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Girls' Swimming: State championships prove to be extremely exciting
Saturday, March 5, 2005
By CHARLIE SPRANG
Courier-Post Staff
What an incredible day it was Sunday at The College of the New Jersey in Ewing.
I've been watching South Jersey high school swimming for the past 14 years and never witnessed a day that had the excitement and drama that was present on Sunday.
Three state championships meets - two decided by two points and another ended in a tie - all came down to the last relay, the outcome determined on which team not only had the best A relay but the best B relay as well.
It was heart-stopping, yell-at-the-top of your lungs exciting. It seemed like each meet was louder than the one that preceded it. The noise level was deafening all day, reaching a crescendo during the third and final meet.
It was one, or should I say three, for the ages.
Which brings us now to the season's grand finale, the Meet of Champions. If this weekend generates anywhere near the excitement the tournament did, the Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Deptford will be rockin'.
Here's what you might expect to see at the Meet of Champions:
200 freestyle
Top Seed: Nina Rossi, Princeton. Top three S.J. contenders: Joanna Thomas, Mainland; Cassie Cregar, Washington Township; Sabrina Warren, Vineland. Only a freshman, Thomas has a shot at winning twice. Cregar is steady and focused. Warren recently broke Heather DeHainut's team record in this event.
200 individual medley
Top Seed: Kaitlin O'Brien, Mt. St. Dominic. Top three S.J. seeds: Cara Smaniotto, Millville; Victoria Lederer, Wildwood Catholic; Kate Hafner, Cinnaminson. Smaniotto, a two-time All-South Jersey first team selection in this event, would like nothing better than to end her career with a state title.
50 freestyle
Top seed: Rebecca Kane, Mt. St. Dominic. Top three S.J. seeds: Renee Tomlin, Ocean City; Jill Smaniotto, Millville; Stevie Anderson, Vineland. Kane is seeded nearly a full second faster than anyone from the south, but these three underclassmen won't back down.
100 butterfly
Top seed: Rossi, Princeton. Top three S.J. seeds: Jill Smaniotto, Millville; Kathryn Moorby, Lower Cape May; Allison Vetter, Cinnaminson. Smaniotto could give South Jersey two freshman gold medalists. Interestingly enough, the record of 56.09 is oldest on the books, set by Vineland's Lisa Iori in 1981. Iori, now Lisa Trabuchi, is the mother of St. Augustine Prep freshman standout Blake Trabuchi-Downey.
100 freestyle
Top seed: Sarah Czar, Egg Harbor Township. Three more S.J. seeds: Tiffany Malatesta, Vineland; Renee Tomlin, Ocean City; Shannon Silber, Eastern. Czar is back after not swimming high school last year. Malatesta is the defending state champion eager to defend her title.
500 freestyle
Top seed: Thomas, Mainland. Three more S.J. seeds: Cregar, Washington Township; Sammi Edwards, Woodstown; Jenell Walsh-Thomas, Lenape. Thomas is seeded with a time of 4:59.16. She went six seconds faster back in October at a USA Swimming meet. Cregar was a first team All-South Jersey pick in this event last season.
100 backstroke
Top seed: Lauren English, Metuchen. Top three S.J. seeds: Kori Kraus, St. Joseph; Vetter, Cinnaminson; Kellene McCall, Gloucester Catholic. English, a National Junior Team member, is just three tenths of a second off the record. Kraus trains with Seahawks which swim out of Egg Harbor Township High School. St. Joe's doesn't compete as a team.
100 breaststroke
Top seed: Brienne VonRosendahl, Vernona. Top three S.J. seeds: Cara Smaniotto, Millville; Morgan Ley, Cherry Hill East; Emily Reichard, Eastern. Smaniotto is seeded a little over a second behind VonRosendahl, with Ley right behind.
The relays
Vineland swimmers, as is their routine, swim one individual event to concentrate on relays. No surprise the Fighting Clan is seeded first in all three. They are a little over a second off Haddonfield's 1999 record in the 200 medley relay, three-tenths under the record they set last year in the 200 free relay, and two-tenths over Shawnee's 2002 mark in the 400 free relay.
Coach
The teams you expect to see at the top - Vineland, Cherry Hill West, Mainland and Haddonfield - were there again, but Ocean City and Bishop Eustace demonstrated by season's end they are programs on the rise. Here is a very worthy list of possible Coach of the Year candidates:
John Casadia: Vineland has now won five straight Public A state championships. Its 105-65 victory over Westfield in the state championship was its 50th consecutive victory. The Fighting Clan was never seriously challenged all season.
Bob Cornell: This was Ocean City's first season as a split team. Half the 20-girl roster were first-year swimmers, but that didn't stop the Red Raiders, who were led by Renee Tomlin and Samantha King, from reaching the sectional finals.
Mike Parker: Bishop Eustace did not have a true standout center lane swimmer, but the Crusaders made it all to the Non-Public B state finals, where they lost to Academy of St. Elizabeth. Their victory over Mt. St. Dominic's in the state semis came down to the last relay.
Bob Querubin: Not one of the dominant Haddonfield teams like we've seen in the past, but one that pulled together at the end of the season and won the South Jersey Public B title.
John Rakowski: Mainland will go into the books as the first Cape-Atlantic Girls League champion. Knocked off previously undefeated Cherry Hill West in the Public A sectional semifinal before losing to Vineland in the final.
Scott Sweeten: Cherry Hill West graduated seven girls from last year's team but still went undefeated in the South Jersey League Mediterranean Division and advanced to the sectional semifinal.
Reach Charlie Sprang at (856) 486-2424 or csprang@courierpostonline.com
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