PHS girls swim into B state finals
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
This time around Princeton High got the better of Ocean City.
One year after falling to Ocean City in the state B Division semifinals, the Princeton girls swim team got past the Red Raiders, 97-73, to advance to the state final.
”The girls are very excited to get to the final,” said Princeton coach Carly Misiewicz, whose team improved to 15-0 on the season. “This was the meet last year where Ocean City bumped us out. So they were very excited to win this time around.”
The Little Tigers advanced to the state B championship meet, where they will face Scotch Plains-Fanwood on Sunday at 4 p.m. at The College of New Jersey. They broke open a close meet against Ocean City when they went 1-3-4 in the backstroke and then followed that up with a 1-2-3 sweep of the breaststroke.
In the back, Brianna Romaine finished first, with Jennifer Bond and Bronwyn Hines coming in third and fourth, respectively. Then in the breaststroke, Maddy Whaley, Stephanie Tam and Charlotte Singer swept the first three places in the event to clinch the win for the Little Tigers.
”The girls knew from my reaction that we had won,” Misiewicz said. “Some of the girls were on the side and we just looked at each other and knew that finish had clinched it for us.
”To go 1-2-3 in the breast was huge for us. Stephanie Tam came through with a strong swim. She hasn’t been in the water for a couple of weeks because of the choir trip and it was great to have her presence back on the deck. She brings so much energy and spirit to the team.”
Princeton won five of the eight individual events, with Maddie Deardorff winning the 200 IM, Abbey Berloco taking the 50 free, Melinda Tang winning the 100 butterfly, Romaine taking the backstroke, and Whaley the breaststroke.
The win continues a magical season that also included rolling to the Mercer County championship.
”I think we saw it early in the season that this could be our year,” said Misiewicz, who is in her first season as the Little Tigers’ head coach. “From there we won the county and you could see with the way they came together as a team they could keep doing good things. They all get along so well. There is no separation with club and high school swimmers. They mesh really well together. That has helped get us to where we are because everyone is so close.”
And now that Princeton has reached the finals, the Little Tigers have no intention of simply being happy to be there. They want to claim a state championship.
”I think they are pumped up to win,” Misiewicz said. “We have gotten this far so why stop now? Maybe it doesn’t go in our favor or maybe it does. Anything can happen. That is how we feel at this point. We’ll win some events and they’ll win some events and we’ll see how it turns out in the end.”