SP-F Boys and Girls Swimmers Advance to Sectional Finals

Thanks to strong performances in the sprints and distance events, both the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High boys and girls swim teams will be vying for state sectional titles this Friday.

The Raider boys' squad, ranked No. 6 in the latest state poll, defeated Chatham 97-73, while the girls beat Morristown 90-80 Monday afternoon at the Jewish Community Center in Scotch Plains.

"The performance was excellent by both teams," said the Raiders' Zachary Koch. "It was a very good meet, very competitive. Our swimmers really pulled it out for a good victory, but the other team gave us a run for our money. At the end of the day, due to our hard training and coaches' guidance, that really gave us the edge at the meet."

The boys won four of the first five events, starting off with the 200 Medley Relay, where Mike Henkels, Greg Baliko, Mike Napolitano and Joe Dunn performed in 1:42.97.

Dan Napolitano captured the 200 Free in 1:53.92, while Greg Baliko won the 200IM in a time of 2:10:45. Mike Napolitano earned the win in the 100 Fly (54.55) and 500 Free (5:10.17).

The Raiders iced it in the 200 Free Relay with Baliko, Dunn, Rizzo and Dan Napolitano leading the charge.

"We expected to be in this spot at the beginning of the season," Koch said. "We hope to keep the momentum going, keep the steam up, and bust through some more rounds of states and hopefully win sectionals."

The boys' team will face the winner of Summit and Bernards in the sectional final on Friday.

"We have to make sure everybody is healthy," said assistant coach Judy Sharkey. "We're not going to be able to play with our lineup. We just want to make sure they keep that confidence about them and swim well."

The girls led by a score of 80-44 at one point, led by the 200 Medley Relay.

Caroline Lesco captured the 200 Freestyle event in 2:12:30 with Jodie Thompson following with a win in the 50 Free sprint, stopping the timer in 26.25.

Two more wins came in the 100 Fly and 100 Free before Lesco won again in the 500 Free, which gave the Lady Raiders a commanding 72-33 advantage.

Kelsey Rossi led the 200 Free Relay, along with Thompson, Steph Baliko and Ana Bogdanovski finishing in a time of 1:45.40.

"We did a good job," Rossi said. "Morristown was definitely very competitive and they had some good swims. So did we, though, and we really counted a lot on our depth today. We're excited about the sectional finals."

"I thought both teams did very well," added head coach Jess Hulnik. "We've had a few layoffs with the snow. At the beginning, we established a tone for the meet and just ran with it. It was nice to not have to worry at the end for it to come down to the last relay."

Both teams are excited about the prospects of capturing a sectional crown.

"We're absolutely ecstatic" said swimmer Andy Van Haasteren. "We're all tuned in. Everyone knows that it's going to come down to every single race that's going to win some of these meets. We're just going to go out, hit the pool hard in practice this week and we hope to come out on top."

The girls will be facing quite a challenge on Friday, when they face Chatham for the title at the Perth Amboy Aquatics Center. The Cougars are the No. 1 seed and ranked in the top ten in the state.

"Chatham is ranked above us in power points, but we've improved so much over the season," Kelly Gajdzicz said. "We've gotten to sectional finals before, but we didn't win. We're excited for the opportunity and we hope to do very well. It would mean a lot to win it because we (the seniors) have never gotten this far. Just to get to the state semi-finals would mean a lot because I know that we've come so far over all the years."