Senior is leader for Little Tiger girls
By: Justin Feil
For the better part of three seasons, Gaby Cifuentes has been a reliable 100 and 200 freestyle swimmer for the Princeton High School girls’ team.
At the Mercer County Championships that begin with preliminaries for girls today and continue with finals Saturday at Lawrence High, Cifuentes will switch things up a bit and swim the 200 free and 100 butterfly.
"Gaby has been training hard with her club for several years now," said PHS head coach Greg Hand. "She got real excited this year the past couple months with trying to develop a better butterfly. She’s improved her technique sufficiently so that it seemed like it was worth giving the fly a try in counties to see if she can make her way back in the top 12.
"That’s typical of Gaby’s character. She’s willing to try things. She’s an optimist. She has a lot of spirit. That willingness to sort of get out of her comfort zone and keep working on things encourages everyone else who she swims with. She’s always been a freestyler. She’s had some great freestyle swims over the years. And we’ll probably be using her in states in freestyle."
This weekend, however, Cifuentes can contribute best for the Little Tigers in the fly and 200 free. She is looking to her new event with some mixed emotions.
"It’ll be the first time swimming the fly at counties," she said. "This year, I dropped a lot of time in the fly. It’s a little sad not swimming my normal events, but it’s like making a new friend. Mr. Hand thought it would be better for the team."
Swimming something new plays in perfectly with the philosophy Cifuentes follows with her club team, Whitewaters, as well. She has swum for Whitewaters for years with a brief switch to X-Cel in the midst of a long tenure.
"With my club team, my coach, he tries to broaden my horizon," Cifuentes said. "He doesn’t like it if we just swim freestyle, even if we’re a freestyle swimmer. He wanted me to pick a stroke and I picked fly. That’s what got me to improve my time. In the beginning of the year, got 1:12. Now I had 1:07 on Thursday so I’ve dropped a lot."
Cifuentes swam her county events at the final dual meet of the regular season when PHS defeated Lawrence, 118-52, last Thursday. It was a fine finish to the regular season for Cifuentes and the Little Tigers, who improved to 12-1, in her final scholastic season.
"This season is going a little quicker than I expected," said Cifuentes who was second in a PHS sweep of the 200 free and fourth in the 100 fly. "I’m so happy. Our team is really good. We’re 12-1 and that’s the same as we were last year. Losing someone like Nina (Rossi), I thought it was going to be tougher. I’m hoping for counties that we can place better than last year. I’m hoping we all make it to the finals. That will better our chances.
"Sometimes we have close meets, and those teams might surprise us and come in before us in counties," she added. "That’s upsetting. This year, we have a chance to gain a lot. We have freshmen that will better our chances. We lost a few good swimmers but everyone has been working hard. I’m anxious to see what’s going to come out of it."
Cifuentes will be fulfilling her role as a team captain by keeping the Little Tigers ready and focused for every race. She’s been doing it all season, and it’s one reason that PHS has managed to remain so solid, with its only dual meet loss coming at the hands of unbeaten West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
"Gaby is maybe our most gregarious captain," Hand said. "She’s always talking to people. She’s funny, not in sense of cracking jokes, but she finds humor in things and helps others do the same. Regardless of how things are going for her on particular day, she has upbeat way of approaching things, academically or with swimming. In that sense, she keeps things loose and comfortable. She’s very easy to get along with. That’s a real positive for younger kids on the team."
Added Cifuentes of her new role: "At first, it’s a little intimidating. You can be nervous, but can’t show it anymore. You have to be on everyone’s case in a good way. It makes you question yourself more, am I doing the right thing? Am I working hard enough? It’s kind of made me practice harder and set a good example for the rest of the team."
The girls’ team hopes to use the county meet as a springboard into the state tournament. The Little Tigers finished the regular season strong against Lawrence, and want to use that as they prepare for the upcoming weeks.
"I thought our meet against Lawrence was a really good one," Hand said. "It was a total team effort. The kids seemed to understand that we need to not just compete against Lawrence, but build a really good power point meet. We hadn’t had really good opportunities before to put a meet like this together. One of the objectives was to see what we could do in the last meet to improve our chances for a high seed in states. Beyond that, there was some really good racing throughout the season. We did our best against South and came up pretty short against South. That was pretty early on.
"I think we built off that meet. This is a team without very much ego. We know that in the Central B, there are at least three teams out there that may power point higher than we do. At this point, we’re just trying to be ready for that."
The counties is the next step in preparing for the states. For Cifuentes, it’s a final chance to swim against the best in the Colonial Valley Conference plus what the county prep schools have to offer. Cifuentes feels like her previous MCC experience will be a help today and Saturday.
"My freshman year, I was so nervous," she recalled. "I made it to the finals for relay only. I was the only freshman on it., and Nina was in the relay. I didn’t want to be the one to mess it up. As years go on, you get more and more comfortable with it. I like to go into my races having a positive attitude. Now that it’s my last year, I know I have to give it all I have because it’s all I have left."
Beyond this season, Cifuentes can’t imagine giving up swimming. Regardless of where she goes to college, she’ll find a pool.
"It’s been such a big part of my life," she said. "Even if I went to a big D-I school and couldn’t make the team, I’d probably swim by myself."
She is taking the opportunity now to swim for a few final times with her PHS teammates. The MCC is the start of what she hopes will be a big run for the Little Tigers. The county meet can be a big benefit in preparing for tougher state teams.
"Counties," Hand said, "is a chance to deal with challenging environmental factors noise, crowds, various kinds of distractions. Maybe in particular, kids have to concern themselves with their own swims and not worry about what’s happening on the psyche sheets or in adjacent lanes. Dealing with all those issues in this meet tends to toughen kids up for any meets that come after."
Gaby Cifuentes is looking forward to her final Mercer County Championship. It’s another chance to be a team leader for a Little Tigers squad that is looking for a strong showing.
"This year, I’ve been a little more excited than in past years," she said. "It’s because of feeling that we can actually get higher places. Or maybe because it’s my last time going to it, so I want it to be the best."

