Scotch Plains Boys 2003 Swim Preview

While the other winter sports started their seasons last weekend, swimming has already finished its third week of competition. Before the Scotch Plains football team completed its season against Ridge, the boys and girls teams had already contested their big meets against Westfield. That shouldn’t be surprising since swimmers as much as any athletes have little or no off-season with club meets supplanting high school competition when the season ends in March.

Coached by second year mentor Jessica Hulnik, both Raiders teams are off to fast starts. The boys are 4-2 losing to state powerhouses Westfield and Hillsborough, while the girls

are 4-1 with state number 4 Westfield giving them their only loss.

“ I'm really pleased with the start of our season ,” said Hulnik.

“We are in a good place as we head into our holiday training session which will include longer and more intense practices.”

This is only the fourth season that the boys and girls teams are separate. The growth of swimming at the club level has made it easy for Hulnik to have more than enough athletes for each team.

“I am very lucky in the fact that this is not the first competitive swimming program for 95% of my swimmers. The majority of them, even the ones that do not swim year round, have grown up swimming at the local summer swim clubs before joining the high school team. That is also one of the reasons we tend to do so well ,” said Hulnik.

The strength of each team is its versatility according to the coach.

Leading the boys are senior co-captains Jon Sheffield( butterfly and free style) and Deryck Middleton (distances and individual medley) and juniors David Hauptman (freestyle), Jon’s younger brother junior excited about any challenge that he faces. Mike Sheffield(jr) is a butterflier and a breaststroker. He is having a great season so far, contributing many points to the team. Junior Alan Neuhauser gets faster every meet and I am excited to see where he will be come the end of January. Sophomore backstroker Mike Fragna is also having a great start to his season. Freshmen Colin Campbell, Mike Miller, Matt Miller, & Dan Neito have been great for us so far and I look to them to play even more of a role come counties and states.

1) Can you explain how a coed swim meet works? My guess it is to accommodate
Certain teams that don't have enough kids to fill out a boys or girls team. That would be correct. Some teams do not have enough swimmers to split into separate teams. While these teams may be listed in the co-ed results section of the newspaper, they will have to compete as a boys' team in state meets.

2) How would you characterize the boys' season so far? I'm really pleased with the start of our season. We are 4-2 with victories over Linden, Union Catholic, Elizabeth, and Cranford. Our 2 losses were to powerhouses Hillsborough and Westfield. We are in a good place as we head into our holiday training session which will include longer and more intense practices.

3)How would you characterize the girls' season so far? Again, I am quite pleased. We are 4-1 with our only loss being to a very strong Westfield team.

4) What are the strength's and weaknesses of each team?The strengths for both teams lie in their versatility. That is we have many swimmers who excel in several different events. It enables us to keep opponents guessing as to what our line-up will be for each meet. Our other strength would be our sense of team. These swimmers will do whatever is necessary for the win. Even if it means swimming back to back events or events which they are unaccustomed to. As far as weaknesses go, we really don't have any. As with all sports, we have some things we would like to work on a little bit more, but I am pretty happy with what I have seen so far.

5) How different are the workouts for each team? where do they work out? We workout out at the Fanwood Scotch Plains YMCA. Right now the workouts are the same. Six meets in December is tough so our main focus has been on building a good endurance base. Our holiday practices, the dreaded Grinch Week, will be starting soon and we will be able to really intensify our workouts and emphasize stroke and turn work with the extra pool time.

7) It appears that most of your athletes don't play other sports. Is that the
nature of swimming these days to be a year round sport? For some of them, not for all. While many of our point scorers are year round swimmers, several are not. We have key athletes on this team who also play football, soccer, dance, and even synchronized swimmers. We all combine together to create successful seasons year after year. However, I am very lucky in the fact that this is not the first competitive swimming program for 95% of my swimmers. The majority of them, even the ones that do not swim year round, have grown up swimming at the local summer swim clubs before joining the high school team. That is also one of the reasons we tend to do so well.

8) If you haven't mentioned individuals on each team please do so. Say
something about Dave Hauptman and the Sheffield brothers. David(jr) is mainly a sprinter, but he can pretty much do it all. He's the guy you want anchoring your relays when the meet is close. Jon Sheffield(Sr), co -captain, is a butterflier and a sprinter. Each year he steps it up a little more and I expect this last season to be his best ever. Deryck Middleton(Sr), co-captain, is a distance swimmer and an IM'er. He is one of our more spirited swimmers and he is always excited about any challenge that he faces. Mike Sheffield(jr) is a butterflier and a breaststroker. He is having a great season so far, contributing many points to the team. Junior Alan Neuhauser gets faster every meet and I am excited to see where he will be come the end of January. Sophomore backstroker Mike Fragna is also having a great start to his season. Freshmen Colin Campbell, Mike Miller, Matt Miller, & Dan Neito have been great for us so far and I look to them to play even more of a role come counties and states.

9) How much does it hurt to see two ex Raiders like the Swensons dominate every
meet for another high school? The Swensons are great kids and I'm glad to see their hard work paying off resulting in fast times.