SWIMMING
By: Tim Falls
Alone, one swimmer can’t win a meet.
It takes combined efforts of several swimmers to earn a victory.
Lots of Lawrence High School swimmers made contributions as the Cardinals defeated Hopewell Valley on Tuesday.
The Lawrence boys beat the Bulldogs, 96-74, to improve to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Colonial Valley Conference. Likewise, the Lawrence girls edged Hopewell, 87-83, and improved to 3-0-1 overall and 2-0 in the CVC.
Juniors Jordan McGrew and Ryan Shields led the Lawrence boys with two individual first-place finishes and both raced with seniors Ryan Schmid and Matt Berit on the Cardinals’ winning 200-meter freestyle relay.
"You can’t win with just Jordan McGrew and Ryan Shields," said Lawrence coach Chris Turnbull. "Pick any two names on the team, you’ll still need more than that. I don’t want to take anything away from Jordan or Ryan, it certainly helps having them win races."
The first-place finishes McGrew and Shields recorded combined with seconds, thirds and fourths gave Lawrence the advantage over Hopewell, despite six first-place finishes by the Bulldogs.
McGrew took first in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.63, but it was the efforts of senior Chris Thiel and junior Brendan O’Brien that led to a sweep in the event. Thiel finished second and O’Brien placed third, resulting in a 10-point swing in the score to give the Cardinals the lead.
"We swam really well," said McGrew. "We all gave 110 percent because we were pumped for this meet."
McGrew also led the 200 free in 2:05.40 with junior Rob Mills claiming third, while Shields sprinted to firsts in the 50 free (25.67 seconds) and the 100 free (58.54).
"We knew we’d have to swim each race like it was our last," said Shields. "We had it all planned out and we needed to capitalize in key spots and still swim hard in others."
The Cardinals definitely capitalized with the sweep in the 100 fly and managed to counteract Hopewell’s first-place finishes with seconds, thirds and fourths.
"We knew Hopewell Valley was loaded," said Turnbull. "We really needed to get those seconds, thirds and fourths. In a meet like this every finish is important."
Hopewell claimed first in the backstroke and the breaststroke, but couldn’t make up points because O’Brien and senior Nick Carey claimed second and third, respectively, in the 100 back and Schmid and sophomore John Cohl took second and third in the 100 breast.
Mills and senior Chris Kemp placed second and third, respectively in the 500 free, while Carey finished third in the 100 free, Berit took third in the 50 free and Thiel placed third in the 200 IM.
While Lawrence won the 200 free relay, Hopewell took the 200 medley and 400 free relays.
"The relays are always big for us," said McGrew. "I definitely think our medley and four-free relays can get faster."
Likewise, the Hopewell girls claimed the 200 medley and 400 free relays, while freshman Katie Hector, senior Jillian Franc, junior Stephanie Hulette and junior Rebecca Vinch won the 200 free relay in 2:03.62.
Sophomore Colleen Kelly led Lawrence with individual wins in the 50 and 100 freestyles, while Franc took the 200 free, Hector won the 200 IM, and sophomore Stephanie Greenfield won the 100 back.
Just like in the boys’ meet, the second, thirds and fourths were critical to victory.
"If everyone swam their best we knew we’d be in good shape," said Turnbull. "And we had a lot of best times."
Lawrence gained points with Hulette finishing third in the 200 free and Vinch and sophomore Anjel Kinney taking second and third, respectively in the 100 fly. Vinch also placed second in the 50 free. Those swims drew praise from Turnbull, noting that Vinch and Kinney swam outside their usual events to help the team.
Lawrence stayed ahead of Hopewell by gaining points with a second-place finish by Hector in the 100 breast and recording a third-place finish by Stern in the 100 back.
"I’m proud of how my girls swam," said Turnbull. "It’s always a close meet with Hopewell."
Lawrence hosts Wall in a non-league meet at 4 p.m. tomorrow (Friday) and then takes on Robbinsville and Steinert next week.