Lawrence swimming
By: Jim Green
The Lawrence High School swimming team is gearing up for what should be its first big stretch of the season.
The Cardinals will swim the Hornet Relays today (Thursday) at Hamilton before taking on Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division rivals Notre Dame and West Windsor-Plainsboro South over the course of the next two weeks.
"It’s going to be tough, but I’m excited about it," Lawrence coach Dean Mason said. "As long as we can get back to being healthy, I think we’ll be OK."
Right now, the Cardinals have several key swimmers nursing nagging injuries, including versatile Chris Thiel, one of the top guns for the 5-0 boys team who has a sore shoulder. The team hopes he will be available to swim at full strength in the Notre Dame meet, which will take place at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday at LHS.
"It’s been bothering him all season," Mason said. "We’ve been using him sparingly all year so far."
Despite Thiel’s injury, the Cardinal boys had little difficulty Dec. 22 against Steinert, coming away with a 115-55 home win over the Spartans.
The Cardinals won the 200-meter medley relay with a team of Jordan Hawthorne, Ryan Schmid, Bryan Lee and Owen Henn. In the 200 freestyle, Nick Carey took first, followed by teammates Tomasz Modzelewski in second and Rob Mills in third. McGrew and Lee went 1-2 in the 200 individual medley, while Brendan O’Brien and Schmid were 2-3 in the 50 freestyle.
Henn, Ryan Shields and Pat Thiel went 1-2-3 in the 100 butterfly, Carey captured the 100 freestyle, and Hawthorne, O’Brien and Chris Kemp took 1-2-3 in the 500 freestyle. Shields, Mills, O’Brien and McGrew teamed to take the 200 freestyle relay, Lee and Modzelewski were 1-3 in the 100 backstroke, and Schmid won the 100 breaststroke. The 400 freestyle relay squad of Hawthorne, Henn, Carey and Modzelewski came away with a win.
The girls team also cruised, coming away with a 114-56 win and improving to 4-1 on the season. Julia Senerth, Katelyn Fecak, Maddie Emde and Kim Greenfield got things started with a win in the 200 medley relay. In the 200 freestyle relay, Stephanie Greenfield and Rebecca Vinch went 1-3, while Julia Wrobel and Lindsay Stern were 1-3 in the 200 individual medley.
Senerth took the 50 freestyle, and Jillian Franc, Allison Webber and Fecak were 1-2-3 in the 100 butterfly. Kim Greenfield and Caroline Kelly were 1-3 in the 100 freestyle, and Shannon Kemp was third in the 500 freestyle. Emde and Kelly went 1-2 in the 100 backstroke, and Fecak and Erica Nagy were 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke. Senerth, Kim Greenfield, Kelly and Wrobel won the 400 freestyle relay.
"Steinert’s improving a little bit," Mason said. "It was an opportunity for a lot of our kids to get to swim, and we had some good swims."
With the graduation of a talented senior class last year, Mason knew he would need his younger swimmers particularly those on the boys side to come through this season. So far, they have not disappointed.
"I’m very happy with the way a lot of the younger kids have stepped up to this point," Mason said. "Nick Carey, Brendan O’Brien, Ryan Shields, Ryan Schmid, Rob Mills quite a lot of kids who were waiting in the wings have gotten stronger. We’re asking them for a lot more swims this year. So far, they’ve responded. We know a lot of our tougher meets are ahead of us."
That tough stretch starts today with the Hornet Relays, which will include Notre Dame. Last season, the Cardinals won all 16 races at the meet.
"We’re going to gear up and make our lineup as strong as possible," said Mason, whose squad will be without Lee, who is away on vacation. "It’s always been a fun thing. It’s more fun if you win, obviously. We know we’re going to have some strong competition. It’s always been a fun thing for us. We’re going to get fired up for it and go as hard as we can."

