Swimming
By: Jim Green
There was no holiday hangover for the Lawrence High School swimming team this weekend.
The Cardinals were as sharp as ever Saturday, using a balanced effort to cruise to both the boys and girls team titles at Hamilton’s Hornet Relays.
"It’s tough on Christmas week," Lawrence coach Dean Mason said. "But it’s a priority to keep our team together and to go in as strong as possible. I take the meet seriously, and I don’t want to go in short-handed. If you’re a varsity swimmer at Lawrence, you swim over Christmas break."
Lawrence benefited greatly from having its complete squad in attendance, capturing 7-of-8 first-place medals on the boys side and all eight first-place finishes on the girls side. The Cardinal boys tallied 108 points, well ahead of second-place Notre Dame (74) and third-place Nottingham (70). The Lawrence girls finished with 112 points, with second-place Notre Dame coming in at 76.
"A meet like this gives us an opportunity to see what some of the other teams in Mercer County have," Mason said. "We go to make our relays as strong as possible. We go to have fun. The kids got medals, and we got two first-place trophies. It was nice."
The Lawrence boys won every event except the 4×50-meter breaststroke, which was claimed by Nottingham. Josh Rosen, Steve Goldberg, Josh Rosenbluth and Eric Hoover won the 400 medley (4:38.78), and J.P. Kelly, Jordan Hawthorne, Chris Thiel and Rosenbluth teamed to take the 4×100 individual medley (4:48.28).
Tomasz Modzlenski, Will Brehm, Ben Lookner and Kelly then claimed the crescendo freestyle (8:48.16), while Neal Martorelli, Hawthorne, Thiel and Rosenbluth took the 4×50 butterfly (2:09.32). Kelly, Brehm, Owen Henn and Lookner won the 4×200 freestyle (9:19.25), and the team of Hawthorne, Nick Carey, Hoover and Rosen took the 4×50 backstroke (2:11.39). The squad of Brehm, Modzlenski, Lookner and Hoover completed the domination with a win in the 4×50 freestyle (1:51.53).
Mason was not concerned with the fact that some of the other teams were at less than full strength.
"I know there were some kids missing, but we can’t concern ourselves with that," he said. "Our boys were there, and they did very well."
The Lawrence girls, meanwhile, never let up and swept their entire meet. The team of Julia Senerth, Emily Steiner, Maddie Emde and Kelli Hawthorne started things off with a victory in 400 medley (4:59.35). Kim Greenfield, Jillian Franc, Katelyn Fecak and Steiner followed with a win in the 4×100 individual medley (5:09.20).
Casey Hooker, Julia Wrobel, Greenfield and Franc took the crescendo freestyle (8:56.36), while Emily Bomba, Mary Veltri, Allison Weber and Emde took the 4×50 freestyle (2:17.60). Jaime Petrone joined Greenfield, Hawthorne and Franc to capture the 4×200 freestyle (9:44.54), and Mary Stearns, Hooker, Bomba and Senerth teamed to capture the 4×50 backstroke (2:24.91).
Nancy Zeng, Fecak, Senerth and Steiner won the 4×50 breaststroke (2:39.73), while Hooker, Petrone, Wrobel and Hawthorne took the 4×50 freestyle in 2:02.27.
Mason felt his team has had many swimmers stepping up in the early going.
"Josh Rosen has really made a lot of progress," Mason said. "He’s worked very hard. Tomasz Modzlenski is a sophomore who has worked hard to help us in the sprints, and he’s starting to come along. Jordan Hawthorne is another one who is starting to turn the corner.
"We need everybody focusing and working hard to improve."
The Cardinal boys team will need all its swimmers performing at their highest level next week, as Lawrence faces Nottingham on Tuesday and Notre Dame on Thursday.
"The Nottingham boys have beaten our boys the last two years, and we want to go at them as hard as possible," Mason said.
Mason believes the Lawrence boys will be more prepared for the Nottingham meet after losing to Princeton 98-72 last week.
"That meet (against Princeton) very easily could have been a 90-80 meet or an 88-82 meet," Mason said. "This isn’t me crying. There were a number of touch-ups we didn’t get, and I want to get those touch-ups in the future. We’re working to finish races stronger. We’re definitely going to learn from that meet."
Mason also credited his girls team for beating Princeton despite notching only three first-place finishes.
"Our girls worked very hard to win that meet," Mason said. "We beat them with our depth. Our girls had some very good times."
After their performance at the Hornet Relays, the Cardinals appear ready for the season’s stretch run.
"I feel good about our team," he said. "We really have been working hard. We’re into the meat of the schedule now."