By Justin Feil, Contributor
The end of another season brought with it more medals for the Hillsborough High School swim teams., It’s become a given that the Raiders will close each year well, and this year that again was true., At the Meet of Champions, Megan Bull finished second in the girls 200 freestyle in 1:49.39, just nine-hundredths of a second behind Ocean City’s Amanda Nunan. Alexandra Temple took sixth in the 100 backstroke in 57.01 seconds. The girls 400 free relay of Haley Tevnan, Rachel Karan, Temple and Bull was third in 3:32.05. The 200 free relay of Temple, Jordan McChesney, Tevnan and Bull was fourth in 1:37.34. The 200 medley of Temple, Bull, Liliana Passalacqua and Tevnan took 12th in 1:49.86., On the boys side, Josh Franco took seventh in the boys 100 free in 46.75 seconds while Matt Sanders closed his career with a 12th-place finish in the 100 free in 47.60 seconds. The Hillsborough team of Franco, Karl Conrad, Derek Kosydar and Sanders finished eighth in the 400 free relay in 3:15.49. They posted a season-best 3:13.07 to advance to the finals. The 200 free relay was 11th in 1:28.69 with Franco, Alex Gonzalez, Kosydar and Sanders., “They were their best times of the season,” said Hillsborough head coach Todd Sudol. “From where we started, to be competing for another state sectional title and have these finish in the state top 16, it was a nice way to end the season.”, The boys finished second in the Central Jersey Public A championship. One year after winning it, the second-seeded Raiders lost to a top-seeded Hunterdon Central team, 93-77. Franco and Sanders won two events apiece in the final meet, and they helped Hillsborough give Hunterdon Central a scare when the 200 free relay went 1-2 to tighten things up late in that meet. The Raiders put together quite a run despite having replaced several key swimmers lost to gradution., “When you graduate swimmers, you always have to find a way to have the younger ones step up and replace them,” Sudol said. “We did lose quite a bit to graduation. From where we started at the beginning of the season to the end we had a lot of improvement. A lot of our guys got faster. To compete again in the sectional final was a big accomplishment.”, Now the Raiders have to focus on replacing another good crop of seniors. This year’s senior class helped Hillsborough maintain its high standards., “We’re graduating Matt Sanders, who’s been on varsity all four years,” Sudol said. “He has a school record in the 2 free relay … We’re graduating Alex Gonzalez, who turned out to be a real quick sprinter for us, Karl Conrad who does fly and sprints, Berton Wang who’s our breaststroker and Jack Kinst, another talented freestyler for us.”, It’s no different on the girls side. The Raiders will have to find a way to replace one of the best in school history in Bull., “She finished second place in the two free, and just missed out on being a state champion for the second time,” Sudol said. “She was a state champion her sophomore year in the 200 IM. She was on the third-place 400 free relay, the fourth-place 200 free relay and 12th-place 200 medley relays., “She graduates as another well decorated swimmer. She has four individual school records – 200 free, 200 IM, 500 free and 100 breaststroke.”, Bull helped to push the girls back to repeat as sectional champions. The girls crushed Montgomery, 100-70, to win the Central Jersey Public A title for the second straight season. The Raiders fell in the Public A semifinals, 98-72, to Morristown., “To repeat as Central Jersey sectional champs, that’s quite an accomplishment for these girls,” Sudol said. “They set out to do it. It was by no means easy.”, The graduates leave with top honors. Bull qualified as All-American in the 200 free. The Skyland Conference coaches selected her first-team All-Conference for 200 free. Temple was selected first-team All-Conference for backstroke. Franco was named first-team All-Conference for 100 free, and Sanders second-team All-Conference for 100 free. Losing an All-America like Bull can be tough, but Hillsborough finds a way to recover each season., “It kind of happens every year for us,” Sudol said. “There will be more coming up. The younger girls want to push hard. They want to get faster. It’s a team that realizes that it can be in contention for titles every year. I think that motivates them.”, The team is on board with outlook. They come in knowing they have the chance to improve dramatically over the season, and the team spirit and chemistry helps them get there., “It’s the same year in and year out,” Sudol said. “We have so many strong traditions on this team. We have a standard. I say to the kids, we don’t lower the standard, we don’t lower the bar.”, Sudol will keep expectations high again. He already sees a good starting point for next year when the Raider girls will try to win a third straight sectional crown., “The juniors like Alexandra Temple, Rachel Karan, they’ll be seniors next year,” he said. “I have two very talented sprinters, in the sophomore class, Haley Tevnan and Jordan McChesney. We’ll look to them to be leaders as well, especially with the sprint group.”, It helps that Hillsborough swims in a talented conference that doesn’t have a lot of givens. Even with that competition, the Raider girls went 10-2. The boys were 5-5 before losing their sectional finale., “We have a tough schedule which is exactly what we want,” Sudol said. “We want to face the best teams in the state for the boys and girls to both be ranked in the top 20 year in and year out. That’s what makes you better.”, The Raiders used their tough schedule and kept their focus this season to go after their goals. It paid off in the long run with another strong finish for the Hillsborough boys and girls., “I was definitely impressed,” Sudol said. “As a coach, that’s all you can ask for, for them keep working hard and keep improving and realize what the team goals are and be a contributing member. I was very pleased.”
