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.