Ippolito, Kuehne star
By: John E. Powers
The Hillsborough High School boys’ swimming team may have had its biggest regular-season outing ever this past Sunday at the 26th Annual Pirate Invitational at The Bubble in Princeton Junction.
The Raiders finished third in the 13-school field behind New Jersey giants St. Joseph of Metuchen and runner-up Christian Brothers Academy. The Raiders had 137 points behind CBA’s 246 and St. Joseph’s 249. Bridgewater-Raritan, which handed the Raiders their only dual meet loss of the season, was fourth with 113 points.
CBA is ranked No. 2 in the state in some statewide polls, while St. Joseph is third. Bridgewater-Raritan was seventh. And the Raiders ranked ninth in one poll.
"It was a very tough field, there was a lot of great competition," said senior Frank Ippolito, who placed fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke. "Most of the top ten teams in the state were there. I think it shows that our team is the strongest it’s been in the four years I’ve been here and that Central Jersey has a lot of good teams."
Ippolito swam a 1:03.61 for fourth, while teammate and sophomore Pat Kuehne was fifth in 1:04.43.
"I was very pleased with my time and it was great to place right next to Pat," Ippolito said. "That was pretty special."
Kuehne was also fifth in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:08.28. He swam a leg on the fourth-place 200-yard medley relay and the third-place 200-yard freestyle team. The 200 freestyle team of Kuehne, Scott Prow, Tim Rauch and Sean Downey went 1:32.33. The medley team of Kuehne, James Vanbiervliet, Peter Cole and Downey went 1:46.67. Rauch, Prow, Eric Horowitz and Rob Webb were fifth in 3:31.82.
"It was a pretty crazy meet," Kuehne said. "To beat Bridgewater and to come ahead of all the public schools we were really psyched."
So was Rauch, who was fourth in the grueling 500-yard freestyle with a 5:03.72 in the final heat. He qualified with a 5:03.62.
"It was my best time since I was shaved last year," Rauch said. "I don’t know where it came from. I missed qualifying for the states by .2 or .3, but I can still do it. I was really proud of what we accomplished as a team."
The team was very proud of Vanbiervliet, a cancer survivor, who was in New York City Thursday for a regular checkup. He returned to contribute a leg on the medley relay team and finish fifth in the 100-yard backstroke at 59.74. He went 57.43 in the preliminary heat.
"It was incredible what James did," Ippolito said.
The Raiders, who improved to 7-1 last week with a 95-61 win over Watchung Hills, don’t have a dual meet this week. The Raiders will play host to Scotch Plains-Fanwood next Tuesday at the Hillsborough YMCA. The Somerset County meet is scheduled for a week from Saturday at the Bridgewater YMCA. The Skyland Conference meet will be held at the same location Friday, Feb. 4.
"We always seem to end up with a stronger second half of the season," Ippolito said.
The Raider girls finished seventh at the Pirate Invitational with 89 points. Missy McCormick was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:02.35 and Amanda Kautz took fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:12.98.
"I was satisfied with it," McCormick said of her individual race. "I went into the finals in second and I wanted to maintain it, but I had to swim the medley relay before it and that might have affected me. But I was fifth last year, so it’s one place better."
Kelsey Hurley, who had been out with a injured shoulder, returned to swim the second leg in the medley after Jess Stever and before Kautz and McCormick. The 200-yard freestyle relay was sixth.
"We did very well as a team," McCormick said.

