Westfield Boys Swim 2004-5 Preview

When hearing long time Westfield boys swimming coach Bruce Johnson discuss his team’s prospects, one can almost deduce a touch of arrogance until you examine his record and realize his teams almost always back up their coach’s confidence.

Johnson will start his eleventh year with a 134-32 record, the most wins for
Any Westfield swim coach, and nine Union County titles, nine sectional titles and six state titles, including the last three years and four of the last five. The
last two Westfield teams were ranked second in the state, behind St. Joseph of Metuchen.

“The last two years we were pretty stacked. Two years ago was the strongest
team I've coached, but last year came very close,” said Johnson.

Westfield graduated four state finalist swimmers, Ryan Bartholomew, Chris
Heinen, Josh Schoenfeld, Sam Gurdus, from last year’s state Public A champions, but the cupboard is far from bare.

“We took major hits the last two years at graduation, but all our main
competition except Hillsborough was hard hit, too. Cherry Hill
East, Vernon and Bridgewater all lost really, really good kids ,” said
Johnson.

Key returnees include seniors Dan Chabanov, Andrew Prunesti, juniors Brandon Cuba, Pat Daurio, and Kyle Murray, and sophomores Luke Baran and P.J. Harley.

“We don't have the kind of depth we've had recently, but you never know when kids will step up and be the next guy to surprise and provide that depth,” Johnson said.

“We have five or six known quantities; a couple of solid
newcomers and maybe a half-dozen veterans who could step up and give us that depth.”

Johnson is also looking for some of his newcomers to duplicate Harley’s
surprise performance last year.

“Last year P.J. was a huge surprise for us, dropping time that was amazing. We have a new sophomore, Colin Sullivan, who will help, and freshmen Matt Blutfield and Matt Green have been looking good,” Johnson said.

“And there's some new guys who definitely are green, but have potential.”

Several veterans who could be ready to step up include seniors Jeff Dresely and Jamie Hanas, juniors Mike Burns, Tom Fringer, Dan McGrory and Evan Vanarelli, and sophomores Phil Anton, Greg Blanton, Brian Corea and Brian Lee.

Johnson backs up his confidence by scheduling the toughest possible teams.
The Blue Devils have a brutal out-of-league schedule that includes Bridgewater Raritan, East Brunswick, St. Joseph Metuchen, Christian Brothers Academy, the Lawrenceville School, Bishop Eustace and Bergen Catholic. Bishop Eustace will be a Saturday night (Jan. 22) double-dual home meet, a concept that produced a turnaway crowd last year against St. Joseph Metuchen and Mount St. Mary.

“We'll lose some of them, maybe even a lot of them, but they definitely get
the kids prepared for the tough meets in the state tournament,” Johnson
said..

“We've always gone for a loaded schedule. Our goals remain the same, county champions, sectional champions, state champions, one at a time.”

The season begins Tuesday, Dec. 7, with an away meet at Kearny. Then comes a string of three straight home meets, Dec. 14 (Plainfield), 15 (Scotch
Plains-Fanwood) and 16 (Union). The archrival Raiders are the only team to have interrupted an incredible domination that the Blue Devils have enjoyed in the Union County championships when they stopped a run of 42 straight titles with a first place in 1999. The Blue Devils have regained the title the past five years to make the record 47 titles in 48 years.

Johnson extends a simple philosophy to his team, which is time tested.

“We just want to outwork every other team, both at high school and club
workouts, and be ready to defend all our titles in February,” he said.
“Everything goes through Westfield. They have to take it from us, which could happen, but we'll try to not let it happen.”