Athlete of the Week: Rachel Cortright a 'Total Package'

Ridgewood junior Rachel Cortright was not swimming in her top events on Friday but it was of little concern to her. She was ready to race–and do whatever it took to help her team win a state playoff meet.

Cortright swam in the 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle and the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay.

Ridgewood would drive by River Dell/Westwood, 111-59 to collect wins in those events.

Against River Dell/Westwood, Cortright helped the 200 medley relay team of Sophia Rosenfeld, Grace Kown and Effie Angus earn first place with a time of 1:59.97, more than nine seconds faster than the other Ridgewood relay team of Meg Shigeta, Rachel Anzano, Erin MacLennan and Julia Granski (2:08.99).

"You can put her in anything," said Ridgewood head coach Kevin Cook. "She is a true competitor and a gritty kid. She is excellent in any freestyle race. She is the total package."

Cortright finished first in both the 50-meter freestyle -- her first foray into the event -- and the 100-meter freestyle at 25.96 and 59.89, respectively. She set the new school record in the former event.

The junior swimmer is hoping to help lead Ridgewood to another state sectional title and advance in the state tournament.

Cortright recently helped lead Ridgewood to a 4th-place finish in the Bergen Meet of Champions (BMOC) with 126 points, 28 behind third-place Ramapo.

The junior placed second in the 200-meter freestyle (1:5.84) and 3rd-place in the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.21. Cortright was only behind IHA's Danielle Romain at 1:53.16 in the 200 freestyle.

Despite breaking her own record in the 100 butterfly, Cortright admitted she was disappointed with the 3rd place finish.

"I was not happy with how I placed," said Cortright, who was behind winner IHA's Casey Fazio and Ramapo's Katie Murphy.

Despite the accolades at the BMOC, Cortright said that it has been a tough season.

"It's been more difficult this year because I want to do well in academics," said Cortright who also juggles swimming for her club team.

She said that she currently spends between 12-14 hours in the pool and another five hours in dry land training (weight training, etc.) per week.

She added that she is looking at several colleges, but she's leaning towards Dartmouth University, adding that she wants to go to a NCAA Division I college.

"I met the coach and they have a great pool," said Cortright who added that her family has ties to Lehigh University. "I didn't like the pool (Lehigh) and it also is not a Division I school."

Ridgewood will host Livingston on Monday (5 p.m.) hoping to move on to the next round of the state tournament.