Rival Bridgewater wins close ones to take crown
By: John E. Powers
NORTH BRUNSWICK As the swimmers went to their starting blocks for the 500 freestyle Tuesday afternoon at North Brunswick High School in the Central Jersey Pubilc A sectional championship meet, the Hillsborough boys trailed Bridgewater-Raritan by six points.
By the event’s end, the Raiders faced an 18-point deficit. They never recovered.
Bridgewater-Raritan, the Skyland Conference and Somerset County champion, went on to capture a 102-68 decision. The Raiders, who won just two of 11 events the first two events of the finished an outstanding season with a 13-1 record.
"It was really who wanted it more today," Hillsborough senior Nick Giacopelli said afterward. "In the end, that is what it came down to."
As he has done throughout his three years as head coach, Hillsborough’s Todd Sudol emphasized the positive. He wouldn’t point to the 1-2 B-R finish in the 500 as a turning point.
"All year I’ve taught these guys that you take one race at a time," Sudol said. "I believe in them that they are mentally strong enough to know that they can’t let one race dictate the meet. That’s how you lose the meet, but I don’t think they let it distract them. They still had their inspiration and determination to want to beat them."
He added that it was just a length or two or three that was the difference.
"Close races, we had to win the close races," Sudol added. "And that’s what happened today. Every race was close and every point counted and just watching form the side. It was either them or us. To win a meet like this you have to win the close races. We’re about the same quality, the same level."
HHS junior Mark Green agreed.
"I don’t think it was the 500, there were tons of races where we might have won, they might have taken a fourth where we might have thought we’d get a fourth and took a fifth instead," he said. "It was that kind of thing."
The 500 pitted Skyland Conference champion John Benigno, a freshman, and Peter Levin of Bridgewater against Raider senior Nick Giacopelli. Levin and Benigno went 1-2 with Giacopelli taking third. Hillsborough’s Sammy Mintz was fourth and Bridgewater-Raritan’s Kevin Gallagher was fifth.
"I knew it was going to be a hard race to start with," Giacopelli said. "That hurt. It hurt a lot. I was just tired from the relays. I really had very little after that."
The Raiders started off the meet well, taking the 200-yard medley relay with Green, Bryan Zeiher, Peter Cole and Giacopelli. Bridgewater-Raritan had beaten Hillsborough in the Somerset County and Skyland Conference championships.
Giacopelli followed by winning the 200 freestyle in 1:50.38, but Levin and Josh Gonzalez took the next two spots for Bridgewater-Raritan. That was the end of the firsts for Hillsborough. The Panthers went 1-2 in the 200 IM, the 500 free, the 100 backstroke and the 100 breast.
"Where they went 1-2 in races we didn’t expect that. We expected it to go the other way. There were a lot of races we expected to win that they won very close," Sudol said.
Green was second to Panther John Marisco in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. Hillsborough’s Scott Prow and Sean Downey went 3-4 in the 50, while Zeiher took second in the 100 butterfly.
The Panthers captured the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. The Raiders also went 2-3 behind B-R’s Tim Lamb in the 100 fly and 100 butterfly. Zeiher and Devin Gunaselara were 2-3 in the 100 butterfly and Green and Prow followed Marisco again in the 100 free.
"We were kind of going in with a lot of hope and we were really pumped up about it," Green said. "But sometimes people have good days and sometimes they have bad days. They came in and they were ready to swim and they had a good day."

