By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
When it comes to high school swimming, sometimes the competitors must make choices.
Most of the great ones also swim in clubs. And those clubs insist on being the first priority, beyond what goes on in high school.
Thus, some of South Brunswick High’s best swimmers were not actually at their best at last weekend’s NJSIAA Meet of Champions at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology pool.
Ten Vikings made the trip, and Gessica Charniga was the lone swimmer to qualify for second-round action on Sunday. The sophomore was the highlight of the meet for South Brunswick with a 13th-place finish in the 100-meter breaststroke.
”They were all happy to go the Meet of Champions,” coach John Harding said. “But a lot of them were preparing for various other big events and were trying to build toward that. They weren’t ready to swim the kind of times necessary in that kind of meet, they weren’t shaved down and they weren’t tapered.
”Basically, they didn’t do the kind of stuff you usually do to prepare for a big meet. The club swimmers had to make choices, so a lot them who swam great swims to get into the meet, didn’t prepare the same way for this meet.”
Charniga was actually part of that crew, as she has a big club meet approaching. But she managed to finish 15th in Saturday’s qualifying round, which advanced her to Sunday’s finals. There, she swam a 1:08.05 to finish two spots ahead of her Saturday finish.
”It wasn’t her personal best,” Harding said. “That was 1:07.23. But it was a great time for her considering she didn’t prepare super hard for this meet.
”Gess did really well, all things considering. Last year she was 14th in the event (in 1:09.20), so she moved up a spot this year.”
As for the remainder of the Vikings who made the trip, many of them were underclassmen who have a chance to return.
”It was a good atmosphere to be down there and be a part of,” Harding said. “Everyone else did their best, I’m proud of them for making it there and what they did there.
”Most of them were way off their best times. But a lot of them swam a lot of times that would have been pretty good in dual meets. I’m sure they didn’t do as well as they wanted, but considering their preparation and all the things they had going on, it was a good effort.”

