to set a standard today,” said head coach Jeff Knight.
And, the boys did just that. They dominated the meet. Not once did they trail on the scoreboard. The final score tallied, 115-56.
With Summit being Union County rival, regardless of competition, the boys needed to stay level headed and ready. “This team feeds off of adrenaline,” said senior captain Danny McGann. “I don’t think we really feel the pressure, we just get more excited to swim fast. And we rely on each other to boost each other up.”
Despite having a few players away on trips, the boys had a noteworthy performance. Junior Owen Waibel won the boys 200 freestyle, touching the wall with a time of 1:43.05. Junior Logan Swenson also had a significant race, placing first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.75 to secure a 42-20 lead over Summit.
In the 100 freestyle, Westfield snatched the top three spots. Owen Waibel led with a time of 46.87, and senior captain Charlie Jeckell and McGann took second and third place, respectively. With powerful, dominating heats like this one, Westfield inevitably outscored Summit.
“Everyone stepped up. I couldn’t be prouder about the overall performance. It sets us up going forward, and I really look forward to seeing what we can do against CBA and Bergan Catholic, and then down the line against Bridgewater and Cherry Hill,” said Knight.
“It’s all about the practices. We’ve been working very hard in practice, and it has been showing. And, we really only go up from here,” said McGann.
The boys will join the girls team on Tuesday, planning to add another win to their undefeated season.
