By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Kathryn Doo was part of the depth that helped the Montgomery High girls swim team win the state Public A Division title a year ago.
Now a sophomore, Doo is hoping to do more of the same this season as the Cougars look to repeat. On Monday, Doo finished second in the butterfly to help the top-seeded Cougars to a 99-71 win over Hunterdon Central in the Central Jersey A Division semifinals.
With the win, Montgomery advanced to the CJ A final against second-seeded Hillsborough. The meet was scheduled to be held on Thursday.
“Last year was fun,” Doo said. “This season has not been as good a season as last year was for me. But I just went a best time for the season in this meet and it was close to my best time from last season.”
The Cougars cruised to the win over Hunterdon Central as Julia Bland won the 200 freestyle, Hailey Roberti won the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle, and Michelle D’Allegro won the breaststroke. The Cougars also swept all three relays as they once again used the depth that helped lead them to a state title. This year there is even more depth with some of their newcomers.
“We have a lot of freshmen and they have a lot of talent and depth which helps us a lot,” Doo said. “There is a variety of talent that we have with the freshmen and how they make up a lot of our team this year.”
The freshmen have joined swimmers like Doo in giving the lineup the sort of depth you need to reach a state final.
“(Doo) works really hard and she has really come through a bunch of times for us in the fly,” Montgomery coach Claire Scarpa said. “In the medley relay alone today she pulled out B relay ahead of their A relay. All year she works really hard and I can always count on her. We had some big swims from her last year and she got down to 1:01 for this year with her swim today.”
While the Cougars reached the CJ A final, West Windsor-Plainsboro South reached the CJ B final with an 89-81 win over Jackson Memorial. Annie Menninger won the breaststroke, while the Pirates also picked up a win in the 400 free relay.
With their win, the Pirates advanced to the CJ B final where they were scheduled to face top-seeded Manasquan on Thursday.
In North Jersey, Section 2 Division B, fourth-seeded Princeton was eliminated with a 97-73 loss to top-seeded Scotch Plains-Fanwood. Abbey Berloco won the 50 free and 100 free, while the Little Tigers also picked up wins from Melinda Tang in the 200 free and 100 butterfly, Maddie Deardorff won the 500 free, and Maddy Whaley won the 100 breaststroke.
The WW-P boys also reached the sectional final as the top-seeded Pirates topped Cinnaminson, 112-58, in the CJ B semifinals. Kurt Von Autenried (50 free and 100 fly), Richard Deng (200 IM and 100 back), Alexsandr Simonelli (200 free and 100 free), and Michael Zhong (500 free) all won events for the Pirates.
In the North 2, B Division, second-seeded Montgomery fell to third-seeded Morristown, 100-70. Jake Otterbein won the 200 free for the Cougars.
