By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Andrew Schofield wasn’t worried when Steinert won the first four events of the Lawrence High School boys’ swim meet Tuesday.
”I’m always confident in the swimmers we’ve got,” said the LHS senior. “We have a good group. I’m always confident in them. We knew it would be a close meet, but I knew we’d eventually win.”
Down, 32-30, after the break, Schofield was the first Cardinals swimmer to win an event when he captured the 100 butterfly. Josh McGrew followed with a win in the 100 freestyle. After Steinert standout Kevin Hom won the 500 free, Lawrence teams went first and second in the 200 free relay. The Cardinals never trailed again in a 93-77 win that helped them improve to 7-4.
”We weren’t expecting to go 1-2,” said Schofield, who was on the B relay that finished second. “We swum as fast as we could and it ended up being the turning point in the meet.”
The A relay of Michael Mus, Bobby Bostock, Luke Yamamato and McGrew finished first in the event, while the B relay of Dominic Wirkijowski, Jon Cohl, Schofield and Pat Thiel went second.
”Each guy separated from (Steinert’s) first relay,” said LHS head coach Mike Underwood, whose team hosts Hightstown today. “Each guy separated a little further and further. And Pat Thiel had a fantastic anchor. They really swam fast.
”We do have good sprinters,” he added. “The real nice thing about that is, of those eight, only three of them are seniors. That’s it. I have a very deep freestyle unit and they’re all young, which is nice.”
Schofield is proud to be a part of the strong freestyle corps. He has been a consistent leg in the butterfly for the Cardinals medley relay, and he has taken on a new event, the backstroke, this season.
”I’ll swim wherever coach wants me to swim as long as it benefits the team,” Schofield said. “I’ve swum pretty much everything. I’ll swim wherever he needs me to swim.”
Schofield is most important to LHS in the butterfly, but has performed selflessly as expected in his senior year. He has done all that is asked of him.
”He went to a preseason swimming program and he got himself in shape,” Underwood said. “He’s fighting an injury. He has a bad shoulder. He gets treatment and then when he gets in the water, he works really hard. His true colors show at a meet. He always gives 100 percent. He takes second place very, very poorly. He does everything to make sure he’s not in second place.”
Schofield hopes to stay at the top over the final weeks of the season. LHS will host rival Notre Dame, the defending Mercer County champions, Tuesday, then prepare for the county championships the following week.
”Depending on some other schools, I’d be surprised if he’s not invited back for the top six,” Underwood said of the county meet. “He’s good enough to do that. It depends on where other people put their swimmers. He hasn’t gotten second place to too many people. I would expect to see him in the top six.”
It is something that Schofield has been working for during his four years with LHS. He gave up soccer as a sophomore to turn his full attention to swimming. He has always been helpful to the Cardinals, but he is even bigger this season.
Said Schofield: “You always have to set the bar higher for each season. You’re becoming the older kid, you’re becoming the role model for other kids. You have to set the bar higher for yourself every year.”
Schofield didn’t like losing, but he could accept second-place finishes when he was one of the younger Cardinal swimmer. This year, he is expecting more of himself and delivering.
”I knew I wouldn’t be the star of the team,” he added. “I knew I was improving and now it’s nice to get these first places.”
The most important first place comes at the end of the meet when the team scores are tallied. Despite a start that seemed slow, Schofield never doubted a fast finish during the Cardinals’ latest win.
”We’ve always had a deep team,” Schofield said. “We’ve always won meets off our depth rather than having a superstar. We’ve always done that. All four years. It’s always the depth that has won us the meets and the championships and trophies.”
