Jackson Memorial High School senior Marisa Soprano and sophomore Jamie Suzuki put forth solid performances last Friday night at the Ocean County Girls Swimming Championships held at Ocean County YMCA.
Soprano garnered a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:14.69. Suzuki, meanwhile, was eighth in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:54.10 as Jackson compiled a total of 94 points to finish in ninth place overall.
“Both girls have had very good seasons for us,” first-year Jackson coach Brianna McKiernan said. “Marissa has won the breaststroke event seven times so far this season.As a senior, she is doing a great job of setting an example for the underclassmen. I think we are going to continue to improve as a squad.”
Monsignor Donovan won the event with a total of 316.5 points to edge out runner-up Point Beach (295). Toms River South was third (262), followed by Toms River North (254).
In addition, Jackson had a pair of relay teams that placed in the top eight. The Lady Jaguars’ 200 freestyle relay team placed eighth with a time of 1:56.20,while the 400 free relay team was seventh in 4:17.23.
Soprano has had an outstanding season.
She has qualified for the Shore Conference championship meet in three events. Soprano will compete in the 50 free, 100 free and the 100 breaststroke.
Suzuki has qualified for the conference meet in the 100, 200 and 500 free events, as well as the 200 individual medley. Freshman Lizzie Rozek has qualified in the 200 free.
“I have seen great improvement in our team as the season has progressed,”McKiernan said. “At this point, we are looking for further improvement to get more swimmers eligible for the Shore Conference meet. If we continue to work hard, I’m sure we’ll have others who will get the opportunity to compete in that event.”
In a recent 96-74 loss to Toms River South, which dropped Jackson’s overall record to 5-3, Jackson had three individual winners.
Soprano won the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:15.23, while Suzuki took first in the 200 IM with a time of 2:34.98.
In fact, the Lady Jaguars swept the 1- 2-3 positions in the 100-yard butterfly. Rozek won the event with a time of 1:16.36. Susie Amberg was second in 1:19.57, while teammate Kate Van Clef finished third (1:20.75).
“That was a definite highlight of the meet,”McKiernan said. “To sweep that event is a positive sign the kids can build on.”