MHS rolls in semifinals
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
EWING — The Montgomery High School girls swim team is heading back to the state championship meet.
And this time the Cougars do so with plenty of confidence and feeling good about a positive outcome.
”This has been such an exciting season,” said junior Jenna D’Allegro, who finished second in the 500 free and third in the breaststroke to help Montgomery to a 121.5-48.5 win over Montclair in the state A Division semifinals on Wednesday at The College of New Jersey. “I couldn’t be more proud of the team. We have had such a great season with winning counties and putting up some really fast times. I just love this team.”
With the win, the Cougars advance to the state championship meet for the second straight season. They will face Skyland Conference foe Bridgewater-Raritan in the final on Sunday at 2 p.m. at TCNJ. The Cougars defeated the Panthers, 90-80, when the teams met in December.
”It’s awesome and a great feeling to be going back,” said Montgomery coach Claire Scarpa, whose team improved to 12-1 on the season. “It means a lot and shows the depth and heart that the girls have. It shows we’re meant to be there and it is not a fluke.”
As they did in their sectional final win over East Brunswick, the Cougars dominated with their strength at the top of the lineup as well as their depth. In the eight individual events Montgomery placed all three of its swimmers in the top four of every event. The Cougars also finished first and third in all three relays.
”I think our depth on the team is what really helps us,” D’Allegro said. “We have a lot of great swimmers that really get those points for us. We can always have fun and swim different events and score points for our team. Now that we’re into the state tournament and from here on out we’re swimming our best events and I think that will continue Sunday. We’ll swim our strongest events to help us win.”
Montgomery won all but two events against Montclair, picking up wins from Brianna McKenna in the 200 free, Kara Lydzinski in the 50 free, Katie King in the 100 butterfly, Julia Bland in the 500 free, and Brigid DiBlasio in the 100 backstroke. In addition, the Cougars’ depth was shown off with seconds from Morgan Shiffner (200 free), Bland (200 IM), DiBlasio (50 free), Kathryn Doo (100 fly), McKenna (100 free), D’Allegro (500 free), Zoey Zimmer (100 back), and King (100 breast).
After getting to the final and falling short last year, the Cougars overcame the losses of some key swimmers and came back even stronger this year.
”We did lose some strong swimmers from last year,” said D’Allegro, who swims for the SVY club team that includes a number of swimmers on the Bridgewater team. “But we knew there were a lot of swimmers from different club teams coming up and we were excited about that. Once they got here we were really excited because they were fast and able to help out scoring points.
”We’re all so excited for Sunday to get out there and race. We know a lot people on the other team and racing your friends is always fun.”
As it has throughout the season and into the states, the Cougars’ depth will be on display once again in the state final on Sunday.
”We went 1-2-3 in multiple events and the same thing happened (in the sectional final),” Scarpa said. “It just shows the depth that we have.”