2/17/2009 - SCIL Swim Festival First Class
When I sat down to write my blog last week, I was all set to write about what a wonderful experience I had at the Sussex County Interscholastic League Swim Festival.
But as fate would have it, the news broke about High Point being booted from the state team tournament in wrestling and I decided to focus on that instead.
Well, it has been a couple of weeks, but, better late than never, right?
I had not covered the SCIL Festival probably since the early 2000s, but it seemed like old times again. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and once again, Pope John and Vernon were vying for the team crown on both the boys and girls side, just like when I attended my first Festival back in 1989.
The format has changed a little since I last worked the meet, but it didn’t take long for me to remember what a well-organized event the Festival is every year. From Meet Director Marguerite Mulcahy to all the people working in the scoring area, it was a first-class operation with no major glitches. And you can’t forget Festival historian, Pope John assistant coach Bob Hopkins, who has been the leading ambassador for swimming for as long as I have been covering sports in the area.
In fact, there was an electrical power issue at one point, but the meet did not miss a beat due to the diligence and hard work of everyone involved. No surprise there. The people in the swim community have always been an efficient and tight-nit group.
They are extremely passionate about the sport, a sport that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle when it comes to wrestling and basketball in this area when it comes to media coverage (that is something we hope to improve on at Mugs Media in the future).
But I have always been a fan of swimming in this area for years. It all started when I covered the sport for the old Vernon News and it helped that Vernon was and still is a power in the sport. It also helped that a guy like former Vernon swim coach Bob Trenz was there to show me the way as well as current PJ coach Ed Wynne, who was coaching the Lions back in the day, too.
Both coaches are in the Sussex County Hall of Fame and in mine as well for what they have done for the sport and for helping me when I was first starting out.
However, what it all comes down to is the swimmers and the great competition. The Festival, despite how well it’s run, would not be nearly as thrilling if it weren’t for the top notch talent the SCIL produces every year.
I have seen my fair share of great swimmers over the years and you think after they graduate, “Well, we won’t see the likes of them anytime soon.” But you know what? You do. Which is simply amazing.
Right now, the greatest boys swimmers I’ve seen are pretty obvious to SCIL swim fans. Ryan Olsen of Vernon (2004), who was tragically taken away from us last summer in a fatal car accident, and Michael Gross of Sparta (1998), are the only SCIL boys swimmers to win individual gold medals at the Meet of Champions.
On the girls side, take your pick. You can make an argument for a number of different girls like Laurie Gazdalski, Meghan Hast, and Lisa Jones of Pope John or Kellyanne Tomasula, Sarah Bond and Emily Trenz of Vernon.
Melissa Flynn had a wonderful run for Lenape Valley and won the Outstanding Swimmer Award three straight years, from 2005-2007.
And if want to go by more recent results, you can’t argue with Kristen Ferriero of Pope John, who recently wrapped up her third straight Outstanding Swimmer Award and is the record holder in the 200 freestyle (2:11.89).
But for overall consistent excellence over a four-year career, Sarah Murphy of the old UNLV teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s is the tops for me. Murphy won or shared the Outstanding Swimmer Award all four years she competed, a record that can only be tied, and one she currently holds by herself.
Only Murphy, Ferriero, Flynn and Tabitha Jacobus of High Point back in the Festival’s infancy in the early 1980s have won three straight OSAs. Pretty impressive stuff.
Two weeks ago, the team title on the boys side came down to the 400 freestyle relay and the PJ boys took second to wrap up the team title, avenge its dual-meet loss to Vernon and end High Point’s impressive streak of two straight titles under its outstanding coach and the heir apparent to Trenz and Wynne, Erik Carlson.
And Pope John’s girls stormed to their fourth straight crown in impressive fashion as Ferriero (100 and 200) paved the way with two wins. Nik Lumkong also posted two wins for the PJ boys in the sprint freestyles, the 50 and 100.
The swimmer of the day, in my opinion, was Ayman Andrews of Vernon, who turned in one marvelous swim after another. He swam the anchor leg on the gold-medal winning 200 medley relay and 400 free relay and he smoked the field in the 400 free with a 4:22.21, topping his closest competitor by eight seconds.
Andrews, who received an appointment to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, saved his best performance for the 100 butterfly, where he shattered Festival record of 57.79 set by Chris Cooper of Sparta in 2000 with an incredible time of 56.89, the top time in the entire state this season.
But as I said before, amazing efforts from the swimmers in our area are not surprising to me. I know how serious the people take swimming around here and results show it. And what makes it even more impressive is that there are only two pools used by the high schools in the SCIL, Kittatinny and Sussex Tech.
Could you imagine what kind of damage the swimmers up here could do on the statewide level if there were more pools and swim time readily available? Well, that is a blog for another time, but until another pool is built, it won’t slow down the top guns in the area.
HATS OFF…A quick congratulations to Newton and Lenape Valley for winning wrestling section titles Friday night and making it to Toms River. Although both teams lost to South Jersey power Paulsboro, they gave a good account of themselves and did the SCIL proud in its last season.
Once again, the SCIL showed that for a small 10-school conference, it can stand up to any league in the state, including the monstrous Shore Conference, when it comes to wrestling.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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