By Rich Fisher, Sports Editor
As Saturday’s Greater Middlesex Conference meet approaches, hopes are high for the South Brunswick swim teams.
So too is coach John Harding’s blood pressure.
”This is stressful right now, because I’m really hyped for the meet,” Harding said with a laugh on Tuesday. “We really hope to do well. We have a chance to have one of our best finishes ever for both the boys and the girls.
”The girls are definitely excited. Our best finish in this meet has been third, so equaling or bettering that would be a great accomplishment. The boys have been runner-up the last two years and third the year before, so it would be great to get that high again. We’ve had great practices, we’re excited, let’s try to keep it rolling.”
Harding and the Vikings have ample reason for optimism as they prepare for the event, which gets under way with 3:15 p.m. warm-ups at Princeton University’s DeNunzio Pool. The meet itself starts at 4.
The Viking girls are 8-1, with their lone loss coming at the hands of North Brunswick, while the boys are 8-2 with losses to St. Joe’s and Rancocas Valley. RV was a non-conference meet and St. Joe’s could be considered a non-planet meet since the Falcons’ program is basically from another world.
”St. Joe’s is certainly going to be tough to deal with,” Harding said. “It gets a little ridiculous to even talk about them. They’ve won it 30 straight years; it’s kind of a joke.”
Basically, the boys meet becomes a battle for second, which the Vikings have won for two straight years.
”It would be nice to pull that off again,” Harding said. “We’d like to inch a little closer to St. Joe’s, which we’ve done the last couple of years.
”But we feel, to a degree, finishing second is like being the public school champion. St. Joe’s is out there on their own, so being runner-up has a certain sweetness because you’re the top public school. North Brunswick, Old Bridge and Piscataway have strong swimmers, so it won’t be easy.”
Harding has high hopes for Tyler Wardlow (IM, back), James Kugel (50, 100 free) and Tyler Blackburn (200, 500 free), and is anxious to see how Calvin Chiu makes out.
”He’s really looking great the past couple of weeks in the backstroke and IM,” said Harding, who also feels the likes of Mike Ungano, Will Samtur, Ben Woller and Chris Hochman can provide some strong swims as well.
The girls’ lone loss this year was to North Brunswick, which is the favorite. Harding is forecasting a tight fight for second between the Vikes, East Brunswick and Bishop Ahr.
”It’s going to be a good battle,” said the coach, whose girls finished fourth last year. “We just have to keep them healthy this week and hope they can get their best times.
”We’ve been preparing them the past week. We’ve been tapering them, cutting back on yardage, doing a little more speed work to get them ready for the big meet.”
Gess Charniga enters the meet as a dominant swimmer in the breast and IM, while strong efforts are also expected from Abby Weingarten (breast, fly), Liz Samtur (back, fly), Danielle Bartolotta (200, 100 free) and Lauren Socienski (50, 100 free).
”You don’t want to count your chickens before they’re hatched,” Harding said, “but I’m optimistic, I think we can do well.”
Until then, coach, just keep drinking that herbal tea for relaxation.
