VERONICA YANKOWSKI North Brunswick’s Brandon Lee performs the 100-yard butterfly during the Greater Middlesex Conference Swimming Championships at North Brunswick High School on Saturday. The Raiders performed well, finishing second behind perennial winner St. Joseph’s of Metuchen.
Heading into the Greater Middlesex Conference Swimming Champion-ships at North Brunswick High School last weekend, the majority of the participating teams were battling for second place.
On the boys’ side, St. Joseph’s of Metuchen was in search of its 23rd consecutive county title, and was poised to run away with another championship despite the overall improvement throughout the conference.
For the girls, Bishop Ahr of Edison entered the pool as the prohibitive favorite, looking for their third consecutive county title.
When the final lap had been swum, the two favorites proved they are indeed the class of the conference, leaving the pool with another pair of championships, and doing so in impressive fashion.
For St. Joseph’s, the meet offered another opportunity to dominate, and that is exactly what the Falcons did, winning all three relays and three individual events.
In the 200 medley relay, North Brunswick’s Jordan Schanen gave his team an early edge, swimming the backstroke portion of the race in 26.76. But St. Joseph’s boys quickly made that lead disappear in the breaststroke leg, and cruised to a win in 1:45.23. North Brunswick’s team of Schanen, Brian Rose, Drew Schanen and Paul Jennings came in second in 1:48.15. East Brunswick took fourth, while South Brunswick touched the wall in fifth, and Sayreville in sixth.
In the 200 freestyle, Bishop Ahr’s Jon Van Assen took the win in a meet and pool record 1:43.49. East Brunswick’s Chris Martinetti took third (1:49.18).
Middlesex’s Mike Bernardl dominated the field in 1:57.42 in the 200 IM. Old Bridge’s Dan Tsin took fourth (2:09.70), with North Brunswick’s Jordan Schanen coming in fifth (2:11.19).
Sayreville’s Derek Kwok just edged East Brunswick’s Kyle King at the wall to take the 50 freestyle in 22.42. King was the defending champion, but couldn’t hold off the determined Bomber swimmer. East Brunswick’s Ryan Martinetti took fourth at 23.85.
Bernardl took his second event of the day in the 100 butterfly (51.63), holding off a pair of St. Joseph swimmers over the final 50 yards. East Brunswick’s Ryan Martinetti took sixth in 59.75.
Sayreville’s Kwok gave another strong effort in the 100 freestyle, but fell to St. Joseph’s Bobby Savulich (48.15), in what was a new meet record. However, Kwok, who finished second, also broke the meet record with his time of 48.46. East Brunswick’s King took third (48.88), followed by his teammate Chris Martinetti (49.66).
In the 500 freestyle, St. Joseph’s had four swimmers in the top six to dominate the event. Patrick Maloney won in a new meet record, 4:36.49.
St. Joseph’s also took the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.94), while East Brunswick’s quartet of Mark Rynone, Ryan Martinetti, King, and Chris Martinetti took second (1:31.96).
Van Assen touched the wall first in the 100 backstroke in 52.35, and was one of four Falcon swimmers in the top six. North Brunswick’s Jordan Schanen took fifth (1:00.09).
North Brunswick’s Brian Rose gave a valiant effort in the 100 breaststroke, only to be topped by St. Joseph’s Maloney, 1:04.76-1:07.75). Old Bridge’s Tsin took fourth in 1:09.30.
St. Joseph’s 400 freestyle relay team won in 3:20.59, while the East Brunswick quartet of Rynone, Ryan Martinetti, King and Chris Martinetti again took second in 3:26.11. North Brunswick’s team of Eric Miller, Mike Billand, Greg Schweger and Andrew Remm took fifth (3:43.50).
St. Joseph’s finished with 505 points, easily distancing themselves from second-place North Brunswick (242) and third-place East Brunswick (236). South Brunswick took fourth with 76 team points, while Sayreville was sixth (59) and Old Bridge eighth (53).
In the 1-meter springboard competition held before the swim meet, North Brunswick’s Bobby Casler took third with 144.65 points, followed by teammate Dejuan Alexander with 88.58. Metuchen’s Greg Parker won the event with 198.60 points.
In the girls’ portion of the meet, it was a much closer contest, with Bishop Ahr and Metuchen battling throughout the meet for the top spot. But when it was over, it was Bishop Ahr on top once again with 289 points, edging Metuchen (211). North Brunswick took third with 206 points, followed by East Brunswick (185) and South Brunswick (177). Old Bridge finished eighth with 19 points.
Metuchen won the day’s first event, the 200 medley relay, in a time of 1:58.47. North Brunswick’s quartet of Tonya Halubiak, Allison Palladino, Nicole Alicino and Jackie Barton took second in 2:00.89. East Brunswick was fourth (2:02.71), while South Brunswick finished sixth (2:07.18).
Metuchen’s Carolyn Gusick won the 200 freestyle, while North Brunswick’s Nicole Karalevitch took fifth in 2:08.43.
The 200 IM went to Metuchen’s Catherine Hetzel (2:14.74), while South Brunswick’s Amy Wolf finished in fourth (2:21.54), just ahead of North Brunswick’s Palladino (2:24.10).
East Brunswick’s Chrissy LeBlon lost the 50 freestyle by just 0.29 seconds to South Plainfield’s Katie Kaczka (25.38), while North Brunswick’s Alicino touched the wall in fourth (26.11) and South Brunswick’s Rachel O’Holla sixth (26.69).
The 100 butterfly went to J.P. Stevens’ Xia Olan Wong (1:02.63), while North Brunswick’s Palladino had another solid finish in third place (1:03.57). East Brunswick’s Sarah Chicchi finished in fourth in 1:06.27, followed by North Brunswick’s Jaclyn Burton (1:07.05) and Sayreville’s Kerri Adams (1:07.89).
South Plainfield’s Kaczka also took home the 100 freestyle in 54.96, with Alicino (56.60) in second, East Brunswick’s LeBlon in third (56.40), South Brunswick’s O’Holla in fourth (57.81), and her teammate, Carin Muchanic, in sixth (58.85).
The 200 freestyle relay went to the squad from Bishop Ahr in 1:46.45, with South Brunswick’s foursome of Muchanic, Wolf, Jennifer Pizzo and O’Holla taking fourth in 1:49.03. East Brunswick (Sheridan, Kim, Chicchi and LeBlon) took fifth in 1:50.06, while North Brunswick (1:51.07) took home sixth.
In the 100 backstroke, Bishop Ahr’s Regina Rush touched the wall first (1:04.20), while North Brunswick’s Barton came in fifth in 1:07.74.
Metuchen’s Kelly Morris won the final individual event of the day, the 100 breaststroke, in 1:08.39, while South Brunswick’s Wolf took third in 1:13.07. Her teammate, Danielle Eige, came in fifth (1:17.08).
In the day’s final event, the 400 freestyle relay, Bishop Ahr got the win in a time of 3:48.63, edging out the crew from Metuchen by just under seven seconds. South Brunswick’s foursome of Muchanic, Petrov, Wolf and O’Holla took third in 4:01.44, followed by North Brunswick (4:05.08) and Sayreville (4:10.55).
In the girls’ 1-meter springboard final, North Brunswick’s Jessica Zayas (148.50 points) finished second to Metuchen’s Meredith Graban (174.55), while her Raider teammates Sarah Palovick (139.5) and Brittany Nelson (121.90) finished in third and fourth, respectively.
With the county meet out of the way, three local swim teams will now focus their attention on the state tournament. The North Brunswick girls’ team was set to face top-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan last night in the Public A Central sectional quarterfinal.
Meanwhile, the East Brunswick boys’ squad topped West Windsor South on Tuesday, 85-85. The Bears were awarded the win based on power points, 2,874-2,661, but received first-place finishes from Chris Martinetti (200 free and 100 backstroke), Kyle King (50 free and 100 free), and its 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams.
The North Brunswick boys lost to Hillsborough in their opening-round meet.