Freehold Township Strokes Past Wall

The Freehold Township swim team defeated Wall at the Western Monmouth YMCA on Thursday, Jan. 13. The boys won 98-71, while the girls won 104-66. This win brings the Freehold Township boys record 6-2, and the girls record at 5-2.

 The dual meet consisted of 3 relays (200 and 400 free relay and 200 medley relay) and 8 events (50,100,200 and 500 free, 100 breast, back, and fly, and the 200 individual medley) consisting of one heat of boys and one heat of girls.

 Only the top three heats that finish in relays get points: first gets 8, second gets 4, and third place gets 2 points. In individual events, however, first gets 6, second gets 4, third gets 3, fourth gets 2, fifth gets 1, and sixth place does not collect any points. 

 The 200 free relay was an extremely close race for both the girls and the boys. The Freehold boys got first, fourth and sixth place while the girls got second, third, and fifth. 

 Other exciting and close races to watch were the boys and girls heats of the 100 fly.  While both heats were head-to-head, Freehold finished first. Sean Byrne won first place with a time of 1:02.37; Stephanie Ross finished first with a time of 1:04.14.

 Gabee Bosa and Nicole Fasano got first and second place in the 50 free, respectively. And the 100 back was dominated by Sean Byrne who got first with a time of 1:02.93 and second place taken by Daniel Galli with a 1:04.00. 

 The Freehold Township swim team is made up of approximately 47 swimmers, and a great number of them also practice for the Freehold Y swim team.  While none of the swimmers received personal best times at the meet--the team as a whole performed very well, Head Coach Heather Woolley said. 

“We were very optimistic going into this meet,” Woolley, the Freehold Township head coach for seven years, said. “Usually when we are a little more confident going in to a meet we try to switch around the events or let some other kids swim events that they normally wouldn’t get to.”

 With some more difficult meets coming up to challenge Freehold Township, this meet was a great opportunity for the swimmers to compete in their “off” events.  

The swim teams next meet will be against Middletown South on Wednesday, Jan.19. It will begin at 3:30 p.m. and take place at the Raritan Bay YMCA.