By: centraljersey.com
Megan Lydzinksi’s early season times may have looked beatable, but in reality she was pacing herself.
The Montgomery High School girls swim standout was saving herself for the biggest meets, and that’s when the junior delivered some encouraging performances.
"During the rest of the season so far, I’ve been in the midst of tough practices," said Lydzinski, who also swims for the X-Cel club team. "Last week at the conferences, I definitely felt I had to really try. It was a bigger meet.
"The meets we were in so far, I didn’t have the meets to put out all that I had until last Saturday."
There were murmurs about how slow Lydzinski’s 100 freestyle seed time was, but she made sure that everyone knew she’s still tough to beat. Lydzinski pulled out season bests of 52.44 seconds to win the 100 free and 24.05 to take the 50 free at the Skyland Conference Championships hosted by Montgomery last Saturday.
"I was very happy Saturday," Lydzinski said. "That was my best time so far in the season. I was really happy with that.
"I tried my best. That was definitely my limit Saturday. I did my best and I knew everyone else would too."
No team score was kept, but the Cougar girls won four individual events. Lydzinski came back to win the same two sprint events in dual meet losses to Mount St. Mary last Tuesday and Bridgewater-Raritan on Thursday.
"Mount St. Mary and Bridgewater are definitely two of the fastest teams we go up against, if not the fastest," Lydzinski said. "We saw the same girls Saturday too. I got to see them all three times in one week."
It was better for Lydzinski than it was for her opponents. She captured the sprints for the third straight year at conferences, and with her sweeps in her events in the most recent dual meets she remains unbeaten in more than two and a half years.
Megan Lydzinski is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
"She’s very competitive," said MHS head coach Claire Scarpa. "Because of her training, she swam what she needed to swim to win in all of her races. It’s because she’s training. She didn’t push herself so she wouldn’t interrupt her training."
Lydzinski has a new coach at X-Cel Swimming in Brian Brown, and he has targeted a new outlook for her future that includes earning an Olympic Trials cut.
"Brian and I have set a few goals, mostly for this upcoming long course season," Lydzinski said. "He likes to set goals out really far ahead of time, not just toward this season but the next season. Most of the goals I set are long-terms goals.
"He definitely has a different approach than we’re used to," she added. "He’s a fantastic coach. I have complete faith in him and what he’s doing. It’s a little bit of a challenge to adjust to his technique and stuff. I’m getting used to it."
Lydzinski may have big long-term goals, but for the present she’s enjoying her third year with the Cougar girls program. The swims she’s been giving MHS have been benefitting her training as well.
"After high school meets, I’ll go back to Brian and tell him what I did," Lydzinski said. "He’ll say, I can’t get you to go 54 at practice. It’s like a great practice for me. It’s almost like a high intensity practice. It’s great practice for when I go to club meets."
Lydzinski was pushed at conferences and Thursday in her dual meet specifically by Bridgewater’s Mara Valenzuela.
"If anyone was going to push her, it was going to be Mara," Scarpa said. "I knew she had gone 53 in the 100. In a regular dual meet, that’s a pretty fast time. Not that I was too worried, but I knew the competition would be good at Saturday’s meet."
Said Lydzinski of her pre-meet confidence: "I’m a little more confident in the 100 just because in the middle of the season, I usually feel better in longer races. Usually at the end of the season, my shorter ones feel a little better."
Lydzinski shouldn’t feel as much pressure this year to win her events for the Cougars after they added a couple more high-level swimmers. The A lane swimmers have been doing their job to produce as many wins as possible.
"Every year, we’ve had really fast people," Lydzinski said. "The freshmen this year are amazing. It’s really great to have them both in the relays that I swim in, and there’s a freshman named Miranda (Ford) who’s really good in the 500. She wins the 500 and the 200 almost every meet. We haven’t had a good 500 and 200 that would win all the time like that. That’s really exciting."
Lydzinski continues to be a steady producer in the sprints and the relays. She usually anchors the 200 medley and the 400 free relay to bookend her meets.
"Having that many other top-level swimmers has to help her feel less pressure," Scarpa said. "We’re not just depending on her."
The only worry that Lydzinski gives Scarpa is when she isn’t standing in the start area well before her events. Lydzinski simply wants to conserve her energy for the race.
"My own events, I don’t like to stand up there, not for too long," Lydzinski said. "I’d rather sit down. Unless there’s a chair up there, I like to sit down until my race. I hope she doesn’t worry. I’ve been going up earlier more recently to put her mind at ease."
After three years, Scarpa has gotten accustomed to seeing Lydzinksi’s routine and the pleasing results.
"She just walks casually up to the block, putting her cap on as she goes," Scarpa said. "And the gun goes off, and she’s off and going. I know that’s how she gets ready."
It’s worked for every individual race of her high school career, and each win has helped add at to her legacy. In the short term, she’s hoping to help the Cougars make some history. Their next win will be the 100th win in program history, then at season’s end she will take aim at her personal goals.
"I think at Meet of Champions, probably my goal is to do my best in my events and in the relays that we do," Lydzinski said. "I want to do my best in those and try to reach my times from last year."
After holding back at the start of the season, Lydzinski reaffirmed with her swims last week that she is back on track to defend her state sprint crowns by season’s end.
