Swimming
By: Steve Feitl
Jenny Steiner was undefeated in the IM and breastroke events all season long.
Not only was she the county champion in both events last month, but she set two new county records as well.
This past weekend, she added her second state title in the breaststroke to her resume.
And on top of that, Lawrence High School head swimming coach Dean Mason confirmed that her county record of one minute, 11.12 seconds set on Feb. 9 has been submitted for consideration as the national public high school record in the 100-meter breaststroke.
To say that it’s been an incredible season for Steiner would be an undeniable understatement.
"She’s just phenomenal," Mason said. "She’s covering everything in terms of what a swimmer can do."
On Sunday, Steiner’s time of 1:03.85 was the best in the state in the 100-yard breaststroke. It is the same title she won as a freshman before finishing second last season.
She beat out Vineland’s Megan Carlin (1:04.11) and Washington Township’s Heather Meng (1:04.84). Meng narrowly unseated Steiner as state champion in the event a year ago.
In addition to her state title, she also found time at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology on Sunday to place third in the IM event.
She trailed only Kara Swift of Haddonfield and her rival Meng. Steiner’s time was a 2:08.77, while Swift won with a 2:05.49 and Meng took second in 2:07.37.
It was an all-around great day, finishing off a great season for the Lawrence junior.
"She swam well in both events both on Saturday and Sunday," Mason said. "She dropped her times in both events. She was just on fire."
Mason added the Lawrence swimmer is simply "special."
"As talented as she is, she deserves everything she gets because she works so hard," he said. "And as good as she is individually, she really is a team player and that’s why it’s nice to see her get so much respect."
Steiner also swam the final leg of the 400 free relay, along with Jamie Petrone, Emily Steiner and Kerry Genese, which did not qualify to move on to Sunday’s finals.
In addition, the 200 free relay squad of Casey Hooker, Kelli Hawthorne, Emily Steiner and Genese also represented LHS at the state meet.
"They’ve all had an outstanding season as well," Mason added.
While Steiner has been setting county, state and possibly national records, Mason was also pleased to announce that diver Christie Icenhower’s performance at the state diving championships on Feb. 26 was good enough to break the 11-year old LHS diving record.
Icenhower finished second in the state to Hopewell Valley’s Kristin Caiazzo.