Locals pick up medals, set records
By: Justin Feil
Four Packet-area swimmers ended their high school swimming careers with shining medals at the Meet of Champions on Sunday.
"It’s definitely the best way to go out," said Princeton High senior Nina Rossi, who won the girls’ 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly. "My last race, breaking a 25-year-old record. I can’t ask for much more. And I did well in IM. I was really happy with everything I swam."
Rossi wasn’t the only double winner. West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s Jay Park won the boys’ 50 and 100 freestyle sprints. The junior is too old by current New Jersey rules to compete for the Pirates next year.
"He definitely had some much better races today than yesterday (in the preliminaries)," said Pirate head coach Paul Hamnett. "He wanted to win it, and post up some really good times. We were satisfied. They weren’t times he wanted, but they were good enough to win. I was pleased with it.
"His races were not particularly close. He won by a decent amount of both. The last 12 yards, he pulled away from everybody. There was not much question he was going to win. It was a matter of what times he was going to post."
Park won the 50 free in 21.02 seconds and the 100 free in 46.80. He was joined as a Pirate gold medalist by Evelyn Yuen, a senior who won the girls’ breaststroke in 1:06.17 to lower her own school record.
"I knew that I really wanted this," said Yuen, who was third last year. "I also knew that this is just a really fast group of girls. I knew with Lesley Pringle my first 50 had to be faster than hers. I had to try my best. I tried to focus on going out faster than her. Comparatively, my second 50 isn’t the best. If I had to have a little leeway room, I had to go out fast."
The win completed a climb to the top for Yuen, who was eighth in the event as a freshman, fourth as a sophomore and won bronze last year.
"As a freshman I wasn’t close to winning," Yuen said. "My sophomore year, I was fourth place, but if I went a half-second faster I would have been second. Last year, if I went a half-second faster I would have got second. This year, I was making sure that didn’t happen again. That made all the difference."
Brian Honore, another WW-P South senior, finished second in both the 200 and 500 free, but broke the school record in both events. He swam a record 4:34.76 in Saturday’s 500 preliminaries to earn the top seed, then swam a 1:42.60 in the 200 free finals Sunday.
"Brian had the meet of his life," Hamnett said. "His 200 was amazing. He broke Jay’s record. Jay broke (Ryan) Ciccarelli’s record earlier. Brian broke that. It was amazing. He went into this meet trying to do some best times. To do the times he did was amazing. He got two second places. He was literally out-touched in both of them."
The silver medals didn’t diminish a record-breaking meet. It was a perfect way to exit with the 200 capping off a stirring performance in the 500 the day before. Honore’s time broke a 13-year-old record.
"We knew that was his goal," Hamnett said of the longer standing 500 record. "He was kind of rested for it. We were so nervous, myself and some of the other coaches. He came through much faster than we ever thought. We thought maybe he’d go 38. To go 34 was just brilliant."
He was just as pleased with the way Yuen closed her career. She entered Sunday’s final with the second-best time but held off Pringle for the gold.
"I wasn’t sure I could win," Yuen said. "Ever since I was a freshman, I dreamed of winning states.
"I knew that a lot of people, me and Brian and Jay, it was the last chance to break some high school records. That’s what we were aiming for."
Yuen’s senior teammate Gabi Feibel was ninth in the 500 free. She won the consolation heat to cap off her career.
"Evelyn’s race was just perfect," Hamnett said. "She knew what she had to do. She really did not want to lose. She’s been close before. There was a freshman and another junior next to her. She just said, I’m going out and going for it. She took it out fast. She made the other girls swim her race. In doing so, she was able to hold off the girls in the end.
"It’s absolutely tremendous the way they ended it. I couldn’t ask for a better way to end it. We had three golds and two silvers. Evelyn couldn’t have been any happier. Brian, same way. He did incredible. It’s great to see these kids mature over the course of four years and really neat to see all their hard work pay off in the end. It’s more special that they’re seniors too."
Greg Hand couldn’t agree more. The Princeton High head coach has seen Rossi develop into one of the most dominating swimmers in state history. The two golds Sunday were her fifth and sixth of her career.
"After it was over, she was on podium and she looked happier by far than she had in past years," Hand said. "Not only was her last race a record-breaker, she hadn’t just finished well, she finished at the top of her form. It was a final high school statement."
Rossi couldn’t have scripted a better ending. She went into both finals with the top seeds and made them stand.
"Confidence wise, I went into both events nervous," Rossi said. "My legs were pounding. I felt pretty confident I could do my best and hopefully come out on top.
"I was scared," she added. "I don’t think there’s a time I won’t get scared at any meet, especially of getting DQ’d. There are so many rules out there. My confidence may go up there, but I’m still going to be as nervous as the first time I swam the event."
Rossi fostered that nervous energy for a 2:05.64 win in the 200 IM to start her day. Then, she ended her high school career with a 56.05 finish in the fly, just four-hundredths faster than the record set by Vineland’s Lisa Iori in 1981. It helped that she had to start quickly just to keep up with Millville’s Jill Samianiotto, who finished second to Rossi last year as well.
"I have a problem taking it out fast," Rossi said. "If she’s right there next to me, I have to do it. I’m very happy she was there. She’s the best thing that happened in that race. That’s the best time I swam this whole season and my whole life, except conversions. I wish I could swim against her again."
Samianiotto is probably happy to see Rossi graduate. She graduates with the record she wanted for years.
"I was just ready," Rossi said. "I was ready my junior year to get the record but I was nine-hundredths off. So senior year was my only year to get it.
"I didn’t feel it. I saw the board and thought, I broke the record finally. It didn’t click until I saw my friends. They were more excited than I was. It brought it all together. It ended my season and my high school career really well."
Montgomery High’s Drew Talarick was ninth in the 200 free and 13th in the 500 free. The junior will be back for his chance at a curtain call.