LIVINGSTON, N.J. - Livingston swimming head coach Tracy Rosenberg had a feeling that the state team playoff match with Morris Knolls would come down to the last race.
The Lady Lancers, the fifth-seed in the Public North 1-A, traveled to the Community College of Morris in Randolph to take on fourth-seeded Morris Knolls on Friday in the first round.
The victor of this race would take on top-seeded Montclair in the 1-A semi-finals.
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While Livingston held a close lead for most of the meet, the Lady Lancers could not seal the deal and the Golden Eagles nipped Livingston 87-83. Despite the unfortunate result, Rosenberg could not have been more happy with the way the girls swam in the state meet.
"We have several good races," said Rosenberg. "They all ran their best times today."
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Livingston was above water for most of the match with the help of victories in the 200 medley relay with first place finishes by Eeshin Chang, Nancy Yang and Jessica Chu.
Chu took first place finishes in the 200 Individual Medley and 100 breaststroke while Chang grabbed the top spot in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke; Yang gave the Lady Lancers extra points with back-to-back wins in the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly.
Rosenberg knew that it would come down to the last race, the 400 freestyle relay.
"I talked to the Morris Knolls coach and she said yes, it will come down to the 400," said Rosenberg.
Heading into the 400 freestyle relay, the Lady Lancers were ahead 79-77 and it looked good in the first half of the relay.
The Livingston group of Paige Stetson, Emily Verniero, Ariel Gelman and Karissa Agosto got off to a strong start, but the Golden Eagles top relay team caught up to them and passed them.
The Morris Knolls team of Nicole Harris, Kelly Schoneveld, Sara Bias and Jessica Stiles finished at 3:53.62 while the Lady Lancers finished with a time of 3:59.23.
"I knew that I could win the medley and the 200 and 400 could have gone either way," said Rosenberg.
The Lady Lancers got off to a very good start as the group of Chang, Yang, Chu and Kaitlin Farinella took first place in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:59.20.
But the 200 free relay team of Farinella, Stetson, Chu, Michelle Lee could not catch up to the Golden Eagles 200 team and the Lady Lancers fell four seconds behind Morris Knolls with a time of 1:52.93.
Livingston 83 Morris Knolls 87
Livingston results
200 Medley Relay
1. Eeshin Chang, Nancy Yang, Jessica Chu, Kaitlin Farinella, 1:59.20.
200 freestyle
3. Ariel Gelman, 2:17.83
200 Individual Medley
1. Jessica Chu, 2:27.09
50 freestyle
1. Nancy Yang, 25.46
100 butterfly
1. Nancy Yang 1:03.24
3. Paige Stetson, 1:03.24
100 freestyle
2. Eeshin Chang, 57.60
3. Kaitlin Farinella, 59.64
500 freestyle
2. Ariel Gelman, 6:24.15
3. Emily Verniero, 6:29.51
200 free relay
2. Kaitlin Farinella, Paige Stetson, Jessica Chu, Michelle Lee, 1:52.93
100 backstroke
1. Eeshin Chang, 1:07.62
3. Lauren Delturco, 1:13.31
100 breaststroke
1. Jessica Chu, 1:15.83
400 free relay
2. Paige Stetson, Emily Verniero, Ariel Gelman and Karissa Agosto, 3:59.23
