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.”