Old Bridge High School’s boys and girls swimteams have both started the winter season by winning three of their first five meets.
Both the girls and boys have downed Sayreville and Union. Coach Bob Weiss’girls picked up their third win against Mother Seton, while the boys earned their third over North Brunswick.
“We have a lot of senior leadership and experience and plenty of strong swimmers on both teams,” Weiss said. “We have several who should contend for medals at the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Relays.”
On the girls side those contenders include sophomore Courtney Foley and junior Ashley Corley. Foley holds many of the Lady Knights’ team records, and earlier this season she broke her own marks in the 200 freestyle (2:00.07) and 100 freestyle (56.02). Corley, meanwhile, excels at the backstroke.
Corley, Foley and fellow seniors Kelly O’Neill and Jackie Olwell make up Old Bridge’s 200-meter relay team. O’Neill and Olwell also compete in other freestyle competitions as well as the backstroke and individual medley.
Freestylers Christina Green and Tierney Griffin are strong as well, as is versatile JamieLyn Little, who competes in the back and breaststrokes, the IM (individual medley) and freestyle events.
Other members of the team include seniors Julie Cherofski, Melissa Cohen, Safa Kahany, Michelle Kellerman, Cassie Martin and Paige Weiss, along with junior Rachel Pagan. “I really think the girls will make their mark in the GMCs,” Weiss said. “We’re fortunate to have so many versatile and talented swimmers.
The boys roster is equally deep and contains a lot of talent, the coach noted. Senior Alex Bildey returns for his fourth season to compete in the freestyle and breaststroke, where he holds the team record of 1:01.64 for 200 meters.
Bildey will combine with Nicolai Robinson and a pair of sophomores, Drew Orzechowski and Jonathan Korabelnikov, to give the Knights a formidable sprint relay team. Both Orzechowski and Korabelnikov will also compete in the backstroke and IM.
Weiss is expecting three juniors to consistently put points on the board for his team. They include Ahmed Soliman and Max Teslya in the butterfly and Damien Nobbee in sprint events. Nobbee will likely see some time on the sprint relay team as well.
Other key swimmers for the boys include versatile Alex Ellis-Foster and Geoffrey Goldin, who will compete in a variety of races; Connor Risi, who specializes in longer freestyle events; and Jonathan Lee, in the breaststroke. In addition, Weiss said freshman Russell Azzarello has been recording good times in both the backstroke and IM.
Old Bridge has three meets remaining before the GMC championships on Jan. 26. This afternoon Colts Neck will visit the Old Bridge YMCA to take on the Knights. On Jan. 11 Weiss’ team will be at East Brunswick. The following week the Knights will be in South Brunswick.