By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
NEPTUNE — The coaches and swimmers on the Princeton High School girls team expected a close meet in the Central Jersey B championship on Friday against Manasquan at the Neptune Aquatic Center.
”Going into this meet we had the mentality that it would be a very close, very exciting meet,” Princeton junior Brianna Romaine said. “I think the way we prepared was really amazing. Everyone was right on it today and really pumped up. The way the seniors got everyone excited to swim was really key.”
Whatever the seniors did certainly seemed to work. Princeton came out and swam a sizzling 1:48.89 to win the opening medley relay and never looked back on its way to 103-67 win that earned the Little Tigers their second straight sectional title.
”We told them it was going to be a really close meet and all four of the coaches thought the same thing,” said first-year Princeton coach Carly Misiewicz. “When we got here we left the girls on the bus and the coaches got off and I said seniors do what you need to do to get everyone fired up and pumped up. Whatever they said it worked.
”I remember looking over at the girls (after the medley relay), Maddie Deardorff specifically, she looked at me and her draw dropped. We said after counties we want to go under 1:50 and to go 1:48 today is phenomenal. That just set the tone for the rest of the meet. We just kept it going. It showed what we were capable of. Everyone came together and stepped up when they had to. I couldn’t ask anything more of them.”
Princeton won the first six events and built a 62-32 lead on its way to the win. After the win in the opening relay, Melinda Tang won the 200 free, Deardorff won the 200 IM, Abbey Berloco won the 50 free, Tang won the butterly and 100 Berloco won the 100 free. Romaine added a win in the 100 back as Princeton used its top swimmers as well as its depth to earn the win.
”I think our team is so strong because of the depth,” Romaine said. “It is important to get everyone excited for the meet because everyone on the team is important. It is totally a team effort. The bond that we all have is like nothing I have ever seen, even in my two previous years at Princeton. The team dynamic as a whole is totally different and I feel like it has brought a new dynamic to the table. It is like we are a family.
”We have a ton of new talent this year with Abbey and a lot of club swimmers who are freshmen. The timing couldn’t be better because we also have strong juniors and seniors and together we’re strong.”
Princeton is the No. 2 seed in the Public B state semifinals and will face third-seeded Ocean City on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Raritan Bay YMCA. The winner will face either top-seeded Scotch Plains or No. 4 Northern Highlands in the finals on Sunday at The College of New Jersey.
”When we swam (WW-P) North (in the sectional semifinals) that was a telling point of where we were,” Misiewicz said. “Going into today they were so excited and so pumped up. The girls are such a phenomenal group of girls and they really have each other’s back.
”Our depth is what did it for us today. We knew who they had frontrunners and they knew that we had frontrunners so what was going to matter was the seconds, thirds and fourths and the other points we picked up. Our top performers did what they had to do and everything else fell into place.”
