Swim team faces rebuilding season

Lawrence swimming

By: Jim Green
   You simply can’t replace a group of seniors such as the one the Lawrence High School boys swimming team had last year. All you can do is move on and try to rebuild as quickly as possible.
   The Cardinals lost nine seniors, including eight key contributors, from last year’s squad, which won the Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division and the Mercer County Championships before reaching the Central Jersey Public A final. Considering one of those seniors was Josh Rosenbluth, who won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference swimmer of the week award twice in his first four weeks with the Broncs this season, the Cardinals clearly have a lot of ground to make up.
   And while this year’s squad doesn’t figure to be quite as dominant or deep as last year’s team, the Cardinals still should have enough talent to challenge for the Colonial Division title.
   "We know we have our work cut out for us," said veteran Lawrence coach Dean Mason, who will be recognized for his career achievements by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s Hall of Honor at a ceremony Monday at Pines Manor in Edison. "We’re going to work hard to be as competitive as possible."
   The Cardinals will be led by experienced seniors Jordan Hawthorne (IM, fly), Owen Henn (dist. free) and Tomasz Modzelewski (sprint free). The core of the team will be a deep junior class, including Nick Carey (free, back), Pat Crane (free, breast), Matt Berit (free), Chris Kemp (free), Bryan Lee (IM, back), Nelson Melendez (free), Scott Nashwick (free), Ryan Schmid (free, breast) and Chris Thiel (IM, fly). The sophomores are Jordan McGrew (free), who figures to be one of the Cardinals’ top swimmers, Rob Mills (free), Brendan O’Brien (IM, fly) and Ryan Shields (sprint free, fly). Two freshmen who should make an impact are Andrew Schofield (free, breast) and Pat Thiel (free, fly).
   "The seniors are all good swimmers," Mason said. "We have a strong junior class."
   The girls team, meanwhile, should have enough depth and talent to once again challenge perennial nemesis West Windsor-Plainsboro South at the conference, county and state levels. The key will be a very experienced senior group, featuring Maddie Emde (free, fly), Katelyn Fecak (IM, breast), Kim Greenfield (free), Shannon Kemp (free), Julia Senerth (IM, free, breast), Allison Webber (free, fly) and Julia Wrobel (free). One junior who will have a big impact is Jillian Franc (free).
   The sophomore group includes Steph Hulette (free, breast), Erica Nagy (IM, back), Lindsay Stern (free, back) and Rebecca Vinch (free). The Cardinals also will have a strong freshman class, including Laura Brehm (free, breast), Stephanie Greenfield (IM, back), Caroline Kelly (free, fly), Angelica Kinney (free, back) and Carly Lapidus (free).
   "Our senior girls — a lot of them are proven swimmers," Mason said. "We’re going to look to them for leadership and to score a lot of points for us. Most of them have been contributors since they were freshmen. That’s a great senior group."
   The Cardinals, ironically, will open the season at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday against Robbinsville’s first-year varsity program. Robbinsville, of course, features freshmen and sophomores who in the past would have attended Lawrence.
   
   "I always had four or five on my team," Mason said. "They always were good kids and good swimmers. We definitely miss them."
   The Cardinals then compete in the Knight Relays at West Windsor-Plainsboro North before having two tough road meets against Montgomery and Hunterdon Central.