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WEST WINDSOR: Girls Swimmer of the Year

Lewinson came back for big year

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   There are comebacks in the pool like tracking down an anchor swimmer over the final 25 meters.
   Then there are comebacks like that of Rebecca Lewinson this season.
   The West Windsor-Plainsboro South junior spent three days in the hospital with mononucleosis before the season began.
   ”They didn’t want me swimming until January this year,” Lewinson said. “I was on bed rest for so long. Then I started going to school again.”
   She wasn’t in school for over two weeks and missed six weeks of swimming.
   ”I think the longest I’ve ever taken off is three,” Lewinson said. “It was a big deal. Usually if I take three weeks off from the season, I’m usually still running or active. This completely limited me. I wasn’t able to do anything.”
   Said Pirates head coach Paul Hamnett: “We talked briefly about her taking some time off and maybe waiting until Christmas time to come back. Of course, she didn’t do that.”
   Lewinson came back better than ever. She was named the Most Valuable Swimmer at the Pirate Invitational after winning the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke and sharing part in the school and meet record 200 medley relay and winning 400 free relay. She was part of the record medley relay and won the IM and breast to help lead the Pirate girls to their ninth straight Mercer County Championship.
   It got better in the state tournament. She helped WW-P South win the sectional final, then went on to win the IM and a new event — the 100 butterfly in the then-fastest time in the state — as the Pirates defeated Westfield for the A Division state championship. She capped her season by winning her third straight 100 breast title at the Meet of Champions in 1:04.51, her all-time personal best.
   Rebecca Lewinson is the Princeton Packet Girls Swimmer of the Year.
   ”To do what she was able to do in the state tournament and individually, it was incredible,” Hamnett said. “It was sheer determination and sheer will that she was able to accomplish what she did.
   ”She went a little faster in her breaststroke. That was a big accomplishment. People don’t realize the toll it was taking on her body. She’ll never admit it, but it definitely affected her more than she’ll ever realize.”
   Hamnett watched as Lewinson came all the way back to help WW-P South to a landmark state win. Her return started earlier than expected.
   ”She obviously put a lot of strain on her body, she wasn’t fully recovered,” Hamnett said. “It’s the kind of person that Rebecca is.”
   Lewinson continued to push, initially to get back to where she wanted to be, and then to help the Pirates go where they hadn’t been. None of it was easy.
   ”You could tell by her overall demeanor,” Hamnett said. “She wasn’t really happy with the way she was swimming. Her times were fine. It wasn’t like she couldn’t race. She couldn’t put everything in training that she wanted.
   ”Come mid-January, she was able to train a little bit better and focus more on getting back to the times she was doing last year. That was my goal for her this year was to get back to the spots she was last year. It’s a lot tougher than she gives herself credit for.”
   Lewinson missed some of the Pirates morning practices at Hamnett’s request in the early going, but otherwise tried to jump back into her routine as much as possible.
   ”My first day back I felt surprisingly good,” Lewinson said. “Then it went downhill. I realized how hard I’d have to work to get back to where I used to be.
   ”I thought I should be so much better, not just matching my best times. But my muscles like deteriorated. I lost them all.”
   It raised some self-doubt in how the season would go for the state breaststroke champion.
   ”That was my biggest worry,” Lewinson said. “That I’d never be able to get back to all I’d worked for.”
   Instead, she ended up with more than she’d ever had with a state team title to go with an individual crown. The Pirates state run meant she, and many of her teammates that also do club swimming, had to swim faster more often than any other high school season.
   ”This year, I asked them to rest a lot,” Hamnett said. “It can take a toll on their long-term training. She knew she needed to perform well on the relays and the fly and breast. She sacrificed a lot. That’s why I was amazed that she could pull it out at states.”
   Said Lewinson: “It really was exceptional that we were able to accomplish that given everyone’s circumstances. It’s quite an accomplishment.”
   It doesn’t stop this season. She still has one more year, and everybody’s first priority is to keep her healthy.
   ”I think for Rebecca, the real goal is to get in the 1:03s,” Hamnett said. “And she’d like to leave West Windsor with going to the state finals four times and leave a legacy — not only her, but her class. That junior class is amazing. She enjoys being a part of that success. For Rebecca, she probably wants to break every record. She’s never satisfied, which is what makes her so great.”
   Rebecca Lewinson may not be satisfied ever, but she leaves this year knowing just hard she can push herself physically and how her body will respond. It all came together by the end as she celebrated her most successful year of high school swimming despite a slow start.
   ”I put everything I had to train for that race and the team championships,” she said. “Once we had the team championships, I thought I’d worked so hard, I might as well give it everything I had. I’m really proud of that.
   ”I feel like I accomplished more based on the situation I was in,” she added. “I’m very happy with the season, for the team and individually.”