By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Hamilton Aquatic Club came away from this summer’s Y Long Course Nationals meet in Indianapolis with plenty to be excited about.
The team sent 14 swimmers to the meet, including several who were making their first appearance at a national meet.
The girls’ qualifier included Abbey Berloco (Cranbury), Chelsea Ackerson (Hamilton), Madeline Horner (Hamilton), Annie Menninger (Plainsboro), Lauren Nance (Robbinsville), and Maria Nitti (Robbinsville). The boys who qualified included Matt Chan (West Windsor), Evan Eckles (Hamilton), Matt Lequang (Plainsboro), David Madigan (Lawrence), Austin Nance (Robbinsville), Matt Tees (Hopewell), Kurt Von Autenried (West Windsor), and Stephen Walsh (Hamilton).
Some of the top performances at this highly competitive meet were turned in by Berloco, who had podium-making swims in the 50-, 100-, and 200-meter freestyle events. Berloco finished fourth in the 50 and 200, and added an impressive third in the 100 with a time of 57.41.
“It was really exciting,” said Berlocco, who will be a junior at Princeton High School. “We had a ton of great swims. A lot of people were coming for the first time. It’s a great meet to go to and a great bonding experience.
“We have spring nationals in April and then summer nationals in August and those are the two meets we really train for. They are two of the biggest team events that we looking forward to each year. Normally we have a big team go and this year was about the same size. We had a few new swimmers make it for the first time like Matt Chan and also Matt Lequang, who was in his first Y nationals.”
Berlocco, who the Most Valuable Swimmer at last year’s Mercer County meet, has kept her strong performances in the pool going right through the spring and summer.
“I was definitely happy with how I swam,” she said. “Going into the meet I was feeling pretty confident. I swam mostly best times. It always great competition and there are a lot of close friends who swim at the meet. It is always a lot of fun and a super competitive meet.”
The team, coached by Sue Welsh, is on a break from training at the moment. But soon Berlocco and the rest of the swimmers who are not moving on to college will be back getting ready for the next season.
“One event I was very happy with was the backstroke,” Berlocco said. “I swam the 100 back at a few meets and that was never something I really focused on. This year I took some time and worked on technique and that paid off in some swims. I would swim the back at some smaller meets to do something different than I normally would swim.”
Another finalist was von Autenried, who placed 21st in the 50-meter butterfly, swimming the C final in that event and subsequently going a personal best time of 26.85.
Three of Hamilton’s girls relays had ribbon-winning performances as well. The 200-meter freestyle relay (Nance, Nitti, Horner, Berloco) finished 10th overall, the 800-meter free relay snuck onto the podium with a 16th place finish (Nitti, Horner, Berloco, and Ackerson), and the 400-meter freestyle relay finished with a best time at 13th place (Nitti, Ackerson, Horner, Berloco)
On the boys side, Evan Eckles’ backstroke leadoff leg in the 400 medley relay secured him a spot on next year’s national team. The 200 free relay of von Autenried, Madigan, Walsh, and Lequang and 400 free relay (Nance, Von Autenried, Madigan, Lequang) also performed well. Madigan also swam a personal best in the 100 freestyle with a time of 55.03.
