SWIMMING
By Tim Falls, Sports Editor
The Lawrence High School swim team deserved a relaxing holiday break after racing Princeton on Thursday.
The two schools saw their swimmers post some of the fastest times so far this season.
The Cardinal boys defeated the Little Tigers, 94-76, while the Princeton girl were victorious, 108-62.
”It was an extremely fast meet, both in the boys and girls races,” said Lawrence coach Mike Underwood. “I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Princeton. They’re well-coached, disciplined and fast.”
As tense as the meet was for Underwood, the first-year coach said he was relieved to see his team swim so well.
”You can take a deep breath,” said Underwood. “After a meet like that you know all the training so far has taken us to a place we like to be. We can draw on that and we know we can get better.”
Going into the meet, Underwood said he was hoping for a breakthrough meet where swimmers dropped time every event in every lane. Those were the types of swims the Cardinals gave their coach on Thursday.
”They got out of the water huffing and puffing,” said Underwood, “but they were like, ‘alright I’m ready for the next race,’ and that was very encouraging.”
Ryan Shields led Lawrence with a first-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle in 22.15 seconds and a first-place finish in the 100 free in 50.07 seconds.
Shields joined Pat Thiel, Sean McNally and Jordan McGrew in winning the 20 free relay and raced with Rob Mills, Brendan O’Brein and McGrew on Lawrence’s winning 400 free relay.
McGrew won the 200 free in 1:51.73 and the 500 free in 5:13.20.
O’Brein won the 100 butterfly in 59.05 and claimed second in the 100 backstroke.
”Brendan’s race came down to the last 25 meters,” said Underwood. “The kid from Princeton touched him out, but up and down we had some really great swims like that.”
Thiel placed second in the 100 breaststroke and took third in the 200 individual medley, while Mills raced for third-place in the 200 and 500 freestyle events.
”Rob Mills had best times in his 200 and 500,” said Underwood. “In the 500, he dropped seven seconds. I could go down the entire line-up with examples like that.”
Andrew Schofield placed third behind O’Brien in the 100 fly, McNally took third in the 100 free and John Cohl finished third for Lawrence in the 100 breast.
The Lawrence girls dropped to 2-2 with the loss but had strong swims in their lanes as well.
Caroline Kelly sprinted to second place in the 50 and 100 freestyles, while Katie Hector placed second in the 200 IM and the 100 breast.
Lindsay Stern finished second in the 500 free.
”Lindsay had a fantastic 500,” said Underwood. “She was battling back and forth for second or third. In the end she touched it out to get second.”
Stern also finished third in the 100 back
Andrea Tunnard took third in the 100 fly and Rebecca Vinch finished third in the 200 free.
Princeton swimmers stayed ahead to win, but Underwood said Lawrence’s girls continued to give their all.
”Seeing my girls not give up,” said Underwood, “not let down at all, was really encouraging.”
Underwood was also encouraged by the personal best times his swimmers swam. The coach said he highlights personal bests after each meet and there was a lot of bright colors on his meet sheet.
”It looked like a tie-dyed piece of paper,” said Underwood. “It had a ton of highlights. They’ve practiced so hard to get to where they are.”
Lawrence will swim tomorrow (Friday) in the Hornet Relays. The Cardinal boys are the longstanding champions, though this season they will be challenged by WW-P North, who handed Lawrence it’s first loss in the Colonial Valley Conference opening meet on Dec. 4. The Knights are a new addition to the meet, replacing Notre Dame.
”North is the newcomer to this swim meet,” said Underwood, “I think they’d like nothing better than to walk out as champions.”

