By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Jesse Applegate graduated from Princeton High School in 2004 with his name on the school’s swimming record board in four different events.
Visitors to the Princeton pool at John Witherspoon School will no longer see Applegate’s name on the record board.
And part of the reason for that is Applegate himself.
After graduating from Rutgers University in 2008, Applegate got into coaching with local club teams X-Cel and Princeton Tigers. While coaching those teams, he would go on to work with swimmers who would eventually move on to Princeton High and break his school records.
“My swimmers I coached broke my records,” Applegate said with a laugh. “The Princeton boys who won the state championship, at one point, I coached every single guy on that team. Between X-Cel and Tigers I had some exposure to every kid on that team. When they broke one of my records, I was at the meet or around the area. It was nice because you don’t want someone you don’t know to break your record. It was nice to have kids I knew and mentored break my records.”
Applegate left Princeton with school records in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and a pair of relays (200 free and 400 free). He also helped the team to three straight Mercer County championships and state sectional championships.
On Nov. 18, Applegate will be among those who will be inducted into the Princeton High School Athletic Hall of Fame. The ceremony will be held at Mercer Oaks in West Windsor.
Applegate will be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with PHS graduates Tom Patrick, Erin Cook and Fraser Graham. Former PHS boys basketball coach Doug Snyder will be inducted as well as the 1992-94 boys’ basketball teams that captured three straight state sectional championships.
“It is a great honor,” Applegate said. “I am absolutely looking forward to it. I have all my friends and family coming and even some clients will be attending.”
While at Princeton, Applegate won the 50 free and 100 free in the Mercer County meet as both a junior and a senior. As a senior, he finished second in both events at the Meet of Champions. His 21.31 clocking in the 50 free, which he swam in the state final against Mainland, was a PHS record that last nine years. He also swam 46.99 in the 100 free, a record that lasted eight years.
“Jesse rose to the competitive environment and where other people perceived pressure he saw it as an opportunity to swim his best,” former Princeton coach Greg Hand said. “He loved to race. He just worried about preparing himself and doing well and after that it was all about supporting his team.”
Applegate did not swim as a freshman, but put together three outstanding seasons with the Little Tigers.
“People in our small swimming community were are of Jesse for a long time,” Hand said. “We were always hoping Jesse could be a part of our team while also being involved with his club team as well. He was able work that out through his own efforts. He, like most of the great athletes I have known, has this combination of natural talent and character traits that really are in some ways much more important than just natural talent.
“He loved to compete, But in addition to that, as a young athlete from the time he started swimming, he was interested in figuring out the mechanics of all the strokes but particularly freestyle. And his other characteristic was not just being there for himself, but for the team as well. He put a lot into it and was always there for every guy every swim.”
After graduating from Princeton, Applegate swam for three years at Rutgers before the college dropped the men’s swim program.
“I completed my junior year but there was not much of a team left because most people had transferred out or red-shirted,” Applegate said. “We were one of the best teams in the Northeast. We were up there with Princeton and the other Ivies.
“I made the decision to stay (at Rutgers) because I was so far into getting my degree. I had two majors, Exercise Science and Political Science. I flirted with the idea of doing track and field and also tried out for the basketball team. I had so much cardio endurance. I would run circles around them on the court. You don’t consider how much swimming you do as a swimmer. There is so much cardio. But that did not pan out.”
Applegate coached with X-Cel Swimming, the team he swam for as a youth, as well as with Tiger Aquatics, while also spending some time as a volunteer coach with the Princeton University women’s team.
Applegate currently owns and operates Mobifit Performance (www.mobifitperformance.com), which specializes in strength conditioning, wellness and performance. He was a trainer at Princeton Fitness and Wellness before starting his own business servicing clients in the Princeton area as well as Monmouth and Ocean counties.
“I do training and rehabilitation, pretty much anything anyone does with their body,” he said. “I am also expanding out to massage therapy. I have local clients but also regional as well with hubs in Holmdel and down the shore where I live around Belmar.I deal with people who are motivated and want to change their lives.
In addition to his fitness work, Applegate is also a water rescue swimmer and ski patroller.
“What I have been doing relative to swimming is as a rescue swimmer,” Applegate said. “I am with Belmar Rescue Swimming. I spent so much time swimming in my career and now I pretty much save people’s lives. During Hurricane Jose a couple of weeks ago, we had 35 rescues. It is a very elite squad. We are experts with ocean currents and tides and wind. We’re a fast response team. It is nail-biting because every second counts to get to the scene. We had a pretty wild summer of rescues.”
While he was at Princeton, Applegate had a knack for winning races as a swimmer.
“It was a great time,” Applegate said. “A lot of hard work and good times. It was a small team. We usually had about 20 guys on the team. But we worked hard and had a lot of success.”
The induction ceremony on Nov. 18 will run from 6-10 p.m. Tickets are $55 and all proceeds go towards scholarships for current Princeton High School student athletes.
Individuals interested in purchasing a ticket or contributing to the scholarship fund can contact Bob James at 921-0946 or email the Hall of Fame Committee at [email protected].
