BROWNS MILLS – During the break before the 400-meter free relay, the senior members of the Moorestown High School girls' swim team were presented with balloons and a bouquet of flowers commemorating the final participation in the Burlington County Swim League Open. Meghan Miceli picked up some gold to make her day even more memorable.
Miceli, a senior co-captain, won the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke to highlight Moorestown’s day at the invitational held at the Burlington County College pool.
In the 200 IM, Holy Cross’ Melissa Mullin, who was seeded second behind Miceli, had a slight lead after the butterfly leg, but Miceli worked the backstroke leg to draw even and used the breaststroke leg to separate herself from the field. She finished in two minutes, 15.10 seconds, her best time of the season, and beat Mullin by more than two seconds.
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“That was a season’s best time so far,” Miceli said. “It felt great. I was looking to get back to individual states in March.
“In fly I was just trying to keep it long. Backstroke, the goal was to get ahead. In breaststroke I wanted to keep it going. It is my best stroke, so I wanted to use it to my advantage. When I got to freestyle I was just trying to bring it home.”
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She had a little extra incentive going into her second individual event, the 100 breaststroke. Two events before, Moorestown’s 200 free relay was disqualified after finishing first. Referees ruled that Miceli and Greta Schneider had left early on their relay starts.
“Hey, I didn’t think so,” Miceli said. “But they would know better than me. I was mad, but I just got myself ready to swim the breast.”
Miceli was seeded third behind Mullin and Moorestown teammate Catherine Levins. Miceli and Levins swam the first 50 yards of the 100 breaststroke virtually even, but Miceli had excellent second and third turns to pull away. She won in 1:08.94, with Levins finishing second.
“I was happy with that,” she said. “The school record is 1:08.40, which I did last year. Maybe I’ll break it at states. I’m more of a 200 breaststroker so I was just trying to build in the first 50. My back 50 in the 100 is always much stronger.”
Also for the Quakers, Schneider finished second in the 50 free and third in the 100; Levins was fourth in the 200 IM in addition to being second in breaststroke; Emily Lubin was third in the 200 free and fourth in the 500; and Nicole Scola was third in the 50 free and fourth in the 100.
Burlington County Swim League Open
Moorestown Top 6 Finishes
200 Medley Relay-3. Moorestown (Lauren Bagley, Catherine Levins, Sam Trivinia, Nicole Scola), 2:00.85; 200 free-3. Emily Lubin, 2:02.28; 4. Kaitlyn Hynoski, 2:17.97; 200 IM-1. Meghan Miceli, 2:15.10; 4. Levins, 2:23.01; 50 free-2. Greta Schneider, 26.50; 3. Scola, 26.76; 4. Trivinia,,27.06; 6. Margaret Wilson, 28.83.
100 butterfly-2. Becky Scholl, 1:06.42; 100 free-3. Schneider, 58.11; 4. Scola, 1:00.58; 500 free-4. Lubin, 5:42.37; 100 breaststroke-Miceli, 1:08.94; 2. Catherine Levins, 1:10.16; 400 free relay-2. Moorestown (Schneider, Levins, Lubin, Miceli), 3:51.84.
