Hopewell Valley swimming
By: Jim Green
Hopewell Valley Central High School boys swimming coach Laura Gordon knew she would have a handful of stars she could count on this season.
She knew seniors Will McNees and Scott Orr, juniors Ned Foster and Greg Stolowski and sophomore Billy Dunne would be guys she could count on for big efforts night in and night out. But she also knew that a swimming team’s success comes down to the amount of depth it has, and the Bulldogs’ depth this season was something she never would have anticipated.
"We’re a lot more flexible than we’ve been in the past," she said. "They don’t get burned out, because they can swim different things."
With surprise contributions from freshmen Will Armington, Nick Pace, Jeff DeLucca and Matt Birkhofer, as well as the continued development of returning swimmer Peter Novobilsky and Drew Palin, the Bulldogs have carved out a nice 6-5 season for themselves.
"We have a lot of fantastic freshmen that I wasn’t expecting to have," Gordon said. "A lot of our young swimmers were really strong. They were swimming their best times early in the season, and they’ve continued to do that all season."
The Bulldogs can clinch the Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division with a home win over Nottingham at 6:45 p.m. tonight (Thursday night). They continued their march toward the championship by improving to 6-4 in the CVC with a 111-59 win over Hightstown on Tuesday at the Michael T. Martin Aquatic Center in Pennington.
The Bulldogs, who were competing without the injured Foster, received first-place finishes from McNees in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 freestyle, Stolowski in the 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle and Orr in the 100 butterfly. The Bulldogs also won all three relays.
Hopewell jumped ahead quickly by winning each of the first three events, the 200 medley relay, the 200 freestyle and the 200 IM, to take a commanding 32-14 lead. Hightstown came back to place first and third in the 50 free, closing the gap to 14 points. But Orr answered by leading a Hopewell sweep in the fly that pushed the lead back to 24 points, and McNees won the 100 free, basically putting the meet away.
The key to the team, as always, was the leadership of McNees.
"He’s by far the most flexible swimmer on the team," Gordon said. "He can swim anything. I think in that way, he’s going to be a big loss (to graduation). You can’t replace someone like that."
The Hopewell girls, meanwhile, also kept up their push for a division title with a similarly dominant 104-66 victory over the Rams. The Lady Bulldogs, who improved to 5-4 overall and 5-4 in the CVC, can clinch their division with a win over Nottingham, as well.
"They’ve done a lot better than I expected," Hopewell girls coach Bill DeHaven said. "I’m extremely proud of all of them."
Against Hightstown, Hopewell got first-place finishes from Mary Pat DeHaven in the 200 freestyle, Darby Driscoll in the 200 individual medley, Anjana Sinha in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke and Kristen Cuprzinski in the 100 butterfly. Hopewell also swept the three relays.
"We have much more depth than I thought we had when we first started," Bill DeHaven said. "I thought we had a bunch of decent freestylers. It turned out to be much more."
The Lady Bulldogs simply blew Hightstown away before it even had a chance to get into the meet. Hopewell took the first five events of the meet to go up 54-24 and never looked back.
Both Hopewell teams were coming off competitive losses to strong West Windsor-Plainsboro South squads Jan. 20. Cuprzinski won the 100 fly, Driscoll took the 500 freestyle, and Hopewell captured the 200 freestyle relay, but the Lady Bulldogs dropped a 106-64 decision. The boys team had first-place finishes from Dunne in the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke and McNees in the 100 freestyle but lost 108-62.
DeHaven hopes Hopewell is starting to peak at the right time. The Mercer County Championships will take place late next week at Lawrence High, and the state tournament will follow soon after.
"They’re all swimming their best times fairly recently," DeHaven said. "They’re getting a lot of rest and regaining their energy. We hope to see nothing but their best times."

