SwimmingThree straight out of conference opponents didn’t faze the Lawrence High School swim teams, so it should come as no surprise that Hamilton did not either.
By: Steve Feitl
Both the Cardinal boys and girls defeated the Hornets to raise their records to 3-1 each. For the boys, it was their second-straight win, as they cruised to the 106.5-63.5 victory over the Hamilton boys.
But the girls came exceptionally close to starting their season undefeated. It was a close three-point loss to Hunterdon Central in the first meet of the season Dec. 8 that brought down the Cardinals. Since then, they’ve rattled off three-straight, including the 117.5-52.5 win on Tuesday.
The Cardinals have been in the pool since mid-Novemeber, but the Colonial Valley Conference season didn’t get under way until this week.
To stay on track and get a little more experience, LHS scheduled three tough meets against out-of-conference foes.
"We schedule those meets to break up the practices and learn a little about our team," according to head coach Dean Mason. "We were able to hold our own against every one of those teams. We know we’re on the right track and we feel pretty good about this team."
The girls team is anchored by captains Dina Veltri and Sarah Weiner. Mason expects the nucleus of the team to consist of Laura Penrose, Lauren Coleman, Kim Maciejewicz, Molly Meek, Claire Robinson, Cortney Crane, Kerry Genese, Jenny Steiner, Tina Winthrop, Mary Veltri, Emily Bomba, Kelli Hawthorne and Jaime Petrone.
Meanwhile, the boys will be captained by Andrew Steiner and Wes Price. Also contributing will be Steven Bearer, Mike Ferenchick, John Ingram, Justin Maria, Dustin Savitsky, Ricky Wojo, Steve Smith, Akira Yamamoto, Chris Faubell, Andy Holt, Greg Pace and Ryan Price.
In his 11th year as head coach, Mason knows where the competition will come from. He sees meets against Princeton (Jan. 4), Notre Dame (Jan. 27), West Windsor-Plainsboro South (Jan. 16) and North (Feb. 1) as being stiff challenges for the Cardinals.
But with a core of strong swimmers – especially on the girls side of the pool – the Cardinals should be able to compete with anyone.
"The real key is we have really good kids who work really hard," Mason said, "and they’re going to get even better as the year goes on."