PHS boys return to state final

Little Tigers handle Scotch Plains-Fanwood in semifinal

By: Justin Feil
LAWRENCE — The Princeton High boys’ swim team took an expected step when it returned to the state public B final with a 104-66 semifinal win over Scotch Plains-Fanwood at Rider University on Thursday.
   The Little Tigers had the winner in every single event as they cruised to the win, and a 1:30 p.m. Saturday date with Mainland at The College of New Jersey. They lost in last year’s state B title meet to Cherry Hill East, which is competing in the A division this season.
   "Mainland is a very powerful team," said PHS head coach Greg Hand after his team upped its record to 14-0. "In every event, their guy is at least as fast as our guy. They are a bigger team and they have a lot of depth."
   The Mainland coaching staff was on hand to see how the Little Tigers swam, and they saw a dominating performance even if it wasn’t their best swims. PHS even changed up two of its top swimmers. Distance specialist Mark Fisher won the 100 freestyle to go with his usual 200 free event, which he also won. Sprinter Jesse Applegate swam in the 500 free for the first time this season, and won it in addition to his usual 50 free victory.
   "We wanted to give Mark a break," Hand explained. "He’s had a lot of tough 500s recently. He had a terrific race. Those are guys whose names are always in the paper, so it wasn’t to hide them. There coaches were here so they got a chance to see our outside lanes. We know theirs. You just have to make it irrelevant and make it about the meet.
   "Tonight, in a pool that’s slower, we raced hard, but not necessarily fast," he added. "But I think we’re ready to go."
   Princeton won the 200 medley relay with Billy Boyce, Matt Millar, Devin White and Andrew Ferguson and never looked back. The 100 free was the only event in which they lost points to Scotch Plains.
   Pete Hand won the 200 IM and the 100 breast, while Yoshi Deligne captured the 100 butterfly and was third in the breast. In the 500, Ferguson was second behind Applegate and Boyce fourth for a 12-4 point advantage. The 200 free relay of Anson Hook, Tom McKinley, Deligne and Applegate took first and Fisher, Millar, Pat Renton and Ferguson were third.
   Nate Ristuccia won the 100 back while Zach Juffe was fourth, and for good measure PHS took the top two spots in the 400 free relay to polish off the solid win. The Little Tigers expect it to be much tougher Saturday.
   "Their power points were 350 higher than ours coming into the tournament," Greg Hand said. "It will be very competitive. Our guys know the challenge is not to be at all timid about it, but to go after it."
   PHS has closed the power point gap to less than 100 and will be looking for their first public B state title ever.