Area Swimmers Place in ECT

SOUTH ORANGE — Nancy Yang was holding on tight to her tie-died pillow after the Essex County/Super Essex Conference Swimming Championships at Seton Hall University on Saturday.

The Livingston swimmer, a sophomore, had just grabbed a pair of third place finishes in the county tournament to help Livingston garner a sixth place finish with 99 points.

Yang finished third in the 50-meter freestyle at 25.16 and third in the 100-meter freestyle at 56.80.

"My favorite is the 50-meter. I like to get it out of the way.  I was really surprised with the 100," said Yang.

The Lancers boys finished seventh in the county tournament with 95 points while also taking sixth in the Super Essex Conference meet.

The Newark Academy boys finish in sixth place with 101 points, just ahead of Livingston in the county, and fifth in the Super Essex Conference meet.  The Minutemen girls swim team came in 10th place with 26 points.

The Minutemen boys team picked up several points from its relay teams and also individual achievements from senior Spencer Rice and freshman Arjun Arora.

The best finish for Newark Academy came in the last race, the 400-meter freestyle relay; the boys took third place with a 3:37.08 finish from swimmers Andrew Morrison, Mike Alelov, Arjun Arora and Spencer Rice.  The group beat its seeding time by more than two minutes. Also, Rice came in sixth in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:58.13 while Arora swam to a sixth in the 50-meter freestyle at 24.47. 

Livingston boys head coach Scott Schroeder was happy with his team's results and also some of the individual results.

"I think we did well considering the low turnout we had," said Schroeder about the down year in terms of the number of swimmers coming out.

Schroeder pointed to the team's 400-meter freestyle relay that finished in sixth place; Iko Mikadze, Stanley Cho, Alvin Chong and Illya Vasilyev finished at 3:40.84.

"It was a surprise in the 400 free relay because we did not have our top swimmers in it," said Schroeder.

Complete results are available at the Essex County/Super Essex Conference Swimming Championships Web site.

Here's a sampling of Livingston and Newark Academy results (the top 12 finishers gain points for their teams):

GIRLS:

200-meter Medley Relay

2. Livingston, Eeshin Chang, Jessica Chu, Nancy Yang and Michelle Lee, 2:00.67

50-meter Freestyle

3. Nancy Yang, Livingston, 25:16

6. Chang Eeshin, Livingston, 26.55

9. Kaitlin Farinella, Livingston, 27:56

12. Michelle Lee, Livingston, 28:24,

100-meter Freestyle

3. Nancy Yang, Livingston, 56.80

100 Backstroke

9. Eeshin Chang, Livingston, 1:06.73

100-meter Freestyle

6. Spencer Rice, Newark Academy, 52.35

7. Arjun Arora, Newark Academy, 52.36

200 Individual Medley

5. Jessica Chu, 2:26.00

200-meter Freestyle relay

7. Newark Academy, Elizabeth Coscia, Isabelle Jeng, Brenna Gormally, Katie Bu, 1:57.95

BOYS:

200-meter Medley Relay

6. Livingston, Iko Mikadze, Stanley Chu, Illya Vasilyev and Mike Bao, 1:49.02

9. Newark Academy, Andrew Morrison, Ben Aiken, Mike Alelov and Arjun Arora, 1:58.58

200-meter Freestyle

6. Spencer Rice, Newark Academy, 1:58.33

200 Individual Medley

10. Stanley Chu, Livingston, 2:16.15

12. Ben Aiken, Newark Academy, 2:18.87

50-meter Free

6. Arjun Arora, Newark Academy, 24.47

100-meter Butterfly

4. Illya Vasilyev, Livingston, 56.87

5. Iko Mikadze, Livingston, 57.15

9. Mike Alelov, Newark Academy, 59.77

100-meter Backstroke

3. Iko Mikadze, Livingston, 57.50

100-meter Breaststroke

5. Stanley Chu, Livingston, 1:08.51

200-meter Freestyle relay

8. Newark Academy, Ben Aiken, Peter Ingatto, Logan Erickson, Spencer Rice, 1:41.47

10. Livingston, Illya Vasilyev, Brian Lee, Mike Bao, Alvin Chong, 1:43.73

400-meter Free Relay

3. Newark Academy, 3:37.08, Andrew Morrison, Mike Alelov, Arjun Arora, Spencer Rice

6. Livingston, 3:40.84, Iko Mikadze, Stanley Cho, Alvin Chong, Illya Vasilyev