North wins state tourney openers
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
A couple of new swimmers to the West Windsor-Plainsboro North program helped the boys and girls swim teams come off a solid Mercer County Championships to advance past the first round of the state tournament Tuesday.
Abdallah Gendia won the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle and anchored the 200 free relay to a win as the sixth-seeded Knight boys knocked off seventh-seeded Hopewell Valley, 89-81, in the first round of the North Jersey, Group 2 B Division tournament.
”All the boys were confident going in,” Gendia said. “We’ve been getting good training, intense training. We’ve been lifting all season. I think it helped us prepare for the counties and the state meets. It helped us with the meet today. We were strong going in and finished strong.”
Gendia did his part. His day began with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay, but he was a part of three wins in his final three events.
”That’s the No. 1 priority for me, to always gather points for the team,” Gendia said. “I put the maximum I have into every race.
”This season has been a really good season. Definitely I dropped a lot of time. I had a personal best at counties. I’ve been trying to move more to mid-distance races. I’ve been trying to move out of the 50 and into the 100 and the 200 more. It’s given me confidence in the 50 because I’m training with more intensity.”
Gendia moved to WW-P North last year from Egypt. His best friend swam and training partner, Aly Sayed, swam for West Windsor-Plainsboro South. Sayed now swims for Old Dominion, and Gendia is feeling more comfortable after making a big move last year.
”It was really big, it was really hard,” Gendia said. “It was one of the hardest adjustments I had to do in my life. I had to change everything, even swimming. It was a really hard adjustment to do.”
Hana Kato moved this year from Belgium. Her brother, Shotallo, is a part of the boys team. Hana has been a major addition for the Knight girls. In her first year at WW-P North, she reached the finals in two events at the Mercer County Championships, and Tuesday she helped the fifth-seeded girls team cruise by eighth-seeded Ocean Township, 126-48, in the first round of the Central Jersey B Division.
”It feels good to know we’re going in strong,” said Kato, who won the 200 individual medley and 100 butterfly. “It was against Ocean Township. We heard their rank was below ours, but we were still kind of nervous. But we won, so it was happy ending. We all did our best and we didn’t underestimate them.”
Both the boys and girls were scheduled to face West Windsor-Plainsboro South on Thursday in the second round.
”I’m ready,” Kato said. “I’m so happy to be against them. There’s a girl named Annie (Menninger). I want to take revenge on her for her winning at counties. I’m hyped.”
Kato has helped strengthen the Knights. She adds a competitive swimmer to the mix.
”She’s a sophomore,” said Knights head coach Todd Robinson. “She’s a great kid. She’s the hardest working kid I have on the team. She’s reliable, responsible. She’s been a pleasure, her and her brother.”
Robinson has also been blessed to have Gendia move into the district. He has helped the boys team in the shorter races.
”He’s pretty much a pure sprinter,” Robinson said. “He does 50 and 100 free. He transferred in last year. He’s from Egypt. It was his friend that swam for South. He’s been a great addition to the team the last couple of years. He swims for Hamilton Aquatics Club.”
The relative newcomers have been a part of a couple of solid teams for the Knights. They are looking for a strong finish to a promising season.
”I think we feel pretty good,” Robinson said. “We had overall a solid season. Our boys were 8-5. Our girls finished 7-6 overall in the conference. Overall, we’re happy with our dual meet season. The kids worked hard this year. We did have a little bit of an issue with the county championships. We had early dismissal on Monday and were out of school Tuesday so they were two days we lost. The kids responded well. Maybe those two days helped them out. We had a number of kids with best times of the year and best of their career.
”It’s tough to go right into states. You’d like to have an extra week or so to get a little more training in. We’re still kind of tapered. Most of our guys and girls are ready to race.”
Kato is keeping her focus on high school swimming. She hasn’t gotten into the club swimming since moving from Belgium where her career began, and transitioning to high school swimming is going well.
”I came in with expectations of getting better times than I did in Belgium,” Kato said. “With this team, I’m happy I’m contributing to their wins. I want to be a bigger help to them. I want them to be able to rely on me when I swim an event. I guess I want to go faster.”
In the same way that Gendia had to adjust last year, Kato has had to adjust to her first year in a new country and a new school.
”School wise, it’s been kind of stressful with the language barrier, but it’s going OK,” she said. “Swimming, when I first joined the team, all the students were nice and immediately took me in. Swimming was a big part of getting adjusted. Most of my friends at school are swimmers.”
Kato isn’t just a swimmer. She has other talents. She is a black belt in taekwondo. Her drive helped her reach a high level in the martial arts, and she hopes to do the same in the pool with still two seasons to go for the Knights.
”I’m probably going to finish high school here,” Kato said. “My goal right now is to get the school record in the fly. I’m probably going to have to work a little harder for it, but I definitely think I can achieve it in the next two years.”
Gendia can attest to how much can change in the second year. He fits in with a Knights team that is driven to keep its season going.
”This year, I’ve been getting familiar with the way practice is set up,” he said. “I’ve been getting more familiar with the meets. We didn’t have a lot of meets in my old homeland. I’ve been getting used to more intense practices. We lifted this season, something we didn’t do last season. It really helped the swimmers to swim faster. It help out our fitness.”
The Knights saw that pay off in the county meet and through the regular season. It also helped them swim by Hopewell in states, and WW-P North geared up for a big finish.
”Something we’ve had this season more than last season is everyone on the team wants to do well,” Gendia said. “Swimmers are working for themselves and the team. We’ve had really good individual swims and team swims. Some swimmers are going for records. Counties was the big show-off for us. We tapered for it. We stopped lifting and shaved and tapered. Everyone was happy.”
Gendia came into states confident that he was peaking at the right time after seeing his county results. He broke through a barrier at counties where he was third in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free. The Knights were third in the 200 free relay. The Knights’ 400 free relay was third. His 50 was his highlight.
”That was a best time this season,” Gendia said. “I hadn’t gone under 25 this season. In the finals, I went 24.92.”
Gendia is within a tenth of a second of the school record. He is hoping that Thursday’s intense state meet against WW-P South will push him to a record.
”They have really good swimmers,” Gendia said. “I know all of them. I know more than 10 of their guys. They swim club with me. I know all their guys and I know they’ll give me good races. I’m going in confident.”