GIRLS SWIMMING
By: Tim Falls
By no means is it an easy time for Lawrence High School students, especially the swimmers.
Along with the Lawrence midterm exams, the girls swim team had to focus on three big meets.
Lawrence swam a make-up meet against West Windsor-Plainsboro North on Monday, raced Hightstown on Tuesday and are slated to take on Princeton today.
Making matters worse, the Mercer County Championships are next Friday and Saturday meaning the Cardinals have to keep training hard.
The Knights defeated Lawrence, 90.5-79.5, in the make-up met on Monday.
"It was difficult having it thrown in on Monday," said sophomore Stephanie Greenfield after Tuesday’s 97-73 win over Hightstown, "especially because Lawrence is having midterms this week. We have yesterday’s meet, today’s meet and Thursday and we also have midterms to study for."
With tough meets against WW-P North and Princeton, the Lawrence swimmers had to keep well trained along with maintaining their studies.
"The entire swim team is made up of good students," said Greenfield. "We all come to practice and work hard and work hard in the meets and get our studying in whenever possible."
Despite the back-to-back meets, the Cardinals handled Hightstown easily enough.
"We’re definitely prepared for it," said sophomore Caroline Kelly. "Our coaches trained us well. We have hard practices everyday so when something like this comes up we can handle it."
The Cardinals even had some of their best efforts in the loss to WW-P North.
"We were really happy we kept it as close as we did," said Greenfield. "All the girls had best times. Even though we didn’t win, we’re happy we had our best times and we’re happy to come so close to a great team."
Greenfield won the 100-meter backstroke against North, finished third in the 200 individual medley and swam the backstroke on Lawrence’s winning 200 medley relay.
Greenfield, freshman Katie Hector, junior Rebecca Vinch and Kelly won the 200 medley relay.
"Having three meets in a row is tough, but the kids responded great," said Turnbull. "The girls in particular stepped up and kept it close against a great North team."
Hector won the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke against the Knights.
Kelly tied WW-P North’s Raquel Riestra for first-place in the 50 free and came in second to Riestra in the 100 free.
"I think we did well," said Kelly. "We wanted to swim best times and a lot of our girls swam best times. Everyone tried, not just a few key swimmers. Everyone on the team played their part."
Kelly had an impressive performance against Hightstown, leading Lawrence with first-place individual finishes in the 100 free and 100 backstroke.
Junior Erica Nagy led teammates junior Stephanie Hulette and freshman Catie Drury in a sweep of the 200 free, while Greenfield won the 50 free and took second in the 100 free. Vinch won the 500 free, while Hector took the 100 fly.
The Lawrence girls also defeated Nottingham, 119-51, last Thursday.
Jillian Franc took the 200-meter free and the 100 fly, Vinch won the 200 IM and 100 free, Hector led the 500 free and 100 breast and Greenfield won the 100 back.
The meet against Princeton will complete Lawrence’s Colonial Valley Conference season, but the competition only gets tougher in the postseason.