By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Gabriel Bar-Cohen knew it wouldn’t be long before his brother Gefen and sister Luna joined him in the pool with the Community Park Bluefish swim team.
”I think Gefen saw how much fun I was having with it,” said Gabriel, who is 15. “He was 5 or 6 when he signed up. We knew Luna would follow. I love swimming with them. We support and push each other with meets. The real fun comes when we’re home and everyone pulls out their old ribbons and compares age group times.”
The Bar-Cohen siblings enjoy looking at each other’s times. It gives Gefen, who is 11, and Luna, who is 7, something to motivate them.
”I always go back in his old ribbons and compare my times from the same meets,” Gefen said. “If I’m not as fast as he was, it’ll compel me to go faster. And Luna does the same with my ribbons and sometimes she even looks at Gabriel’s.”
Regardless of whose times are fastest, all three have plenty of talents of which to be proud, and they are proud of each other’s accomplishments in the pool.
”I’m really proud because my brothers are good athletes and good at swimming,” said Luna. “I’m very proud of my brother Gabriel, he was in the Junior Jewish Olympics. He’s fast at swimming and he broke lots of records.”
Gabriel now has bragging rights after swimming a leg for the winning 200 medley relay at the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association Championships. Bar-Cohen, Will Stange, Stephen Kratzer and Ian Nelson also established a new PASDA record with their winning time of 1:55.61. Their swim helped to highlight the title meet in which Community Park placed third overall. Flemington was first, Lawrenceville took second, CP was third with 2,075.50 points and the West Windsor Whalers took fourth with 1,582 points.
”I thought it was a great meet,” Gabriel said. “We gave it our all. Our boys medley relay, we broke our record. It’s my good friend, Will Stange’s last year, and we wanted to go out with a bang.”
Gabriel is a top breaststroker for the Bluefish. He also swims year-round for the Princeton Piranhas and will be a sophomore on the Princeton High School boys swim team. At the PASDA Championships, he was second by a touch in the 50 breast and fifth in the 50 butterfly.
”The breaststroke was really close,” Gabriel said. “Jamie (Finnegan) got me at the wall. It’s a 50 so anything can happen. I went all out. I was pleased.
”In the fly, we had four or five swimmers in the final heat. I think Will took that and me and Stephen were fifth and sixth, and Tommy Galvin was eighth so we racked up a lot of points, which was the goal.”
Gefen and Luna helped bring CP points as well. Gefen was third in the 12-and-under boys 50 breast and eighth in the 50 free and. He also swam on fifth place 200 free relay.
”I like breaststroke,” Gefen said. “I kind of follow after Gabriel. My times now don’t compare to his times at my age. I can swim any stroke.”
Luna was seventh in the girls 8-and-under 25 backstroke. She placed 16th in girls 8-and-under 25 free. She still has another year in the girls 8-and-under division that claimed Community Park’s Ella Jones as Most Valuable Swimmer. Luna is hoping to build on her strong showing this year.
”I felt really good, especially in backstroke because I was really fast,” Luna said. “Also, I went really fast in my freestyle relay.”
The PASDA Championships were the conclusion to a successful summer of competitive swimming for the two youngest Bar-Cohen children. They have plenty of activities to keep them busy until next summer.
While Gabriel plays the drums, both Gefen and Luna play piano. Gefen sings and recently earned a big solo. He also plays basketball as does Luna.
”I don’t have a lot of free time,” Gefen said, explaining, “Basketball and swimming are my main sports. I haven’t gotten to the age where I can decide between those two sports. I swim for (John Witherspoon) and I also play for the Princeton basketball team. In the summer, I didn’t play this year, but I play in summer league at CP and also swim at CP.”
Gefen enjoys the chances that he has to swim. PASDA is perfect for him, and the championship meet gave him the chance to gauge his improvements.
”I was happy with the results,” Gefen said. “I think our team did really well. In some events, I just came back from a sleepaway basketball camp so I wasn’t really in shape for swimming, and I was disappointed with some of my events. Luna did really well. She came in seventh. My breaststroke I did pretty well on. I was pretty happy.”
Gefen sees plenty of development over most summers. The more he trains with the Bluefish, the better he gets, and he looks forward to the championship meet to finish the season.
”I always come back on the Bluefish a little rusty and out of shape,” Gefen said. “I see all the club swimmers are swimming fast, and it’s kind of hard catching up with them. At the end of the summer, I’m in really good shape and swimming my best times.
”I love the experience,” he added. “I’m always nervous before PASDAs. It helps me overcome my fear. I love the competition and trying to do my best and coming back and trying to be stronger every year.”
Gabriel could see either or both of his siblings following his lead with year-round swimming eventually.
”Gefen plays basketball,” Gabriel said. “He’s great at swimming and does it on the side. He swims for the middle school team. He’s going into seventh.
”Luna, we’ll wait a bit before she starts club. She’ll be great at it. She’s built for it. She’s tall and long. She shows great talent in the water.”
Gefen and Luna were in a movie that has been recently released. Gefen was an extra and Luna had a speaking part in “Snowpiercer,” which was filmed while they were living in Prague, Czech Republic.
”I can’t see it yet because it’s really scary and it’s rated R,” Luna said. “My dad bought it, but I just watched my part.
”I was in the movie when I was 4 or 5,” she recalled. “It was really exciting. I was in Pre-K and I got to miss school for a couple days.”
Luna is looking forward to another chance to be in a movie. She knows better what to expect.
”I came to audition and I thought it was like a play,” Luna said. “I really want to be in another movie with a part. You get your own trailer and get to eat there. They take you to a special room to do your hair.”
Until her next role, Luna is enjoying her other hobbies. She is an avid reader, is looking forward to playing basketball again this winter and can’t wait to swim again. She took up swimming at a young age to follow in the path of her brothers, and Gabriel and Gefen foresee a bright future if she sticks with it.
”I like swimming because you get to be in the water,” Luna said. “I love being in the water. If I’m hot, I can jump in and be refreshed. And it’s fun to race and get out after you did well. I also like the coaches.”
CP enjoyed a successful summer of swimming under head coach Andy Sichet. The Bluefish finished 4-1 before taking third in the PASDA finals.
”We had a couple very close meets,” Gabriel said. “We had one against the Whalers that came down the final relays. That was exciting. We had one loss over at LSA. That was a meet where we didn’t have a lot of swimmers at that meet because it was our only away meet.”
Gabriel doesn’t like to miss an opportunity to compete in the pool. And every summer, he has returned to PASDA despite a schedule packed year-round between the Piranhas and PHS.
”Bluefish was my start,” he said. “I started when I was 6. That’s what led me into club. I wanted to do year-round. Nowadays, PASDA is a great way to hang out and have fun and get up to race. It brings the fun to racing. Sometimes you’re training so hard for club, and then you get to step back and get on the blocks for Bluefish and enjoy those races.”
Gabriel has seen his swimming progress as he has gotten more serious about it. He is seeing improvement each year in his top events.
”It started off with freestyle, IMs, and a little fly,” Gabriel said. “Probably when I was 13 or 14, breaststroke became my stroke. Now the 200 breaststroke is really the event I focus on with club. The 100 breaststroke in high school and the 50 is all we have in PASDA. It’s a lot of fun.”
It has met or exceeded the expectations of his siblings too. They are enjoying their chance to compete.
”I joined Bluefish right when I had the opportunity,” Gefen said. “Gabriel joined when he was 5 or 6. I saw how much fun he was having. I think I’ll keep doing it as long as I can until I go off to college.”
The Bar-Cohen children have plenty of talents to occupy their time, and swimming remains right at the top for all three of them.
