Swimming
By: Jim Green
The young Hopewell Valley Central High School girls swimming team was understandably nervous during the preliminary round of the Mercer County Tournament last week. In the finals Saturday, however, the Lady Bulldogs looked like the squad coach Drew Seibel believes is capable of making another run at a state championship.
The Lady Bulldogs had nine finalists and tallied 107 points, good for fifth in the team standings behind state-title contenders West Windsor-Plainsboro South, Lawrence, Pennington and Princeton. The Pirates won the team title with 284 points.
"Some of them (the Lady Bulldogs) struggled on the first day (the preliminary round), with a lot of them getting new opportunities to swim in the county championships," Seibel said. "They definitely stepped up to the challenge after the nerves wore off. We got some really good swims in the finals."
Junior Darby Driscoll, who stepped up as Hopewell’s top performer after sophomore Kristina Helmers left the team early in the season, was outstanding at the county championships. Driscoll placed fifth in the 200-meter freestyle and the 100 backstroke and qualified for the Meet of Champions (the state individual championships) with her time in the backstroke.
"She (Driscoll) is very strong, very consistent," Seibel said. "She’s a leader by example."
Driscoll will be joined at the Meet of Champions by Hopewell’s 200 medley relay team, which placed fourth at the county championships, and its 200 freestyle relay team, which came in fifth. The Lady Bulldogs’ 400 freestyle relay squad also finished fifth.
Sophomore Kara Widmer placed seventh in the 100 backstroke, while sophomore Mary Pat DeHaven took 11th in the 200 freestyle. Freshman Kristin Cuprzinski continued her outstanding rookie season, placing sixth in the 200 individual medley.
"She (Cuprzinski) has a fight in her that I can’t describe," Seibel said. "She wants to keep getting better, and she gets very upset when she doesn’t do better. But it doesn’t stop her from putting it all forward in the next race."
The Hopewell boys team, meanwhile, finished eighth in the team standings with 55 points. Ned Foster placed seventh in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, while Billy Dunne finished a strong fourth in the 100 backstroke. Scott Orr took ninth in the backstroke, and Hopewell was a finalist in all three relay events.
Hopewell will now move on to the state team tournament, as the Central Jersey Public B sectional tournament commences next week. The sixth-seeded Hopewell boys will visit third-seeded Rumson on Tuesday, and the third-seeded Lady Bulldogs will play host to sixth-seeded Shore Regional on Wednesday. If the boys team wins, it would face the Ocean Township/Lawrence winner in the sectional semifinals Thursday. If the girls team wins, it will face the Rumson/Red Bank winner Friday.
"The girls are really pumped up to go back and give it their all," Seibel said. "And I think they’ll be at least a little disappointed if they don’t go back as far as they did last year (to the Public B semifinals). They still have a fight and a desire to be there at the end."
Regardless of how far the Lady Bulldogs go, however, Seibel will consider 2003-04 to be a success.
"No matter what happens, I’m tremendously proud of this team," Seibel said. "They’ve overcome a lot. It’s shown me a lot about their character and desire to be winners."
NOTES: The start times for the state team tournament first-round meets had not been set as of Tuesday.
The Meet of Champions will take place March 6 and 7 at the Gloucester Institute of Technology in Sewell.
The preliminary round will take place March 6. The girls final will begin at 10 a.m. March 7, and the boys final will start at 2 p.m. March 7.