Different events, same success for Bartolotta, Reinfeldt

By: Carolyn M. Hartko
   With only one senior on this year’s squad, the South Brunswick High School girls’ swim team has had to depend on its younger members for points in dual meets. Among the underclassmen on the roster, two sophomores have risen to the challenge: Stephanie Bartolotta and Krista Reinfeldt.
   There are a lot of similarities between the two teammates. Both are highly competitive athletes who swim for club teams as well as SBHS, and two-year varsity letterwinners for the Lady Vikings. But the fact that they concentrate on different events enhances their value to the program.
   Given the choice, Bartolotta would swim the breaststroke. But as one of the stronger swimmers on the high school team, she’s been encouraged to take on the 100 yard butterfly, the most difficult of the individual strokes. That leads to her swimming the 200 individual medley, and she usually does a leg of the medley and 200 freestyle relays as well. It is expected that her best time of 2:34 in the IM will drop as the season goes on, but that’s not the primary focus.
   "Right now, the coaches are working with me on my 100 fly, and we’re trying to get my time (currently 1:22) down to about a 1:15 by the end of the season," Bartolotta said.
   Reinfeldt is a freestyle sprinter. She can swim any of the three short races (50, 100, or 200), and she’s a key member of the 200 and 400 free relays. Reinfeldt is also working on different strokes.
   "During practices, sometimes I do backstroke and butterfly," Reinfeldt said. "But in meets, it’s mainly freestyle. I guess it’s the one (stroke) I’m best at over the other ones, so I kind of go with it."
   She would like to drop a second or two off her best times in each of the individual freestyle races. Right now, Reinfeldt’s looking to break the 28-second mark in the 50, and go below 2:20 in the 200. She’d also like to be doing 1:02 in the 100 before the Greater Middlesex Conference Championships the first weekend in February.
   Reinfeldt swims the same events for her club team at the Princeton YWCA. She joined that club when she was in eighth grade, and has been hooked on competitive swimming ever since. The sport keeps her busy in the summer as well. Reinfeldt taught swimming at the Y last summer, and plans on getting her lifesaver’s license this spring so she can work as a lifeguard next summer. Swimming may have started out as a sport, but it’s becoming a lifestyle.
   "I like the fact that (swimming) is different," Reinfeldt said. "Nothing else is like it. And I like that it’s kind of individual. It’s you against whatever goal you personally set for yourself. I like the experience of the meets and the different events, and I like that there’s different strokes so it’s not always the same thing."
   Bartolotta swims for Riptide, the New Brunswick YWCA team. She started out on the Willows swim team at 11-years-old, and still works for the latter as a lifeguard in the summer. She purposely moved to Riptide freshman year to prepare her for high school swimming, and she’s not sorry she made the commitment.
   "I love the competition in swimming," Bartolotta said. "And I love the adrenaline rush. I love the people that I meet, and the camaraderie."
   For the Viking swim teams, there’s plenty of time to foster camaraderie. Without a home pool, there are bus rides to practices as well as meets. And there are opportunities to socialize without wet hair. For example, the Reinfeldt family hosted a pasta party a few weeks ago for both the boys’ and girls’ squads. The difficulties encountered in trying to scrounge practice time seem to have made the 2004-2005 teams closer than ever.
   "Everyone’s working really hard with the small amount of time that we do have for practices," Bartolotta said. "And during the winter break, a lot of the team members actually came to practices. I don’t think as many swimmers last year came to those practices. So, everyone’s trying to use the time wisely that we have, which I think is really good."
   Reinfeldt has also been impressed with the progress the whole team has made.
   "We had so many new people and so many inexperienced swimmers that this year was kind of a rebuilding year," Reinfeldt said. "But the expectations that were set – they’ve already been met and surpassed. Everybody – the entire team – has grown, especially considering the limited practice times we’ve had. Everyone’s dropped time. And there are a couple of freshmen that have been earning varsity point here and there, so it’s been good."