Swimming
By: Jim Green
Jenny Steiner of the Lawrence High School swimming team finished her Mercer County Championships career where she belongs accepting the first-place medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Steiner, who earlier in the meet surrendered her county title in the 200 individual medley despite surpassing her own meet record in the event, bounced back with a dominant performance in the 100 breaststroke Monday at the county championship finals.
The senior led virtually the entire race, coming away with her fourth consecutive county breaststroke championship in 1:12.04.
"It was really nice," Steiner said of her breaststroke victory. "It’s been a good four years of counties."
Steiner’s performance helped the Lawrence girls swimming team secure second place in the team standings with 210 points, 37 behind first-place West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
"We just wanted to bring everyone back to the finals," Steiner said. "And we wanted to stay in the top three. We’ve been swimming great."
Steiner was the only member of the Cardinal girls team to place in the top three in an individual event. But the Cardinals’ depth showed in the relays, as they took second in the 200 medley relay (2:08.37) and the 400 freestyle relay (4:20.43) and third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:55.52).
Although Steiner won the breaststroke, her best performance of the day might have come in defeat. Steiner posted a time of 2:22.24 in the 200 individual medley breaking her own meet record of 2:23.44 but was barely touched-out by Princeton freshman Nina Rossi (2:22.03).
Despite the disappointment of losing her IM championship, Steiner came right back in the breaststroke, outdistancing Hopewell Valley’s Allie Foster (1:13.54) by more than second.
"I just wanted to go out there and have a good race," Steiner said. "It was tough. She (Foster) was right with me that last turn."
Steiner’s younger sister, sophomore Emily Steiner, took fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:33.18) and sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.04). Lawrence sent three swimmers to the final of the 50 freestyle, with senior Kerry Genese (29.21) placing fourth and juniors Casey Hooker (29.43) and Jaime Petrone (30.04) taking fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Cardinals dominated the consolation finals, taking three of the eight individual events. Julia Wrobel took the 50 freestyle, senior Kerry Genese won the 100 freestyle and freshman Maddie Emde came in first (seventh overall) in the 100 butterfly.
The Cardinal boys team, meanwhile, finished fourth in the team standings with 135.5 points. Senior Chris Faubell led the way, placing third in the 50 freestyle (25.77) and second in the 100 backstroke (1:02.69).
Faubell, who cut nearly a second off his preliminary time of 26.56 seconds in the 50 freestyle, was pleased with his third-place finish in the event.
"I moved up a couple of spots," he said. "I was seeded sixth. I dropped almost a second. I was pleased with that."
Faubell, the defending county champion in the backstroke, led that event for three laps before being touched-out by Hightstown’s Alex Wood (1:02.46). The only other Cardinal to compete in an individual final was sophomore J.P. Kelly, who placed sixth in the 500 freestyle at 5:54.02.
Lawrence took fourth in the 200 medley relay (2:01.27), fifth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:49.43) and third in the 400 freestyle relay (4:01.00). Senior Ryan Price won the consolation final of the 100 freestyle to pace seventh overall in the event.
Sophomore Eric Hoover finished ninth in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100 freestyle and junior Will Brehm placed 12th in the 100 freestyle. Sophomore Ben Lookner took 10th in the 500 freestyle, senior Andy Holte finished ninth in the 100 backstroke and senior Rick Adornetto came in eighth in the 100 breaststroke.
Both Cardinal teams will now turn their attention to the state team tournament.
The Cardinal girls team (9-2) earned the first seed in the Central Jersey Public A section with 3,507 power points. The girls squad will host eighth-seeded East Brunswick in the sectional quarterfinals Tuesday.
The Cardinal boys team (8-4) garnered the sixth seed in Central Jersey Public A and will visit third-seeded Hillsborough in the sectional quarterfinals Wednesday. Both Lawrence teams fell to Bridgewater-Raritan in the sectional semifinals last season.
"We (the Lawrence girls) are really excited because we’re seeded first," Jenny Steiner said. "And our first meet is at home. We’re really excited about that now."

