Vikes get off the blocks impressively

Boys and girls swim past Hamilton and Hightstown convincingly

By: Sean Richards
   It certainly didn’t take very long for all the pre-season optimism regarding the South Brunswick High School swimming teams to translate itself into the pool.
   Opening its season last Friday afternoon, South Brunswick double dipped Hamilton with the girls winning, 125-44, and the boys rolling by an even bigger margin of 129-41. They continued their assault on Mercer County on Tuesday as both teams swept past Hightstown.
   In between, the Vikings were in action Saturday at the Raider Sprints at North Brunswick High School. This also went well with both the boys and girls finishing in the third spot.
   "The Sprints are really for fun," coach John Harding said. "It’s not a normal meet because it’s more about giving the underclassmen some experience and getting everyone ready for the season."
   Without a doubt, the highlight at the Raider Sprints came from the girls freshmen/sophomore 200 medley relay team. All it did was a set a school record with a blistering time of 2:01.84 to take first place. Combining for that time were Lauren Dai, Abby Weingarten, Liz Samtur and Amie McMahon. When Harding said he had some outstanding young girls on the team this year, he wasn’t kidding.
   "To set a school record with such a young group is a really encouraging development," said Harding.
   The South Brunswick girls just missed setting a record in the freshmen/sophomore 200 free relay as well as their time of 1:49.53 was just half a second off the school mark. Competing in that race were Weingarten, Samtur, Danielle Bartolotta and McMahon.
   The boys also look ready to put together another strong season. Hamilton High isn’t the strongest team around, but at this point of the year what the coach is more interested in is the times.
   "Our times were phenomenal for the first meet of the season," Harding said. "I went back and looked and we were faster in just about every event from last year.
   "And it wasn’t just the people who finished in first place. It went right on down the line to our second and third swimmers."
   Double winners for South Brunswick against Hamilton for the boys included Henry Ma, Dan DeOliviera and Tyler Wardlow.
   South Brunswick was to have swum against Hightstown on Tuesday and South Plainfield Thursday.
   Things will start heating up on the Greater Middlesex Conference front Monday with the girls taking on Bishop Ahr and both the boys and girls traveling to East Brunswick Wednesday.
   Bishop Ahr is a juggernaut in girls swimming, while the East Brunswick boys and girls are always competitive.
   "I was extremely pleased; our team came out fast," said Harding. "We’re going to be up against some tough competition soon, but I like the way we’ve started the season."
   MAKING WAVES: The Vikings continued their assault on Mercer County schools on Tuesday, as the girls topped Hightstown, 110-60 while the boys prevailed, 112-58.
   For the girls, the 200 meter medley relay team of Dai, Weingarten, Samtur and McMahon won, as did the 200 free relay team of Weingarten, Bartolotta, Krista Reinfeldt and McMahon and the 400-meter free relay team of Samtur, Bartolotta, Reinfeldt and Carmen Chan. Individual winners were Bartolotta (200 free, 500 free), McMahon (200 IM, 100 back), Samtur (50 free, 100 free) and Weingarten (100 fly, 100 breast).
   For the boys, the 200 free relay team of Tyler Wardlow, Ma, Jack Kugal and DeOliviera, and the 400 free relay team of Kugal, Brian Dai, Brian Lee and Tyler Wardlow were both winners. Individual winners were Tyler Wardlow (200 free, 100 back), Ma (200 IM, 100 breast), DeOliviera (50 free) and Dillon Diatlo (100 fly).