Viking boys reach their goal at GMC meet

By: Carolyn M. Hartko
   NORTH BRUNSWICK – The South Brunswick High boys’ swim team knew it was not going to break St. Joe’s stranglehold on the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Boys Swimming Championships, so the Vikings concentrated on what they could attain. They were hoping to break 100 points, and hit their mark with 108 to finish in fifth place in the event.
   St. Joe’s won its 25th straight title with 541 points and won 10 of 11 events at the North Brunswick High pool. East Brunswick notched 281, North Brunswick had 180 and Piscataway had 139.
   "We kind of nickeled and dimed our way for team points, but we didn’t have any standouts," Viking head coach John Harding said. "This year, we had one medal-winner, but we had a good amount of guys scoring in the top 12, gaining points. It would have been nice to go after Piscataway. We beat them in a dual meet, but they had a couple of guys missing. Those individuals were here today, and they racked up the individual points, and their relays were looking pretty strong as well."
   All together, there were 66 medals distributed in the boys’ meet on Saturday, and St. Joe’s took home 32. One of the ones that got away was for fifth place in the 100 yard butterfly. That went to sophomore Mike Nicoara, the first Viking to win a GMC medal since 1999. Swimming in the seeded heat against four Falcons, and one competitor from East Brunswick, Nicoara did a 1:01.90, his best time for that event. Earlier in the meet, he set a personal record in the 50 free at 25.49 seconds.
   As a member of the Scarlet Aquatic Club based at Rutgers’ University, Nicoara practices and competes year round, so the fact that he came out late for the high school season wasn’t a handicap. Nicoara was also not new to high school competition. His family moved to South Brunswick from North Brunswick over the summer, so Nicoara swam in last year’s GMC meet as a Raider. As a new Viking, he swam against his former teammates in what used to be his home pool.
   "It was a little weird," Nicoara said. "But I just concentrated on my own times. I didn’t really think about how the teams were doing."
   In the GMC meet, medals are awarded for a top six finish in each individual event, and a top three finish in a relay. However, swimmers who finish in the top 12 also earn team points. This year, the Viking team points came from Brandon Lee (8th, butterfly; 9th, 50 free), Jon Cusack (8th, 500 free; 12th, backstroke), Eric Robinson (11th, 50 free), John Limyansky (12th, breaststroke), Brett Niebanck (12th, 200 freestyle), and Dan Gaylord (13th, backstroke).
   South Brunswick picked up a lot of points in the relays. In the 200 medley, the A squad placed sixth (Cusack, Limyansky, Nicoara and Robinson), and the B team was 10th (Gaylord, Matt Benjamin, Kevin Loester and Chris Williams). The Vikings earned sixth and ninth in the 400 free with Niebanck, Gaylord, Lee and Cusack on the A team, and Loester, Rich Kachman, Ben Lee and Teddy Wang on the B squad. In the 200 free relay, Robinson, Nicoara, Niebanck and Brandon Lee finished fifth, and the team of Benjamin, Kachman, Limyansky and Williams placed 12th.
   The stiff competition at the county championships pushed several Vikings to swim their best times. New personal records were set by: Kachman (2:32.0, 200 free; 1:18.93, backstroke), Vincent Lee (2:51.85, 200 IM; 1:20.54, breaststroke), Loester (2:35.25, 200 IM), Gaylord (2:31.53, 200 IM), Bryan Villanova (28.37 seconds, 50 free), John Olson (1:21.22, ‘fly), Ben Lee (1:06.6, 100 free), Limyansky (1:01.81, 100 free), Williams (1:20.37, breaststroke) and Benjamin (1:16.74, breaststroke).
   "We were right about where we were supposed to be, and where we’re normally at," Harding said. "Hopefully, if the pool situation changes in town, we’ll be able to develop a little more. We had 21 guys on the team this year, so we had a lot of depth, and we only have two seniors graduating. So, I’m definitely looking for next year to be another strong year."