2007 Westfield Boys Swimming Group A finals

In five enthralling days last week, the Westfield Boys Swimming team experienced the gamut of emotions, ranging from the exhilaration of beating arch rival Bridgewater Raritan in the section finals to the exasperation of coming up just short in the state finals, losing 89-81 to Cherry Hill West (CHW) Sunday at the College of New Jersey.

Even though the Blue Devils failed to extend their state record for public school championships to 21, first year coach Jeff Knight was satisfied that his team expended every ounce of energy all week.

“I am extremely proud of the effort our guys put in down at the finals. We had countless great swims and our guys put up a lot of best times,” said Knight.

“We may have lost to a good team but we come away from the meet not defeated but motivated to work hard towards next year.”

The meet went back and forth with several momentum swings and five lead changes.
The Blue Devils got off to a good start when the group of Freshman Matt Meserole, Senior Phil Anton, Sophomore Chris DeLaFuente and Senior Luke Baran. won the
200 medley relay in a season-best 1:42.40,
With CHW holding a 48-46 lead, Senior star PJ Harley took a first in his specialty, the 500 yard free style in 4:50.41 to help Westfield take a 57-53 lead. Harley also took the 200 yard free style in 1:47.15 and was unbeaten in five individual events last week.

“PJ has been great for us all year. His leadership in the pool has been inspirational. His leadership, along with that of the other seniors has helped mold this team into the successful group it has become,” said night.

With the Blue Devils trailing 63-61, Baran took the 100 yard backstroke in 55.52 giving Westfield its final lead at 72-68. before CHW won the final two events

The Blue Devils’ week got off to a great start when they avenged two close defeats to Bridgewater that had ended their last two seasons. For the past two seasons, the meet came down to the 400-yard freestyle relay. Bridgewater-Raritan came out on top both times, once on power points and once by a first-place finish.

This year, Westfield had a clear 81-75 lead going into the final event and the Blue Devils swept the top two spots to ensure the victory.

“We knew we were going up against a great team in B-R and if we were to win we would have to step up. They all responded with great swims and I was extremely proud of them,” said Knight.
Westfield won six of the 11 events, but depth and a sweep in the butterfly made the difference.
Harley took the 200 and 500 freestyle DeLaFuente won the 200 individual medley and led Westfield's sweep in the butterfly in 54.76 seconds. Baran finished second and Matt Blutfield took third. Meserole and Baran finished first and second, respectively, in the backstroke.
“It was a pivotal point was going 1-2 in the backstroke and then 2-3-4 in the breaststroke. Overall, the guys put us in a position to control our own destiny going into the last relay,” said Knight.

Sandwiched between the Bridgewater victory and Cherry Hill defeat was a 99-71 semi final victory over Ridgewood
Westfield finished first in seven events, including victories by DeLaFuente in the 200 individual medley, Matt Green in the 50 freestyle, Baran in the 100 butterfly and Freshman Mike Oster in the 500 yard free style.

Oster, Colin Sullivan, Baran and Green also combined to win the 200 medley relay.
Westfield will be well represented in the season ending Meet of Champions this weekend with Harley leading the contingent.

2007 Westfield Girls Swimming Group A champs

The Westfield Girls Swimming team gave their departing coach Jaime Ruszala a perfect going away present by erasing eight years of frustration with a 96-74 victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro South for its first NJSIAA Public A championship since 1999 last Sunday at The College of New Jersey in Ewing

Ruszala, who is getting married and moving to California later this year, knew her final team had the little extra needed to erase seven defeats in the past eight years by a combined 225 points and give her an elusive first title in her fourth season as head coach.

“This team really wanted it badly and for the first time, they knew that if they all came with their "A" game they would get it,” said Ruszala.

The Blue Devils were paced by double victories from Junior Alexi Kuska and
freshman Suzanne Lemberg and a school-record victory in the 100-yard backstroke from senior Kylie Fraser

Trailing 24-22 after three events, the Blue Devils took control of the meet
when Lemberg won in a personal-best 24.54, the second-fastest time in Westfield history and the fastest since 1979 state champion Dana Zonnevylle clocked a 24.41. Teammate Liz Hawkins was second in 25.14 and Lauren Sullivan was fifth in 26.03, giving Westfield a 33-29 lead it would not relinquish.

After a 2-3-4 finish in the 100 yard Butterfly extended the lead, Lemberg struck again by winning the 100 freestyle in 53.42, lowering her school record of 53.66.

“Suzanne is a really naturally talented athlete who works hard and who hates to lose. This is the ultimate combination of things. She will definitely keep getting better,” said Ruszala
Kuska added a victory in the 500 freestyle in a personal-best 5:05.88, the third-fastest time in school history, to push the lead to 61-49.

“Alexi works extremely hard and she really wanted to win for her teammates,” said Ruszala.
Fraser added the icing on the cake when she pulled away from a tight field In the backstroke to win in 1:00.60, breaking the school record of 1:01.53 that was set in 1989 by Brandeis Wright.
A 2-3-4 finish by Katie Morgan (1:09.38), Catherine Maguire (1:10.97) and Kate Heffernan (1:12.49) in the 100 yard breaststroke numerically clinched the meet for Westfield.
“Swimming WWP-S was good because we really know them well.

We have seen them in the semi-finals before and we also see them at Pirates every year,” added Ruszala.
“They have some really talented kids and a great coach. We knew it was not going to be easy, but they also swam so well on Thursday against Cherry Hill West that we thought they may be a little tired.”

The Blue Devils had a much easier path to the finals, routing Randolph 111-59 in the semi finals after crushing local rival Scotch Plains Fanwood 113-57 in the sectional finals, ending the Raiders’ state championship streak at two.

Against Randolph, Westfield won eight of 11 events, including all three relays.
Stephanie Albright won both distance freestyle events for the Blue Devils, taking the 200 in 2:20.59. Hawkins won the 50 freestyle, Reyes the 100 freestyle, and Lemberg showed her versatility by winning the 100 yard backstroke
Hawkins, Katie Morgan, Reyes and Lemberg won the 200-meter medley relay. Maguire, Morgan, Sullivan and Reyes won the 200 freestyle relay and Julie Cederoth, Kelsey Wilson, Kate Heffernan and Emily Budnick took first in the 400 freestyle relay.

The Blue Devils will undoubtedly wind up ranked second in the state, surpassed only by local rival Mt Saint Marys, who defeated Westfield in a dual meet. While Ruszala was thrilled to finish with such a great victory, she was left to wonder what would happen in a rematch.
“It's hard to say what would happen. The Mount is a great team and they have historically been able to turn it on when necessary. It would be an interesting match-up to say the least”

FSPY

If you could combine most of the top girl swimmers from Mt. St. Mary’s, Westfield and Scotch Plains-Fanwood, you would have high school swimming’s version of the “dream team” . The squad would have no weakness and have the stars to dominate large events and the depth to win smaller ones. It would seem impossible to put so much talent on one team but at the modest confines of the Fanwood Scotch Plains YMCA (FSPY) it is happening and the boys team is pretty strong, too..
It is no mystery that in a sport where fractions of seconds often separate the top competitors and good technique is crucial that the top coaches often attract the best swimmers and vice-versa. At FSY that magnet has been Ed Pretre, a 1992 graduate of Westfield High School, who swam in college for West Virginia.
While the FSPY still trails some of the older more established
clubs, the gap is continually narrowing as this years’ results show..

With strong contributions from FSPY members Maggie Gousman and Meaghan Gaynor, Mt. St. Mary’s will finish as no worse than the third ranked team in the state. FSPY swimmers Amanda Dickson,Brittany Reyes,Darrell Ann Smith and Liz Hawkins were key members of
fourth ranked Westfield. The hometown Scotch Plains Fanwood team, which enjoyed its greatest season ever has all its top swimmers Amanda Cameron, Jillian Murphy, Melissa Helock, Brittany Larkin and Mary Henkels among others, swimming for the FSPY.
“I think having practice each day and great coaches at the Y has helped me
to succeed both in YMCA meets and high school meets ,” said Murphy.
“ My coaches
push me to help improve all areas of my swimming including starts, turns and
technique. Swimming at the Y has taught me dedication and discipline to
help me succeed in swim and everything else I do.”


Among the boys teams, St. Joseph’s of Metuchen, the number two ranked school has top swimmers Scott Marino, Phil Luzny, Calvin Devries and Billy Swenson, younger brother of multiple state champion Eric Swenson, a 2004 graduate. Westfield’s top swimmer, Pat Daurio is coached by Pretre as is almost the entire Scotch Plains Fanwood team.

When Pretre took over the program five years ago, his goal
was to bring it back to the prestige level it had
in the late 80’s when he was on the team.
“ We are
heading in the right direction. It is exciting to be
part of such a focused and enthusiastic swim
program. “
Like many high school sports, clubs are providing a specialized type of instruction that can appear to overlap the high school coach’s duties.
“I get along with the high school coaches very well ,” said Pretre.
The key is having a good communication with the

coaches. It is important for all coaches, regardless
of their particular program, to always have the
athletes’ best interest in mind. We keep in touch to
be sure that we are all on the same page”.
“We've had an excellent relationship with Ed as well as other club coaches ,” said Westfield Coach Bruce Johnson.
“Obviously, we've gotten more top kids from the Westfield Y over the years. but Fanwood-Scotch Plains Y kids are all over the WHS record board - Aaron Weber, Darren Hertell, Dave Schwartz ,” said Johnson,

“I do believe that the High School coaches realize that
the kids benefit from our program. They all do an
excellent job with not burning the kids out. Swimmers
at The Y are on an 11 month training schedule and I
think the H.S. coaches have learned when it is time
for (our) important training or tapering ,” said Pretre.

“Even though he sees the swimmers in practice more than I do, Ed is really great about keeping me up to date on how the swimmers who swim for both Scotch Plains High School and the Fanwood YMCA are doing, not just in the water, but health wise as well,” said SPF Coach Jess Hulnik.
“ Ed is a fan of high school swimming and often shows up at meets. Furthermore, he is able to successfully walk that fine line of training his swimmers for big meets like JO's and Nationals in the spring, while still having them swim extremely well in the winter. I love the fact that I have such a great relationship with someone who has the best interest of the kids at heart.,” added Hulnik
“The high school team provides the kids with a chance to represent their town and school, and it gives them a lot of recognition that club swimming doesn't get ,” said Johnson.
“ On the other hand, it's at the club that most of the top swimmers get their technique and where they train almost year-round..”
Pretre credits much of his success to his young staff which includes Jarrod Hector, Chris Karlous, Chris Feinthal, Gillian Hauptman, Aaron Moore, Madeline
Glacken and Tracy Crane.
Pretre was captain of the 1992,
Westfield team, considered the school’s best ever and probably ranked the second best team in
state history.
“
It was definitely an honor to be captain of that team.
We had guys going 22.3 in the 50, 49.5 in the 100 free,
and 147 in the 200 free that couldn't even get in the
starting lineup. “
“He cares so much about the
swimmers and makes sure everyone is having fun and wants to swim for the
right reasons. Ed is my role model because I know that he has gone through
everything that I am going to go through or have experienced.,” says Cameron.
.

2005 Westfield- Girls Swimming State Finals

When the final vote for the state’s top girls swimming team is conducted, it might be a good idea to contact Westfield coach Jaime Ruszala. The Blue Devils’ are likely to finish fourth ranked in the state with their only three losses coming to the top three teams ranked above them.

Earlier this season they were defeated in separate meets by co-parochial champions Mt. St. Mary and Immaculate Heart Academy and Saturday they lost to unbeaten Vineland 105-65 in the NJSIAA/PSEG Public School A finals at The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township.

The loss came the day after Westfield’s most exhilarating triumph of the year when they defeated previously undefeated West Windsor Plainsboro South 92-78 to avenge a loss in the same round of the tournament a year ago.

“It was great to win the semi-final against a great team like WWP, “ said Ruszala.
“The girls were awesome on Friday night. It was our highest power point meet of the year.”

“Beating West Windsor and going to state finals was a goal of our team and I am really proud to have helped us reach that goal,” said senior tri-captain Amanda Dickson, who finished her team career brilliantly in both meets.
“We wanted to beat them this year, because they beat us last year.”

Although they won only three individual events it was the Blue Devil’s depth that came through. The key event was the 100-yard butterfly where Brittany Reyes, Kylie Fraser, and Chrissy Isabella swept the first three places. Ruszala was ecstatic about Isabella who has dropped five seconds off her time this year.

Freshman sensation Alexi Kuska provided crucial second place finishes in the 200 and 500-yard free style and Darrell Ann Smith was second in the 100-yard backstroke.

Liz Hawkins combined with Kuska, Dickson and Kirsten Selert to win the 400-yard free style relay, which provided breathing room late in the meet.

The only other individual winner was Dickson, who won the individual medley. Dickson also won two events against Vineland, the individual medley and led teammates Jackie DeLaFuente and Katie Morgan to a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Despite the heroics, the Blue Devils were overmatched against four time defending champion Vineland, which will probably wind up the state’s top team.

“They’re all very strong teams with talent and depth,” said Ruszala.
“I would like to see either IHA or Mount play Vineland.”

Dickson would vote for Vineland.
“Vineland was a really tough meet. We knew going in that they are the best
competition we would have all season, so we just wanted to keep a positive
attitude ,” said Dickson.
“They were all so tired on Saturday, but did so well, “ said Ruszala.
“They have so much heart.”

2005 Westfield Boys Section

In his forty plus years as swimmer and swim coach, Bruce Johnson thought he had seen just about everything, but the Westfield Boys coach was not quite prepared for what happened in the Blue Devils’ section final meet against Bridgewater Raritan(BR) Monday at Bayonne. Heavy underdogs against a team that had soundly whipped them by thirty points in the regular season, Johnson’s team led 76-64 with two events left and seemed poised to pull off one of the greatest upsets in the storied history of Westfield swimming.

A furious BR rally lifted them to a an 85-85 tie and their power points of 3,796 topped Westfield's 3,597, giving Bridgewater its first NJSIAA/PSEG North Jersey, Section 2, Public A championship. Power points are determined by a scale. Each of the top three swimmers or relays for each team in each event are awarded points based on their times. The faster the time, the more points awarded.

The tiebreak method made for a surreal scene of almost everyone in the crowded pool area breathlessly awaiting the calculation of which team would win., but Johnson refused to criticize the result..

“I think we would've won on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th tiebreakers, but they won on the one that counts first.,” said Johnson.

“We've eliminated Bridgewater several times, so maybe it was just their turn. They have a very strong team, and they're a great bunch of young men.”

Johnson, a superb strategist, had expertly juggled his lineup and two of his gambles worked to perfection. He switched Dan Chabanov to the Butterfly Leg on the 200 yard Medley Relay and Chabanov led off with a 25.0 split as each member performed flawlessly in the tenth fastest time in school history. The other swimmers were sophomore Luke Baran (26.4), and juniors Pat Daurio (27.0) and Brandon Cuba (22.1).

Johnson also split his powerful 200 yard freestyle relay into two teams and was able to grab the first two positions to outscored BR 16-2.

“When we took a 1-2. I thought that might be the difference, but
Bridgewater came back ,” said Johnson.

Cuba also anchored the 200 yard free style relay which included freshman Matt Green, sophomore Robert Whitehead, and Chabanov, and also touched first in his specialty, the 50 yard free style. Cuba has typified the team, showing continued improvement to swim his best times in recent weeks.

“Brandon worked way harder this year than ever and it paid off. He's an awesome talent, but only swims the high school. season because baseball is his main sport ,” said Johnson.

Daurio was also superb, winning his two best events, the 100 yard butterfly in 54.80 and the 200 yard individual medley in 1:59.42. Sophomore PJ Harley added a (1:53.24) victory in the 200 yard free style and swam a personal best of 4:59.74 to just miss upsetting BR star John Beningno in the 500 yard free style.

Some other heroes for Westfield included sophomore Phil Anton who was second in the breast stroke in a personal best time, and junior Mike Burns who placed fourth.

Despite the heroics Westfield went into the final relay with a precarious 81-75 lead which ,Johnson knew was one point short of what was needed to clinch the victory.

“We knew before the meet we needed 82 points before the final relay if we were going to win, and we had 81.” Johnson once again split his relays, hoping to grab a second and third, which in the 10-6-2 relay scoring would have won but Bridgewater grabbed the all important third place to force the tie break.

“It was one of the greatest meets ever and I've been going to meets for over forty years ,” said Johnson.

It was a spectacular ending to a season that had been challenging as Johnson tried to replace an outstanding senior class from a year ago and despite the ending has established a strong foundation for the next two years.

“No regrets. This season was one of the most enjoyable ever. To watch a bunch of kids improve as much as these guys did, and to watch them work as hard as they did and then do the shave thing and the buzz cuts hairdos it was just great..”

Although the team season has ended, Daurio (IM, breast), Baran (back), Cuba (50), and all three relays will compete in the Meet of Champions.

Westfield had reached the finals with a 108-62 rout of Piscataway and a 96-72 win over Hunterdon Central in the semi finals.

A young Scotch Plains team outscored Summit 90-80 in the first round of the State North Jersey B tournament before losing to Chatham 93-77 in the semi finals.

2005 Westfield-SPFGirls Section Champs

Westfield Girls Swimming Coach Jaime Ruszala has been supremely confident all season that her team was deep enough to withstand the loss of just about anybody but she was hoping that assuredness wouldn’t be tested in a situation as important as last Monday’s NJSIAA/PSEG North Jersey, Section 2, Public A championships at Bayonne.

Fortunately for Ruszala, her confidence paid off as the Blue Devils
overcame the loss of two of their top swimmers to win their third consecutive section championship by squashing Bridgewater Raritan 96-72.

The victory elevates Westfield into the state semifinals where they met West Windsor Plainsboro South(WWPS) yesterday in a rematch of the 2004 semi final, which was won by WWPS.

Scotch Plains joined their rivals as section champs the following day with 114-56 trouncing of Chatham. The Raiders swept all eleven events as their three biggest stars senior Amanda Cameron, sophomore Jillian Murphy and freshman Melissa Helock each won two events.

Coach Jessica Hulnik admitted that her team was holding nothing back in trying to pile up the highest amount of power pints possible to try and annex the top seed in the Public B group and give themselves an easier semi-final match.

At press time it was unknown whether Scotch Plains amassed enough points to outscore their chief rivals, Rumson and Princeton.

The Westfield girls, who were missing Jacqueline DeLaFuente due to illness, lost another front-line swimmer early when senior Amanda Dickson had difficulty managing her asthma and was forced to drop out of the 200 individual medley halfway through the breaststroke leg.

Sophomore Darrell Ann Smith won two events, the 200-yard Individual Medley in 2:19.89 and the 100-yard backstroke in 1:05.72 and the Blue Devils also got victories from freshman Alexi Kuska and sophomores Katie Morgan, and Kylie Fraser to offset the loss of their top individual swimmer Jackie DeLaFuente, who missed the meet due to illness.

“Darrell Ann had a great meet yesterday in both events ,” said Ruszala.

The Blue Devils also lost versatile tri captain Amanda Dickson midway through the meet., when she had an asthma attack in the middle of her individual medley race and was scratched from her remaining events.

Dickson had joined Fraser, Brittany Reyes and Kirsten Selert on the meet opening winning 200 yard Individual Medley(IM) relay which posted a 1:55.98 time.

“Amanda swam well on the relay and it started the meet off great.,” said Ruszala.

“It scares the kids (and me) when someone is hurt. It is hard to juggle in a dual meet ,when we don’t have the boys events in between ours, so the girls who stepped up literally had to jump in the pool to swim.”

Ruszala is hoping that DeLaFuente, the two time Union County 100 yard breaststroke champion and a fine all around swimmer will be available for the state semifinals, but Ruszala can be heartened by the performances of her young swimmers who have made massive improvements since the beginning of the year, most notably Kuska and Morgan, who were barely on the depth chart.

“Alexi is an awesome kid and awesome swimmer, “said Ruszala,
“She keeps dropping time. I can definitely count on her.”

“Katie is a very consistent swimmer. Her breaststroke time yesterday was a high school best for her and moved her up on our top 15 all time Westfield list,” added Ruszala.

“She is an extremely hard worker and is always looking to improve in any way she can. “

Other heroes for the Blue Devils included Reyes and Selert, who swam on both winning relays, and Elizabeth Hawkins, who anchored the 200-yard free style relay .

The Raiders had cruised into the finals with two one sided victories. In the first round Hulnik limited each swimmer to one event and one relay in a 98-72 triumph over Holmdel. In the second round, Hulnik used her top lineup in a 111-59 dismantling of Caldwell and it was more of the same against Chatham.

“Before the meet, we figured on a worst case scenario of 100 points, but many of our swimmers did better than expected ,” said Hulnik.

“I did not expect to win every event but we had a lot of swimmers
perform at their best.”

What has both Ruszala and Hulnik feeling confident about the championship matches and the future are the contributions of their younger swimmers. In addition to Helock, freshmen Rebecca Fox and Cathy Harley finished 1-2 in the 100-yard breaststroke and freshman Mary Henkels swam on two winning relays and was second in the 100-yard backstroke.

2005 Union County Girls Co-champs

In the end, the third time proved to be the charm for the Scotch Plains-Fanwood (SPF) Girls and the thirteenth year wasn’t unlucky for Westfield as a tie for the team title at the Union County Girls’ Swimming Championship Saturday at Dunn Center in Elizabeth left both teams and their coaches happy.

As expected, the meet was close and came down to the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay where the Raider foursome of Jillian Murphy, Brittany Larkin, Kristen Henkels, and Melissa Helock easily won in 3:46.82, but Westfield finished second, to
forge the tie as each team wound up with 275 points, nearly equaling the total of the next five teams.

“A county title is a county title regardless of how many teams you share it with ,” said an ecstatic SPF Coach Jessica Hulnik.

“It’s an honor to share this one with Westfield ,” added Hulnik who was thrown in the pool after the final event by her joyous team. It was a breakthrough accomplishment for the Raiders after a season of close misses against their traditional rival which included a dual meet loss and third place to Westfield’s second place at the prestigious Pirate Invitational two weeks ago.

“We're bringing the championship back to Westfield for the 13th straight season," said. Westfield Coach Jaime Ruszala.
"I would rather tie for first than finish second. Scotch Plains deserves a lot of credit.”

SPF might have won the meet outright except for the Walsh sisters of Kent Place who
won three events between them, defeating an SPF swimmer in each case. Star senior Amanda Cameron was narrowly beaten by .04 by Caroline Walsh after defending her 200-yard free style title with a 2:01.99 effort.. Freshman sensation Melissa Helock was twice edged by Blake Walsh in the 100-yard butterfly and 200 yard individual medley but anchored the final winning relay that brought the Raiders from six points back to tie.

After her narrow loss, Cameron was back five minutes later, swimming a 50 yard leg on the winning 200 yard relay that also consisted of Murphy, freshman Mary Henkels and Kristen Henkels and set a meet record with a time of 1:43.12, breaking the former record of 1:44.94 by Westfield in 2000.

“Amanda had her best time in the 500, and was so pumped that she had a great split on the relay ,” said Hulnik, who preferred to look at the Walsh sisters as a positive on her teams’ performance.

“After I got out of the water it was very hard to stand up ,” said Cameron.
“The 500 took all my energy. But, when my coaches came up to me and told me
we had a good shot at the relay record that got me pumped up.”.

An unsung hero was Larkin who gave the Raiders a sweep in the 200 yard free style, finishing second to Cameron as well as swimming on the final relay.

“Brittany had an awesome meet. She dropped three seconds in her 200 free and dropped close to a second in her 100 fly, and she just took off on that relay as did all of the girls. That 400 free relay just gets faster and faster every time it’s put to the test.,” said Hulnik.

Going into the final relay it had appeared as if a dominating Westfield effort in the 100-yard breaststroke might be enough for the Blue Devils to win. Jacqueline DeLaFuente defended her title with Katie Morgan, third and Callie Meserole, sixth..

The Blue Devils’ depth was also evident in the 100-yard free style where Elizabeth Hawkins and. Alexi Kuska closely trailed Murphy. Steady senior tri captain Amanda Dickson also contributed thirds in the 500-yard free style and the 200-yard medley as well as swimming on the two runner-up relays.

“It is such an honor to be part of a team that has won counties for over a decade in a row ,” said Dickson.
“It is exciting that we have won all four of my years. I am just glad that I could contribute.”

Improving SPF freshman Rebecca Fox broke up a Westfield sweep with a second place in the 100 breaststroke and had had a sixth place finish in the 200 yard Individual Medley. She also swam on the medley relay, which placed, second to the Westfield quartet of Kylie Fraser, DeLaFuente, Brittany Reyes, and Kirsten Selert.

Freshman Catherine Harley, who added an eighth place in the 100 yard breaststroke has now participated on two county championship teams in her brief high school career, contributing to the Cross Country team in the fall. Kate Kosenick also added a fifth place in the backstroke just behind Fraser, who was fourth and teammate Mary Henkels who was second.

“It's pretty exciting that we finally caught up to Westfield, “ said Cameron.
“ I would have been happy if we got second, because we haven't even gotten second in a few years. It seemed like it was for the best since I have some friends on
Westfield, so we shared the victory together.”

2005 Union County Boys Swimming

A multitude of second place finishes compensated for only one first place and enabled the Westfield Boys Swimming team to comfortably win its sixth straight Union county title and 48th in the last 49 years, Friday at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth. The Blue Devils finished with 249 points, 77 ahead of second place Oratory Prep of Summit to pace the 13-team field,

Westfield did receive one victory from star junior Pat Daurio who defended his specialty event the 200 individual medley title by a seven-second margin, winning in 2:01.19. Daurio was a surprising second in the 100 breaststroke where he was upset by defending champion John Closs of NewProvidence Daurio was joined as runner-up by sophomore P.J. Harley who had a pair of seconds in the 200 (1:53.76) and 500 freestyle (5:02.24). The Blue Devils also finished second in all three relays, gaining 78 of 96 possible points.

“We only had a shot at maybe winning three individual races (IM, 500, breast) and we won one and got touched out in the other two ,” said Coach Bruce Johnson.

“We had a shot at all three relays, but got touched out in all three. That's how it goes.”

Although Closs was the defending champion, Daurio swam the state’s fastest time in the 100 breaststroke in winning the prestigious Pirate Invitational two weeks ago but has been recovering from an injured thumb suffered against Lawrenceville on January 18.

“Pat had been only kicking for a week or 10 days since the injury,” said Johnson.
“He's getting back to where he has to get. If Closs beats Pat again at the Meet of Champions, that would be shocking..”

A young Scotch Plains-Fanwood(SPF) team finished sixth in the tight team standing, but was only seventeen points out of second. Senior Mike Sheffield
Became the first Raider to win an individual crown since 2000 when he won the 100 butterfly in 55.32, edging Gov. Livingston's Steven Rubino by .04 seconds.

“Mike had a really good meet ,” said Raider’s Coach Jessica Hulnik.
“He had a great race in his 100 fly and I am glad he was able to earn a county title.”

Overall Hulnik was pleased with her young team’s progress.

“We had several kids who dropped time today in their events and it’s hard to be disappointed when you swim well, regardless of the outcome. The swimming that I saw today just shows me that we are on our way to being ready for the state tournament.”

Senior David Hauptman contributed a third in the 100 yard free style and a sixth in the 50 yard freestyle and sophomore distance specialist Mike Miller was third in the 200 yard free style and sixth in the 500 yard free style. All three Raider relay team also place in the top six.

In addition to Daurio and Harley, Westfield placed swimmers in the top six in every event against the 100 yard butterfly. Their best event was the 200 yard individual medley where Matt Green and Phil Anton joined Daurio in the top five.

While we have two top kids we also have ten or so who were capable of scoring in the county meet, and they did. It's a question of numbers, and we had more ,” said Johnson.

2005 Union county Girls Swimming Preview

Although there will be over a dozen teams at the Union County Girls Swimming Championships Saturday at Dunn Center Elizabeth, the focus will clearly be on rivals Westfield and Scotch Plains which have separated themselves from the other county teams and currently rank in the top ten teams in the state. The Blue Devils seeking their thirteenth straight championship have won two close head to head battles with the Raiders this year and Westfield Coach Jaime Ruszala, while wary of the other county teams knows how the Raiders have closed the gap.

“Scotch Plains is a really awesome team as they have shown at both the Pirate and our dual meet. We need to be 100 percent,” said Ruszala.

In December Westfield prevailed 87-83 and two weeks ago at the prestigious Pirate Invitational at West Windsor, Westfield used its superior depth to outscore the Raiders 204-177 for second place.

Scotch Plains Coach Jessica Hulnik is convinced her team is peaking at the right time and just wants them to focus on swimming well and not about their neighbors to the north.

“It’s not so much about trying to beat any one team in particular It’s about swimming well during the post season. Like all of the other teams at this meet, we are trying to win it,” said Hulnik.

Senior Amanda Cameron, the defending champion in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle shares her coach’s attitude.

“It is not so important for Scotch Plains to beat Westfield as so much it is
important for our team to do our best. We have proved to ourselves and other teams that we are strong and we are one of the top teams this year. We are a very strong and young team and we are going to do our best whether it be beating Westfield or each of the swimmers doing our best,” said Cameron.

By any measure this has been a groundbreaking season for the Raiders.
Their finish at the Pirate Invitational was the school’s highest ever and was augmented by two first place efforts, including a triumph by freshman Melissa Helock in the 200-yard freestyle, the first individual Pirate championship since Dana Berkowitz in 2001. Helock also joined fellow freshman Mary Henkels, sophomore Jillian Murphy and Cameron to win the 400-yard freestyle relay and was second in the 100-yard butterfly.

“All of our freshmen have done extremely well so far this year. Melissa,
and Mary have had great seasons,” said Hulnik.

Hulnik is also counting on the versatility of Murphy. “I've really been pleased with the way Jillian has been swimming this year. She is swimming with a lot of confidence and focus this year. She has been very versatile and I love the way that she has been attacking her races this season ,” said Hulnik.

Hulnik is hoping that the big four of Murphy, Cameron, Helock and Henkels can win or place high in enough events to counteract Westfield’s phalanx of swimmers which is led by free style specialist Amanda Dickson, breaststroke favorite Jackie Delafuente, and butterfly specialists Brittany Reyes and Kylie Fraser. Like Cameron, Delafuente is the defending champion in her best event, the 100-yard breaststroke.

Ruszala thinks the meet may come to the short freestyle races and the relays where the teams should dominate but must also be wary of other teams.

“There are many talented swimmers in Union County who could very well challenge both our swimmers for places. In this meet every point we can get will be necessary.”