SBHS swimmers have ups and downs against EB

By Sean Richards, Sports Writer
   It was kind of a mixed bag for the South Brunswick High School swimming team in its home meet against East Brunswick last week.
   The boys continued to perform on a very high level as they smashed East Brunswick, 105-65, to raise their record to 2-0. For the South Brunswick girls it was a whole different type of day, but there was a story behind the story in its 116-54 loss to the Bears.
   Namely, the Viking girls were at far from full strength for a variety of reasons.
   ”We had girls sick and injured,” said coach John Harding. “We were missing three of our top swimmers.
   ”East Brunswick also has a strong team. I’m not sure we could have beaten them even with our whole team there, but it would have been a lot closer and it interesting to find out.”
   There were no lingering questions with the boys as they continued to roll along behind a solid team effort. Once again, senior Mike Socienski was a headliner as he broke a school record for the second meet in a row.
   After setting a new school standard in the 100 free the week before, Socienski swam the 50 free in 22.9 to break the Vikings’ old mark.
   ”Mike is taking it to a whole different level,” said Harding. “And he didn’t start swimming until last year. I would have loved to have had him for all four years.”
   Socienski also won the 100 free in 52.2 to join Henry Ma as a double winner. The always-reliable Ma captured the 200 individual medley in 2:09.0 and the 100 breast in 1:05.7.
   Other winners included Tyler Wardlow (200 free) and Calvin Chiu (100 back).
   What also has Harding encouraged is the fact it’s not just the boys who are coming in first who are swimming well. James Kugel, for instance, posted personal bests in two races, including the 500 free event in which he finished second. Mike Ungano was also four seconds faster than even before in the 400 IM.
   ”We got a lot of good performances from a lot of different people,” said Harding. “That was the biggest margin of victory we’ve ever had against them. The boys are doing pretty much as expected.”
   A highlight for the girls in the loss to East Brunswick was the continued strong swimming of impressive freshman Gessica Charniga. She had the only South Brunswick victory on the day when she swam a 1:11.1 in the 100 breaststroke. South Brunswick was to have competed against Piscataway Wednesday and will be at North Brunswick today (Thursday). The team will then put in some extensive training time before returning to the pool against perennial powerhouse St. Joe’s of Metuchen on Jan. 2.