By Justin Feil, Contributor
When Megan Bull committed to The College of William and Mary, it was for the opportunity to continue swimming a variety of events., “One of the things I was looking for when I was choosing a college, I didn’t want to be limited to swim one or two of my best events,” Bull said. “I think I’m a diverse swimmer and I think I can expand in my career even in college. I’d like to swim the 100 up to mile and both IMs and the breaststroke and maybe try to do some ’flys and back for fun. I know I named all the events, but I don’t want to lose diversity because I committed to a college and I have to ‘perform.’ ”, Bull has been performing at her usually high standard in whatever events she enters for the Hillsborough High School girls swim team. The senior won the 200 individual medley and 400 free, swam the breaststroke for the winning medley relay and anchored the winning 400 free relay in a 131-39 win over Hunterdon Central on Tuesday., “I think this year my event schedule has been the most diverse across all the meets that I’ve done,” Bull said. “I’ve done the 200 free, the 200 IM, I had the chance to swim the 100 free a few times and I’ve also gotten to do the 400 free and 100 breaststroke. My goal is to not swim the same two events over and over. I appreciate that the coaching staff isn’t trying to do that and they don’t necessarily expect that from me.”, Bull has been a fixture in the lineup for three previous years, and is looking for a strong finish to her Raider career before the senior sets her sights on college swimming., “For me, I’m just surprised that it’s been four years already,” Bull said. “I think, wow, I’ve been on this team for four years. In some ways, it feels like longer. In some ways, it feels like a blink of an eye. It’s surprising to me that I’m in charge now. I’m also a captain.”, Being a senior and a captain is something that Bull had always looked forward to, with the privileges of sitting in the front of the team bus and not carrying the team water. But now she is finding all the other duties that go along with being at the top of the class., “As a senior, you have the most responsibility in general,” she said. “That’s something I didn’t realize until it hit me and I was already doing it.”, Bull likes being at the forefront of organizing the team. She keeps the team up to speed with group notifications and works with fellow senior captains Alyssa Cseh and Allison Simon to keep spirit high and the team together. They have helped to push the Raiders to a 6-1 start., “I’m really happy with the start of the season,” Bull said. “I felt we came together as a team really early on this season. We lost two really key seniors, Julieyanna Parker and Stephanie Mauer. I think the freshmen have done a really good job of stepping up and filling in those roles. I feel like it’s not just one or two freshmen. There are a lot of great freshmen across the events that are really stepping up and doing their job., “I don’t think I was as aware of our incoming freshmen class as I am now,” she added. “I was concerned that losing Jules and Steph was going to make our team slightly worse than before. But I feel like we’re at the same place if not actually a little better than before. Of course, that depends on the teams around us, and what seniors they’re losing and the freshmen they’re gaining. Overall, I am really happy with the girls team.”, Alexandra Temple won the 200 free and 100 backstroke, Haley Tevnan won the 50 and 100 free races and Lili Passalacqua won the 100 butterfly. Temple and Tevnan along with Skylar Ward won the 200 medley relay. The 200 free relay of Catherine Nguyen, Sankya Parvatrao, Jordan McChesney and Tevnan also won. Temple, Ward and Rachel Karan combined with Bull in the 400 free relay, and the relays are again powerful., “I’m really pleased with the relays,” Bull said. “Our medley really looks pretty good. We have Alex Temple in the backstroke, me in the breaststroke, Lili Passalacqua usually does fly and Haley Tevnan in the free. The only person we lost from that relay was Jules and Lili does fly almost as good. Our 200 free relay, that looks nice. We had a new freshman come in, Skylar Ward, she’s a really good freestyler and she splits like 25 in all these relays which is really key. The other thing that’s important about our relays, it’s not just our A relay that’s winning. In a lot of meets, we’ll go 1-2 or 1-3. In the past couple meets, our B relay has just beaten out their A relay, too., “There’s sophomores and juniors that have stepped up. Jordan McChesney, she’s stepped up. She’s a sprinter, she does the 50 free and 100 free and she’ll sometimes fly in the relay. Catherine Nguyen, versus Watchung Hills, she touched out the medley relay at the end. She does anchor for the B medley relay usually. Haley Tevan does the freestyle for our (A) relay.”, The Raiders’ only loss is to Bridgewater-Raritan, and Hillsborough is looking forward to the big meets ahead, including the chance to finally swim a home meet when Hillsborough honors its seniors on Jan. 24. The Raiders have had to swim their home meets at the Bridgewater YMCA instead of the Hillsborough YMCA due to fire code concerns. Bull would like one more true home meet in her career that has been marked by team and individual success., “I do not think expectations have changed in the past four years that I’ve been on ‘Boro swim,” Bull said. “I’ve always been expected to perform — as a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. Everyone knows that and is aware of that and takes that thinking into meets. Conferences is in two weeks on the 21st and counties is in the beginning of February. I think that mindset will show up and will be present in our swims.”, Bull and the Raiders have always been at their best at the end of seasons. They have been omnipresent on the medal podium at the Meet of Champions and major players in the team state tournament., “I think we’re all aware of when the competition is there and when you need to step it up and when expectations are high,” Bull said. “That’s states and Bridgewater and Montgomery, we all get excited and lose our voices and officials have to scream at us to quiet down. That’s one of the best compliments is getting yelled at to be quiet because everyone knows how hyped we are., “Having that around you and knowing that everyone is behind you, that’s when everyone knows it’s time to perform and that there’s competition around. That really helps everyone to perform and do their best.”, Bull won the 200 IM as a sophomore and was second in the event last year at the Meet of Champions, as well as being a key member of the relays., “When I’m there, I know what I’m up against and I know what I need to do,” Bull said. “I’ve also had those four years of experience. When I was a freshman, I was more nervous. I didn’t have the experience of racing against all of these people, and I definitely didn’t have the knowledge of who everyone was across all the high school teams. Now I have more of that knowledge. I guess that makes it a little easier to know how to swim, which might take the pressure off a little bit.”, Bull has been encouraged by her swims this year with her club team, Somerset Valley YMCA. At Junior Nationals, she broke 4:50 in the 500 free for the first time in her career, and she swam under 1:50 for the 200 free for the first time. She also swam a low 51-second time in the 100 free. She followed that meet up with equally promising swims in her off events at the Holiday Classic. All of that has her geared up for a big finish to her Hilllsborough career., “I just want to have a good year,” Bull said. “I honestly just want to leave knowing I did everything I could for ‘Boro swim. I want to leave satisfied with myself and with my team. That’s all I can ask of myself and the team and myself is that, and live up to the expectations to the best of their ability.”
