Hand, Deardorff proud of Little Tigers’ performance
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
A state title certainly would have helped Peter Deardorff feel better after being sick for several days leading into the public B Division championship, but getting there was special enough for the Princeton High School senior.
The Little Tigers finally ran into a stronger opponent as Scotch Plains-Fanwood captured its first state title, 90-80, Sunday at The College of New Jersey over a PHS team that had swam to 16 straight wins to start the year.
”It’s been awesome,” said Deardorff, the Little Tigers captain. “In my four years, this is my first time making it to the state finals. It was exciting. They have a chance next year too. I’ll come visit them for that too.
”The atmosphere was good. It was really competitive from both sides, a lot of people from our school showed up. It was exciting.”
With Deardorff the lone PHS senior competing in the postseason, next year looks promising for the Little Tigers.
”They’re not really losing too much this year,” said Deardoff, who will swim for Bowdoin College next year. “Our senior class is pretty small. Once our freshmen start growing and our junior class gets faster, I think they’ll be fine next year. There’s still a lot of depth.”
The Little Tigers needed every ounce of their talent and depth to compete with Scotch Plains. Things started promisingly for PHS when Jacques Bazile, Derek Colaizzo, Victor Honore and Matt Kuhlik captured the 200 medley relay in 1:37.69.
”From what we knew about them, we knew we’d face a fast medley relay,” said PHS head coach Greg Hand. “We started with a great performance, breaking our school record that we set just a couple weeks ago. In the course of the year, we dropped our relay time by five seconds and it’s one of the better times in the state. I’m very proud of them. We knew they’d be tough in the 2 IM and 500 free. They had plenty of strengths throughout the rest of the lineup.”
Scotch Plains overtook the Little Tigers with a 1-2 finish in the 200 free and sweep of the 200 individual medley. PHS responded with Colaizzo and Kuhlik going 1-3 in the 50 free, then following the break Honore and Colaizzo went 1-3 in the 100 butterfly and Kuhlik won the 100 free.
”Derek had one of the state’s top five times,” Hand said of the 21.46 finish by the junior sprinter. “Victor’s fly showed he’s finally over what was ailing him. He was well backed up. Matt in the 100 had a terrific time, 48.06 is a fabulous swim. A bunch of a kids going to individual states were able to lower their seed times today. I think that’s an indicator of how well it was going.”
Scotch Plains, though, went 1-2 in the 500 free and won the 200 free relay before PHS closed strong. Honore won the 100 back, Colburn Yu and Bazile went 2-3 in the 100 breast and Colaizzo, Honore, Kuhlik and Will Stange swam 3:18.37 to win the 400 free relay.
”Victor swimming the backstroke was really good,” Hand said. “He was pushed the whole way. He had to pick up his pace in the last 25 to stay ahead of the Scotch Plains swimmer. To go 2-3-4 in the breaststroke was a great way to finish our last individual event when our guys were tired. And to swim our fastest 400 of the year was a good job with a strong back-up for third place.
”The story of the meet was what a strong opponent Scotch Plains was,” he said. “I think we did a great job of going after them, not to assume anything and give them anything but to give them as much as we could and see what the outcome could be.”
Coming into the meet, the Little Tigers were well aware of the challenges that they faced.
”We knew it was going to be a really close meet,” Deardorff said. “I was confident in our depth. I knew it wasn’t going to be lopsided either way. It could have gone either way. I wasn’t too worried.”
Deardorff was concerned when Scotch Plains swept the 200 IM and took the top two spots in the 500, both events that the Little Tigers have been tough to beat in this year.
”We kept pushing,” Deardorff said, “and we gave it all we had.”
That attitude is important for the Little Tigers who will have a chance to return next year. Hand enjoyed watching his team develop into a state finalist.
”Although we didn’t face very tough competition early in the season, things kept ratcheting up in the season,” he said. “January was much more challenging than the December part. We went into counties seeing what we could do to take the title. That took a lot of focus and commitment. In states, the first couple rounds were easy, but the progression through Ocean and Haddonfield was great. And even though we didn’t win, being able to compete under increasingly difficult circumstance leaves a real positive feeling about who the team is in terms of character.
”For those kids that walked on the deck nervous today, I think it’s important to learn in retrospect that maybe the nerves were the least significant part. You’re competing in the most intense environment the sport can offer. If we make it next year, maybe we’ll be a little less nervous, a little more focused and hopefully a little faster.”
Deardorff leaves with no regrets. He came in with a small class and leaves as state runner-up.
”It’s been fun,” Deardorff said. “We have a really strong junior class that kind of made up for a lack of seniors and the freshman class has been pretty huge too.
”We did pretty well last year too. With our freshman class, we knew they were strong. We sort of expected to get at least to the semifinals this year. Getting to the finals was awesome. I’ve never been before, so that was cool. I couldn’t have really hoped for a better way to go out.”
The Little Tigers will have one more chance to stamp this the best team in school history. They’ve already made their mark with school records up and down the lineup.
”By objective measures, this is the best team that I’ve been fortunate to coach,” said Hand, who is in his 15th year at the helm. “Every team has its particular mix of people, of athletes. Every team has its general level of ability. There can be a thrill of coaching a team that has a 1,000 fewer power points than the current team. I love that team that lost to Mainland early in the decade because they were such incredible guys. And I thought they fought just as hard as the guys today.
”The memorable part is whether the kids themselves made it the kind of environment that you hope they will. I felt great about this team this season when it was done today.”