SP-F Swim Teams Anticipate Strong Seedings

It's a busy time for high school swim teams throughout the state. With county championships behind and team and individual championships ahead, there's just about time to take a deep breath.

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood High boys and girls teams are in that position. After both teams placed second to Westfield in the county championships last week, the Raiders are preparing to open the Public North B championships later this week.  

Coach Jess Hulnick was very pleased with the way her teams performed at the county championships, and says she is confident that momentum will be carried over to the team championships. The seeds for the tournaments are scheduled to be released by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association on Monday.

"We just couldn't put enough distance between us and Westfield,'' said Hulnick, referring to the boys team's performance on Jan. 30. "The dual meet (Scotch Plains-Fanwood beat Westfield in December) was so close, it could have gone either way."

Greg Baliko set a record in the 200 IM with a 1:57.41 at that meet. Hulnick said that Baliko has gone as fast as 1:56. The Raiders' Dan Napolitano led from start to finish and won the 200 freestyle in 1:45.31. Twin brother Mike won the 100 butterfly in 53.09 and the 500 freestyle in 4:52.13. The Raider boys won the 400 freestyle as Greg Baliko, Dan Napolitano, Joe Dunn and Mike Rizzo combined to swim 3:20.33.

"We're excited with the way we're swimming and with the stats coming up, the boys feel like they can go all the way," Hulnick said.

The boys finished the season with a dual meet record at 10-1 and could get the top seed in the tournament, ahead of teams like Bernards, Summit and Morristown.

The girls were 11-1 in the regular season and should be in a similar spot.

The medley relay team set a county meet record with a 1:52.19 time. Caitlin English, Kelsey Rossi, Becca Dunn and Hannah Markey swam.

"The girls were really spread out this year," said Hulnick, referring to the number of schools that had swimmers score points. "We were putting up a lot of points down below."

Scotch Plains-Fanwood also took third in the 200 freestyle and 400 relays at the county tournament. The 200 team of Rossi, Steph Baliko, Dunn and Markey set a school record of 1.41.84. Ana Bogdanovski, English, Jodi Thompson and Steph Baliko swam the 400, combining for a 3:48.76. Rossi was second in the 100-yard breast. Governor Livingston's Abby Pires broke Rossi's meet record of 1:07.57 with a 1:06.29. Steph Baliko was third.

Hulnick believes that like the boys, the girls can go a long way as a team.

"We're hoping for the second and third seeds, but we have to have the same kind of attitude we've had," she said. "We can't take anything for granted."