Over the years, few things in scholastic sports have become as predictable as the Monmouth County Swimming Championships.
That certainly did not change this year, as both the Christian Brothers Academy boys and Red Bank Catholic girls swim teams continued their dominance over their county counterparts, winning their 19th and ninth straight team titles respectively.
In what has become an annual event, both the Colts and the Caseys squashed any thoughts of an upset with their talent and depth in a number of events.
CBA outscored second-place Ocean Township, 420-291, to give first-year head coach Vito Chiaravaloti his first county title. The Colts won both freestyle relays and got first-place points from Alex Fitton and Harrison Cefalo. Fitton, a senior, won the 200 individual medley in a time of 1:57.70, beating the old meet record of 1:58.19, set in 2005. It marked Fitton’s second win in this event in three years. Cefalo, meanwhile, won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.09.
While the Colts also won the 200 freestyle relay (1:31.77) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:22.18), they were surprised in the 200 medley relay, when Ocean Township’s quartet beat them to the wall in 1:44.98, with the CBA swimmer right behind in 1:45.39. While the Spartans’ win did not come over CBA’s top 200 medley relay team, it was still significant as it marked the first time since 1993 that the Colts were beaten in a relay at this meet. And once again it was Ocean that topped the Colts at that time, winning the 200 freestyle relay.
On top of their first-place finishes, the Colts also got second-place finishes from Billy Dunne in the 100 butterfly (55.79) and Charles Pataffi in the 50 free (22.27), and a third-place finish from Nicholas Grippo in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.30). Marc Freda also swam well for CBA, finishing fourth in the 100 back (59.28), while Chris Hellman took fourth in the 500 free (5:04.41).
While CBA stole the show in the team competition, there were certainly a number of local swimmers who made waves individually.
Rumson-Fair Haven’s Connor Jaeger won the Swimmer of the Meet honors for his wins in the 100 free (in a meet record of 45.71, well ahead of the record of 47.34) and the 500 free (4:44.60, nearly 10 seconds ahead of the field), as well as his strong 21.42 lead leg in the 200 freestyle relay (which helped his team place second in the event). However, Middletown North senior Greg Daniele was also stellar, defending his titles in the 200 freestyle in 1:43.55 (beating his own record by .22) and the 100 butterfly in 51.60 (just .11 off his meet record).
Holmdel junior Charles Wu also captured gold, winning the 100 back in 55.17, while also taking third in the 200 IM (2:03.68). Wu’s efforts, along with those of senior Shane Hausmann (eighth in the 200 free in 1:56.15), sophomore Andrew Weber (fifth in the 50 free, 23.63, and third in the 100 free, 51.91) junior Brendan Tschaen (eighth in the 100 back, 1:01.51) and the 200 medley (third in 1:48.69) and 400 freestyle (third in 3:30.84) relay teams helped the Hornets finish fifth in the team scoring with 166.
Middletown North, meanwhile, was 12th in the team standings, with 71 points.
Now that they’ve given Chiaravaloti his first county title (as a coach anyway – he was a member of CBA’s only state championship team in 1998), the Colts can turn their attention to their upcoming date with rival St. Joseph of Metuchen, as well as the upcoming Shore Conference Championships at the Ocean County YMCA on Feb. 8. Needless to say, CBA will be the team to beat in that meet as well.
In Sunday’s girls’ meet, RBC was unquestionably the class of the field, sweeping the relays and getting an individual win from sophomore Sarah Finn (100 freestyle in 55.13).
Finn, who became the first RBC swimmer since Christina DiMaria in 2006 to win an individual event at this meet, also swam the third leg in the Caseys’ winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:44.46) and the anchor leg in the winning 200 medley relay team (1:53.69), and finished second to Marlboro senior Chelsea Unger in the 50 freestyle (24.98).
Unger won two events on the day, also touching the wall first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.81, breaking a 20-year old meet record by .30 seconds in the process (Shore Regional’s Paulette Russell set the previous mark in 1989). While Unger deservedly was named the Swimmer of the Meet, her teammate, sophomore Lisa Zhang, was equally deserving, winning the 100 butterfly in 58.80 and the 100 backstroke in 59.18.
Middletown South sophomore Megan Foran also captured gold, winning the 200 freestyle in 1:57.03, and just out-touching Ocean senior Danielle Caruso. Caruso turned the tables in the 500 free however, narrowly beating Foran in a time of 5:11.96. Foran, who won both events at this meet a year ago, saw her three-race MC championship winning streak ended by Caruso, however, her efforts led her team to a respectable seventh-place finish with 139 points. Also contributing for the Eagles were sophomore Alexa Sacerdote (seventh in the 200 free in 2:02.10 and fourth in the 100 free in 56.41) and freshman Shannon Slate (sixth in the 100 breast in 1:12.10). The Eagles also got seventh-place finishes out of their 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.