Wilson, medley relay team gain gold
by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
It didn’t take long for the Hillsborough High boys to make school swimming history in Sunday’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions at Gloucester Institute of Technology.
The fabulous foursome of sophomore Matt VanBiervliet (25.81 backstroke), sophomore Sean Johnson (25.99 breaststroke), senior David Wilson (22.24 butterfly) and senior Rob Parker (20.62 freestyle) combined to win the opening 200 medley relay in a time of 1:34.66. The Raiders blew away the rest of the field by nearly two seconds and broke their own school record to achieve All-America status for the second time in two days. They also became the first male athletes in HHS history outside of track and field to win a Meet of Champions title.
“It’s huge,” Parker said. “I’d much rather have this than a county or conference title. This makes everything else insignificant. This is better than winning a sectional title. This is bigger because we’ve got all the schools here.”
Wilson got back in the pool 30 minutes later and added to his historic day with an exciting gold medal triumph in the 50 freestyle. Wilson broke his own school standard with a winning time of 21.05. It was a close race with three other swimmers within one-half second.
“I can’t believe it,” Wilson said. “I’ve been looking forward to this all season and it happened. I knew my parents and teammates were up there cheering for me. That was enough motivation to pull me through.”
The HHS boys enjoyed their most productive day ever at the Meet of Champs and one of the finest overall performances of any sports team in Raider history in a state competition. Parker, with only eight minutes of rest, raced to his best time with another school record (1:41.95) to finish fourth in the 200 free. Johnson later set a new personal and school record with a third-place swim in the 100 breast (58.31).
Two more Raider relay teams placed in the top four. HHS was bidding to win all three relays but came up a bit short despite outstanding efforts in all three races.
Wilson (21.52), VanBiervliet (22.31), senior Brian Giacopelli (22.46) and Parker (20.91) teamed for a second place finish in the 200 free relay (1:27.20). The same quartet competed in a different order with Parker providing another strong anchor to bring the team home in fourth place (3:13.29).
“A lot of the them gave up their second individual event,” HHS head coach Todd Sudol said. “They gave up their chance to be in the top four in another event to be a part of the relays and something special. That’s what this team and this program are all about.”
For a more detailed story and photos, see Thursday’s Hillsborough Beacon.