Teams eliminated from state playoffs
By: John E. Powers
Hillsborough High School’s swimming teams must now focus on what they can accomplish as individuals.
The boys knocked off North Brunswick 91-79 last week in the Central Jersey Public A Tournament before falling to East Brunswick 99-71. Lawrence eliminated the girls by a 91-79 score in the first round of the same section.
The two Raider teams now await the Meet of Champions at Gloucester Institute of Technology on the first weekend of March.
"East Brunswick was just a real talented team. They had many people to move around,” HHS junior standout Nick Giacopelli said. "We did not know too much about them, but what we saw was a team that had lot of very good sprinters.”
The Raiders, the No. 5 seed, won just three of 11 events. Freshman Frank Ippolito won the 100-yard breaststroke, sophomore Mark Green won the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard medley relay of Green, Ippolito, junior Bryan Zeiher and senior Jamie Schnatter posted a victory.
East Brunswick, the No. 2 seed, got two wins by Chris Martinetti (200 and 500 freestyle) and Kyle King (50 and 100-yard free) to turn the tide.
In the win over Lawrence, Giacopelli won the 200-yard freestyle and 500 freestyle, Green captured the 100 freestyle and the three relay teams swept. Green, Ippolito, Zeiher and Giacopelli won the 200-medley relay, with Evan Gargiulo, James Lyon, Ippolito and Schnatter taking the 400 free and Green, Gargiulo, Schnatter and Giacopelli taking the 200 free relay.
"We swam as hard as we could against East Brunswick, but they were just too deep and were able to move people around to where they could score points,” Giacopelli said.
Giacopelli now prepares to compete in the 200-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle at the Meet of Champions.
The Hillsborough girls were beaten by a Lawrence team led by one of New Jersey’s premier swimmers in junior breaststroke/IM standout Jenny Steiner. The Lawrence junior won the 200 IM and her freshman sister, Emily, took first in the 200 free.
Hillsborough, the fifth seed, did enough to stay close. Freshman Alyssa Barberio won the 50 freestyle, senior Jackie Tierney took the 100 freestyle and junior Devon Trabilsy won the 500 free. But the Steiners were too much.
"They had a couple of superstar swimmers,” HHS senior Stacey Prow said. "We thought going into the meet that it would be a close one and it was until very late. We were up by two or four points, but they just had more weapons.”
The 200 freestyle relay team of Prow, Tierney, junior Kristen Mendez and Barberio won their race. Those girls will be competing at the Meet of Champions in both the 200 free and 200 medley relays.
"The team portion of the season is always a lot of fun. I love it,” said Prow, who competed despite suffering from bronchitis. "It’s just sad that it’s finished.”
Asked whether it would have been better for the team’s preparation if it advanced in the team playoffs, Prow said it would have been a mixed blessing.
"It would have been good, but when you are competing like that it also means you are missing practices,” Prow said. "This will give us an opportunity to build our training base up. We’ll be ready.”