By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Will Kinney is making the most of his senior year in the pool for the Princeton High swim team., Not only has Kinney been able to drop time in nearly event, but he’s found time to swim a little bit of everything as well. Kinney entered the season with a goal of swimming in each event over the course of the year and he’s met that goal. He’s also done it well., “That was a goal I set at the beginning of the the season,” Kinney said. “I was glad I was able to do it. And looking back at the season, I think I have also won a race in every event.”, Kinney’s main events are the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Those are the events he will be swimming at the Mercer County Championships, which got underway on Thursday at West Windsor-Plainsboro High North with the girls preliminaries. The meet continues with the boys prelims today and the finals and consolations set for Saturday., “Will is having a really good year,” Princeton coach Carly Misiewicz said. “Last year he stopped swimming club. He came out of his shell some and really became a great leader for us. He is the kind of kid where if you say I want to put you in this event, he says no problem. He made a goal for himself that he wanted to swim every event and he did. He also did well in each one. He put up good times in everything., “He’s a consistently hard worker at practice. Every day he is working hard and asking how can I be better? How do I drop half a second on my 100 time? How can I make my backstroke better? How can I pull more water?”, Kinney is part of a solid group that helped the Little Tigers overcome an 0-2 start and finish the regular season with a 9-3 record. They’ll head into the Mercer meet hoping to finish near the top of the standings., “We are feeling great going into counties,” Kinney said. “Last year we were not sure how we would do. Having placed well last year, I am confident we can pull out the same results based on the things we have been doing. Everyone has been stepping up and swimming fast. I am excited to see how we can do.”, Kinney has been a solid contributor for the Little Tigers throughout his career and is putting together his best season as a senior. He’s hoping to finish strong with a good effort at the county meet and the state meets that start a week later., “I feel like I am having a really strong season,” Kinney said. “I am dropping time and putting in the work for the team. I feel like everyone is putting in 110 percent effort in practice and in the meets. We’re swimming fast right now.”, Kinney had managed to continue to improve even after stepping away from club swimming. He’s enjoying his time as a high school only swimmer and his performance has not suffered., “It hasn’t been as intense but I feel like I put in more work,” Kinney said. “It’s great seeing everyone every day and getting to see the team at practice. That is a nice benefit.”, And the hard work has Princeton heading into the county meet having won nine of its last 10 meets., “The boys have had a real good season,” Misiewicz said. “We lost to Lawrence, Notre Dame and (West Windsor-Plainsboro) South. We started 0-2 with losses to South and Notre Dame. A lot of people going into the season were a little unsure what to expect. We graduated some good people and lost some people but we did a good job of not letting that get to us. We’ve been focused. Swimming is a sport where the person next to you means nothing other than have to beat him., “We have some guys who have stepped up as newcomers. Oliver Tennant has swum a few different races from the 50 to the 500 and thrown in the back. Jeshurun Reyen is a very good comp a well. Calvin Ristad has been in the 500 most meets.”, In Princeton’s regular-season finale against Hopewell Valley, Tennant won both the 200 and 500 free, while Alex Petruso won the 50 free and 100 back and Gabriel Bar-Cohen won the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. Kinney won the 100 free and Jaime Schettini won the 100 butterfly., The Princeton girls also started the season 0-2 but came on to finish 9-2-1., “The girls had the same thing with loss to South and Notre Dame to start the season,: Misiewicz said. “They went on a really good winning streak. We had a tie against North but won the other meets. Everybody knew we lost a lot on the girls side losing Maddie (Deardorff) and Brianna (Romaine) to graduation. And also with Abbey (Berloco) heading to Notre Dame. And then Jamie Lu has been out the entire season with an injury. As a senior it is unfortunate that we didn’t have her. But we have pulled it together as a team and focused on what we can do, which is just swim fast and hope for good results.”
