Sartor part of sweep to lift South swimming
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
EWING — Rachel Sartor erased all the pressure she felt in less than one minute and five seconds.
That’s all it took the West Windsor-Plainsboro South senior to complete a sweep of the 100 backstroke for the Pirate girls in a 95-75 win over Egg Harbor Township in the public A Division state semifinals Tuesday.
”We’ve had a couple sweeps, not this year, but just in my entire career,” said Sartor, whose season-best 1:04.86 trailed only teammates Brynja Winnan and Cori Michibata. “It was definitely a lot of pressure. Cori and Brynja are amazing. They’re both underclassmen, so they’ll be back next year.
”It felt really good,” she added. “I saw the girl next to me and I said she’s not going to out-touch me this time. I’ve been out-touched before and it’s really frustrating. I hit the wall and heard people cheering and thought, I finally did it. It was really exciting. It was definitely a turning point in the meet.”
The Pirates went 1-2-4 with Jocelyn Yuen, Amanda Grant and Kim Chiu in the ensuing 100 breaststroke to seal their return to the state finals. They will swim against Westfield 10:30 a.m. Saturday at The College of New Jersey.
”Hopefully the third time is a charm, but they’re an amazing team,” Sartor said. “It’ll be close. It’ll come down to who gets fifth and who gets sixth. That’s what I really think it’ll come down to. Luckily we have a lot of depth this year, but so do they. It’s going to be a great show.”
Rebecca Lewinson won the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly and Meredith Ketchmark won the 200 and 500 free. The Pirates opened with a win in the medley relay Tuesday.
”We have amazing underclassmen,” Sartor said. “That’s what carries our team. The six seniors, we have other interests. We pull it all together in swimming because we love it. It’s the team that pulls us together. That’s why we come back every year, and that’s what pulls us through meets — our team unity and our spirit.”
Sartor is hoping that the team spirit will be enough to change the Pirates’ fortunes against Westfield, which won the last two state finals meetings. Th backstroke will be one of the keys. The Pirates’ strength lies in their strokes.
”That’s our thing,” said Pirates coach Paul Hamnett, whose team has not lost since the opening meet of the season against Bridgewater-Raritan. “That was what was so impressive about getting past Cherry Hill. They have equally as good breaststrokers and for us to do a really good job in other aspects of our meet was great. It’s been that way all season. It’ll be another tough on Saturday.
”Hopefully it’ll be one of those meets that will come down to the last relay. I think we have an advantage if we’re dead even going into the backstroke.”
If anything, Sartor and the backstrokers should be used to a little pressure. They stepped to the blocks Tuesday just after Egg Harbor won the 200 freestyle relay, and all of a sudden the Pirates lead was down to eight points and they looked somewhat vulnerable. With Winnan and Michibata well in front, Sartor closed on the lane next to her over the final half of the race to ensure it was a clean sweep.
”I just see splashing right next to me,” she said. “I just kept kicking. Our coach always says on the third lap, that’s where you mentally win or lose them. I just kicked it in and took a deep breath and kept swimming until I felt the wall.”
The win helped the Pirates pull away for the win, but it wasn’t an easy victory. There haven’t been any on the way to the state final.
”It’s easily the hardest road we’ve ever had to take to get to a state final in my tenure,” Hamnett said. “Beating both Cherry Hills and then a good Egg Harbor team was very strenuous on the girls, but I think that makes it a lot more gratifying. I think Saturday is going to be a lot of fun. I think our girls are ready and they’re feeling confident.
”I feel better than I have in the past,” he added of the finals. “Our team is swimming well and I’m very confident in them and they’re very confident in themselves. I think it’s helped to swim so many good teams. I think they’ve seen their times drop and now it’s just one more time and they have to drop them again.”
Sartor is ready. It will be her final meet before she begins gearing up to row for the University of Minnesota. Leaving WW-P South with a state title would be the perfect ending.
”My whole heart’s going to be in the pool Saturday,” she said. “That’s going to be it.”

