By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High South boys swim team would like to take its season at least one step farther than it did a year ago.
Based on the results of the Pirates’ season-opening win over Princeton, that might just happen.
After going 14-1 and reaching the sectional semifinals a year ago, WW-P South returns most of the key ingredients that led to that success. The Pirates opened this season with a convincing 101-69 win over Princeton on Tuesday.
“It was a great way to start the season,” said senior Manish Rachamallu, who won the 50 free and 100 breaststroke against the Little Tigers. “We don’t have that many new guys. A lot of our returners, like Charlie Lu, are on the A relay now and they have made great improvement over the long course season. Our non-club swimmers, too, have made so many improvements. I think we’re in a pretty good place right now.”
In addition to the two wins from Rachamallu, the Pirates picked up wins from Aleksandr Simonelli in the 200 free, Kurt von Autenried in the 200 IM and 100 free, Michael Zhong in the 100 butterfly, and Michael Krigeris in the 500 free.
“I think we can be better than last year,” Rachamallu said. “We’re a great team on paper. We have our great returners like Kurt von Autenried, Michael Zhong, Alex He. We have a lot of young guys, too, like Michael Krigeris. He won the 500.
“I feel like we are so versatile. Kurt came in today and swam the 200 IM and 100 free. Last year we got to sectional finals and it was a disappointment to us that we didn’t win. I think this year we definitely have that on our minds. We want to make a good run at counties. We have a good mindset and Coach Turner has worked so hard to get is ready for the season.”
He picked up a pair of third-place finishes and was part of two winning relays. Kyle Dixon-Anderson added a second and a third to help with the depth.
“We were kind of nervous because we have some swimmers who are injured or ill,” said South coach Jessica Turner, whose team was scheduled to face WW-P North on Thursday. “So there were quite a few last-minute changes in the lineup and that played more into our favor than we thought.”
Rachamallu is one of the swimmers who has developed into a solid piece to the puzzle for the Pirates. He has steadily improved over the course of his career and hopes to close out with a strong senior season.
“I have been swimming since I was younger,” said Rachamallu, who swims for the Hamilton Aquatic Club. “I really got into shape my sophomore year. Everything just came to me. My junior year I started getting faster. I actually broke my ankle over the long course season and had to take that whole summer off. I have had to work extra hard before this season.”
Added Turner: “Last year he was not one of our breaststrokers and by the end of the season he had emerged into the breaststroke spot and this year he has continued to grow with that.”
WW-P South also picked up a win in the girls meet, topping the Little Tigers, 98-72. Emily Huang won the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, Shefali Kumar won the 100 butterfly, Isabel Williams won the 500 free, and Claire Huang won the 100 backstroke.
“That was a great win for the girls,” Turner said. “We knew it would be close coming in. Princeton is always a tough meet. Carly (Misiewicz) is a phenomenal coach, so we knew we had to put our best foot forward. We were making some last-minute changes to the lineup figuring out what girls would fit into what races to hopefully give us a chance and our girls far exceeded expectations today.”
The wins should help both Pirate teams as the open the season against a very tough schedule.
“We have Princeton, North and Notre Dame as our first three meets out of the gate,” Turner said. “We know about that so we have been training. Ideally, you would like the meets more into the season. But you have to swim them some time. It was a great way to start the season for both of our teams. Hopefully we can carry that into the rest of the season. We have a new assistant coach (Katie Reilly) with us this year. She swam for TCNJ so she has brought a little more depth to our coaching staff.
“The girls had a solid meet. We had an inter-squad meet recently to see where they fit and it was nice to see them follow through. Even some of our veteran swimmers really stepped up to the challenge. We have a larger team. Our girls team actually benefited the most from some of the new freshmen that we brought in.”
