SBHS girls have nice efforts in loss to Bishop Ahr

By: Sean Richards
   While the South Brunswick High School boys swimming team more or less had the week off, the Viking girls got an up-close look at what they would eventually like to become.
   This came in a home meet Monday afternoon against Middlesex County powerhouse Bishop Ahr.
   As much as the talented young South Brunswick girls have improved, the visitors showed very much who they still "Ahr" by beating the Vikings, 107-63.
   It was the first loss of the year for the girls, who are now 3-1 after previously smashing Plainfield, 122-45, with many of their frontliners sitting out the meet.
   "The Bishop Ahr girls are just very strong," said South Brunswick coach John Harding. "They’re the class of the GMC; they’re just a very formidable team."
   Although South Brunswick only won a couple of races, that’s not to say there weren’t some positives from this meet. And at the top of the list was the200 medley relay team, which came in first with a school record time of 2:01.3.
   Competing in that record-setting race were Lauren Dai, Abby Weingarten, Liz Samtur and Amie McMahon.
   McMahon was also a winner against Bishop Ahr when she swam the 500 freestyle in a fast time of 5:49.7
   "We only won two races, but we had a lot of other good efforts," said Harding. "Overall, I’m pretty pleased."
   Stephanie Bartolotta did a nice job against Bishop Ahr with two of her best times in the 200 and 500 freestyle races. In addition to competing on the winning relay team, Samtur did well in the 50 and 100 races.
   Weingarten also turned in good times in the 100 fly and 100 breast after competing in the Holiday Classic over the weekend for her club team. The South Brunswick boys improved their record to 3-0 by rolling past Plainfield, 137-33, a week ago Thursday.
   Like the girls, the boys swept every event and gave numerous swimmers a chance as hardly anybody competed in more than one event.
   You can be sure South Brunswick was at full strength Wednesday when it was to have swum against the always strong East Brunswick teams.
   The Vikings also have a couple of competitive meets coming up as they will host Old Bridge Monday and travel to Piscataway Thursday.
   "The East Brunswick girls are very good and Old Bridge is tough in both the boys and girls," said Harding. "We’re in a stretch of our schedule where we’ll find out where we stand."