Wood top in Mercer in 100 backstroke

HHS junior Alex Wood edged out Lawrence’s Chris Faubel by .23 seconds.

By: Neil Hay
   Alex Wood became the first Hightstown swimmer to win at the Mercer County swimming championships since 1991 when he placed first Sunday in the 100 backstroke finals in 1:02.46.
   As a team, the Rams placed sixth overall with 111 points, finishing ahead of both Notre Dame and West Windsor-North, which defeated Hightstown in the regular dual meet season.
   According to coach Ellen Mace, Wood had his sights set on winning at the county meet since the pre-season.
   "Wood was Wood. His goal was to win and he did. He wanted to break the school record early in the season, then win at counties."
   Mace was pleased to see her team scored more points than CVC rivals Notre Dame and West Windsor-North.
   "We didn’t have the depth in the regular season" to beat the Irish or North. "Our top scorers and relays came through at the county meet to beat them," Mace said.
   The last Hightstown swimmer to win a county title was another backstroker, Keith Rizzi. A junior, Wood edged out Lawrence’s Chris Faubel by .23 seconds. He first set a school record of 1:03.7 earlier this season, then broke that in the meet preliminaries Thursday night with a 1:03.21. Wood will have one more chance this year to set a new standard when he swims in the state meet the weekend of March 8 and 9.
   Wood recorded a personal best of 2:20.73 when he placed third in the 200 IM. Wood also swam a leg on two relay teams: the 200 medley relay of Wood, Anthony Bernstein, Vadim Goz and Antoine Cossart was sixth in 2:05.54; and the 400 freestyle relay of Wood, Goz, Cossart and Bernstein was fourth in 4:02.29.
   Bernstein, another junior who qualified for states in the 200 freestyle, set a new school record of 2:03.32 when he placed fourth in that event. The old mark was set back in 1987 by Jay Hine (2:04.75). Bernstein first eclipsed that record in the prelims with his 2:04.53, then rewrote it in finals.
   In other results, Goz was ninth in the 200 IM and eighth in the 100 butterfly. Jesse Parsons, Derek Kichula, Bassil Salman and Cossart were eighth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:54.83).
   "It was a great end to the season for us," said Mace.