WW-PN faces tough CJ B swim opener

Kalinowski looking for best swim against HoVal

By: Justin Feil
   Megan Kalinowski will be a great captain for the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North girls’ swimming team next season because of all the practice she’s had this season. One of just two club swimmers on the Knight team, it’s a natural role, but one that’s tough to embrace now.
   "It’s really awkward," Kalinowski said. "Not even having a senior who’s a club swimmer, a lot of people look up to me. And it’s kind of hard when I don’t swim as well as I should.
   "My sister’s on the team," she added. "She looks up to me. It’s hard when you’re made and doing badly to have to keep that happy persona. It’s hard, but that’s what you get when you’re one of the best people on the team."
   The proof of Kalinowski’s talent is on the record board. She’ll open next season with four individual Knight records. Last year, she set the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley records. This year, she added the 200 and 500 free records at the Pirate Invitational, yet she considers it an off season.
   And that as much as anything is why she’s looking forward to, not dreading, facing top-seeded Hopewell Valley in the first round of the Central Jersey B state tournament 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Pennington School.
   "I am actually really glad," Kalinowski said. "I know they have amazing swimmers. I haven’t been doing too well this season. Swimming against them can push me harder to do good times."
   Kalinowski is coming off a difficult Mercer County Championships, though she had the Knights’ only top-six finish with a sixth in the 500 free.
   "I just didn’t have it in me mentally," Kalinowski said. "It was really disappointing. That was just because I had been in the top six to qualify."
   Coaches and swimmers from other teams asked if Kalinowski was feeling all right. The 16-year-old had been slowed by an illness two weeks before. When snow forced the MCC finals to move back two days to Monday, it didn’t help.
   "We rested for counties," said Kalinowski, who has been swimming for the Whitewaters club team for five years. "It’s better for me now that we’re not (tapering for states). I do better when I’m in top shape than when I’m rested. We were supposed to swim Friday (in prelims) and then it got pushed back. It didn’t work for me in the long run. The taper ended up being longer than I wanted.
   "I feel a lot better now. Right after counties, I said that I want to work harder. I’m more of a practice person. In practice I keep up Nina (Rossi of Princeton High) and Kate (Guthrie of WW-P South). It’s really encouraging."
   Kalinowski’s task today could be to keep up with Missy Helmers, Hopewell’s 500 freestyle specialist. Or it could be to challenge one of the Bulldogs’ other talented top guns.
   "In any other meet," said WW-PN head coach Cheryl Reca, "we put her somewhere to get first. With this one, we have to try to hide her more and see where she can help us most."
   And with her versatility, Kalinowski can swim most any event, a luxury with an otherwise inexperienced Knight squad. Kalinowski pulls a more difficult double every meet. She swims the butterfly leg in WW-PN’s medley relay, gets out of the pool and jumps in the 200 free. After the break, Kalinowski is back in the pool for the 500 free, and after the longest race of the day, is in the very next event to anchor the 200 free relay.
   "She has the top time in almost every event," Reca said. "She sacrifices her best event to swim the butterfly. Then she comes right out of the 500 free and anchors the 200 free. There are a few people I could ask to do that, and she’s one of them. It’ll be interesting (today). There are only girls swimming, it’s not a double dual. That could change where you put people. They have quite a few club swimmers. There coach has a lot more wiggle room to put different people in different events."
   For North, only Kalinowski and Mary McGovern have club experience. The inexperience hurts the eighth-seeded Knights when they face a team like Hopewell, who beat them 106-64, two weeks ago in the final regular-season meet.
   "You can’t hide too much," Reca said. "We can fool with the lineup a bit. But when you draw someone from your own conference, that makes it that much more predictable. Anything can happen though. They had some swimmers sick a little bit ago.
   "Our main thing this year, we knew it was a rebuilding year with the girls, was just making it. We’re glad with the kids we have this year, just to make it is exciting. To draw someone from our own conference, it’s kind of like you’re swimming with your brother or sister. Our main goal was just to make it though."
   The goal for the Knights today will be to close the season with some best times.
   "Missy has ridiculous (200 and 500 free) times," she said. "I’m going to try to keep up with her as much as I can. If she goes fast, that should help me. If she goes slow and does my best time and I’m still behind her, that’s bad."
   Kalinowski would like a good ending to the season, something she can build on as she looks to the future of the Knight program. She’s already been encouraged by some of the younger swimmers.
   "Kristy Hajducek, it blows my mind how much she’s improving," Kalinowski said. "It’s nice to see that. There are a lot of other people too, but she’s one of the main people. And she always has such a positive attitude."
   It’s what Megan Kalinowski has is trying to do for Thursday and for the future.
   "I’m ready to become a captain next year," she said. "I was actually more focused on club swimming. But when it comes down to championships, I focus more on high school. It’s been tough, but I’m still going to try hard on Tuesday and hope other people do too."