By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The Montgomery High girls swim team is the ultimate throw the record out the window team., The Cougars entered Tuesday’s Central Jersey A Division semifinal with a 3-7 record, but left with a resounding win and a berth in Friday’s CJ A final. Montgomery advanced to the sectional final with a 103-67 win over Hunterdon Central on Tuesday. The second-seeded Cougars will face top-seeded Hillsborough in the 6 p.m. final at Neptune Aquatic Center., The Cougars dominated the meet from start to finish and picked up wins from Hailey Roberti in the 100 free and 200 free, Allison D’Allegro in the 50 free, Michelle D’Allegro in the 100 breaststroke, Kara Lydzinski in the 100 butterfly, and Bridgid DiBlasio in the 500 free., The Cougars are 4-7 on the season against perhaps the toughest schedule in the state., “If you include everybody in the state, power points wise we’re right around the top 10,” Montgomery coach Claire Scarpa said. “Our conference is tough. It’s so tough and then out of the league we swim against Scotch Plains, Morristown, Immaculate Heart. Thos are the top teams in the state. Nobody will swim us, which is okay. Swimming against the best teams is only going to make us better.”, The Cougars are solid at the top of the lineup and also have plenty of depth. The depth comes from swimmers like freshman Serena Sharpless, who was second in the 100 butterfly and second in the 200 free, events where Montgomery took the top two places., “She just has so much heart,” Scarpa said. “When she is up on the blocks she is clapping and so intense. And then when you talk to her she is all cherry and happy. And then she turns it on and gets on the block and is a whole other monster.”, Sharpless is the daughter of Princeton High School Hall of Fame track athlete Peter Sharpless. While her father excelled in track and field, Serena has found her niche in the pool., “I love working hard and being in the water,” said Sharpless, who swims for Princeton Piranhas club team. “And then as I got better I was so motivated to win everything. I’ve been really happy. The team is very welcoming.”, Sharpless has enjoyed the high school swimming experience and the lessons learned from the older Cougar swimmers., “I love swimming against the other teams because it makes you want to push yourself more,” she said. “These meets are very exciting. It’s new to me. I just focus on myself and beating the person next to me.”, In addition to Montgomery, both West Windsor-Plainsboro South swim teams also advanced to sectional finals. The WW-P South girls topped WW-P North, 110-60, in the CJ B semifinals to advance to Friday’s 3 pm final against Manasquan at Neptune. The Pirates, who improved to 14-0 with the win, picked up two individual wins apiece from Claire Huang and Emily Huang, while Isabel Williams and Lehna Ding also picked up wins. Christina Kim won two events for the Knights., The WW-P South boys reached the CJ B final with a 117-53 win over Manasquan. The top-seeded Pirates were scheduled to face second-seeded Moorestown in the final on Thursday. In the semifinal win, Kurt von Autenreid and Manish Rachamallu won two events apiece, while Michael Krigeris, Joshua Huang and Michael Zhong also won individual events for the Pirates., The second-seeded Montgomery boys dropped a 94-76 decision to third-seeded Summit in the North 2, A Division semifinals. Michael Poirier won a pair of events, while Lee Poirier and Colin Liu also picked up wins for the Cougars.
