High expectations are not always easy to live up to in sports, but the Cranford Swim Team has kept its promise so far, earning an impressive victory over Roselle Catholic Thursday afternoon to improve to 5-0 on the season.
Junior Eric Walano crushed the competition with a powerful effort in the 50-meter freestyle, later earning a personal-best in the 200 freestyle relay. The soccer and baseball standout continues to impress in the pool, and his team is enjoying the success.
"It was a nice event. I was going for one of my personal bests, I got it, which was great," said Walano. "I had some other guys pushing me in the race, which is always good. It was nice to see us pull out another big win today. We just have to keep on winning these races."
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"I'm very optimistic about our skills, our ablilty," said head coach Barbara Kolesa. "We have lots of depth, and even some of our swimmers who are seasonal swimmers are doing phenomenal times. It's baffling to me, I'm so proud of them."
Cranford started the meet off with a victory in the 200 medley relay, finishing in a time of 2:10.04. Christian Woo, Kathleen French, Evan Brawley and Katie Pijanowski led the way.
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In the 200 freestyle, junior Rob Lento was victorious in 2:19.98, while Peter Gallo finished second in a personal best time of 2:25.51.Dmitry Kotov finished fourth.
Nick Kalafaitis catured the 200 individual medley in 2:20.18, while freshman Brian Leu was the runner-up.
In the 100-meter butterfly, Ivanna Gomez swam a personal-best time of 1:09:24, with the Cougars sweeping the top three spots thanks to the efforts of Jennifer Heine and Megan Byrne, who finished second and third respectively.
The 500 freestyle went to Katie Pijanowski, who also swam a personal best of 6:35:26, with Moira Guarisco third and Lori Joseph fouth.
In the 100 backstroke, Christian Woo won easily with a final time of 1:10:21, with teammate Gabe Nino placing second.
Kelly Miller took the 100 meter breaststroke in impressive fashion, timing out in 1:23:35, edging runner-up Will Allen. Newcomer Dan Couto finished a solid fourth in his individual debut.
And in the 400 freestyle relay, Kalafatis, Leu, Heine and Gallo wrapped up the sweep with their victory in 4:17:62, ending a big day which they hope will be a sign of things to come.
Cranford will face off against arch-rival Union Catholic on tap in a conference showdown next Tuesday at the Cranford Fitness Center's indoor pool.
"The season is going really good so far, we're undefeated, and I'm really excited about that," said French. "I was pretty confident because we had a lot of newcomers and we had a lot of experienced swimmers on the team and it was a really good way to get some of the older kids with experience with the younger kids and get them into it. It was a good setup from the start."
"I try to have fun with them, I try to build team camaraderie," said Kolesa. "It's great, they go along with it, they encourage each other and cheer each other on, and as I told them, keep it up because that's what's going to carry us through the season."
"Well, we never won anything before," said Walano. "This year, I think we have the potential to win our first conference title, which would be fabulous. I don't know if that could happen, but it's always within reach and it's something to go for."
