Scotch Plains Swimmers Sweep Past Ridgewood

With the state tournament just a week away, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High varsity swim teams played host to an always competitive Ridgewood squad on Thursday afternoon. Both the SP-F boys and girls teams came out victorious at the meet, held at the Jewish Community Center in Scotch Plains.

The boys won 107-63, led by key scores in the 200 medley relay, the 200 free, the 200 IM, the 50 free, the 100 free the 200 free relay and the 100 breaststroke.

"We came in with a win in the medley relay and everything else went according to plan very smoothly," said Dan Napolitano, who won the 100 free in 51.01."We didn't have to worry too much about that fourth relay at the end."

Napolitano was also part of the 200 free relay team, along with Mike Rizzo, Jason Schaub and Greg Baliko, who posted a time of 1:37.21.

Mike Napolitano captured the 200 free, with Baliko taking the 200IM and 100 breast.

"This year we knew it was going to happen," Napolitano said. "Everything's starting to come together, everyone's starting to improve, the whole team."

It's been a strong year for the boys' team, who are 10-1 on the season. And it's also been a good year for Napolitano, who has exceeded his own expectations.

"In the counties, we won that 200 free," he said. "I did get second in the 100 free and my performance so far this year, I've impressed myself. I've impressed a lot of other people so I'm really happy with this year. We're a confident team. We're happy with the way things are going. The brackets come out for states soon, so we're excited to see what goes on there. We have our first state meet coming up on Friday next week, so we're real excited about that."

Meanwhile, the SP-F girls' team was not to be outdone, earning a 93-77 victory over Ridgewood, which improved their overall mark to 11-1 on the season.

"Ridgewood was definitely a very strong team," said girls' swimmer Kelsey Rossi. They were definitely stronger than we expected. I think we did a good job, especially getting not only first place, but we really tried to get all the other places too, thirds and fourths and even fifths. We did a really good job as a team."

Rossi captured a pair of events, including the 50 free and the 100 free, which were both important to the final outcome.

"I was just trying to go as fast as I can and it worked out for the best," she said. "Ana (Bogdanovski), who also did the sprints with me, did a great job, too. We won both sprint events, so that was very good. Ridgewood is very strong in the distance and the IM events, so it was definitely a surprise to see that we got 1-2, but we were happy with it. "

"We didn't necessarily go our best times, but we definitely held it together and did what we needed to do at the meet," added coach  Jess Hulnik, who's in her 15h season.

Caitlin English won the 200 free, along with the 200 free relay, teaming with Steph Baliko Maggie O'Brien and Rossi. So far, the keys to the girls' season has been the importance of everyone on the squad and it showed this time.

"We definitely make everyone know that everyone in the pool counts," Rossi said. "Weather you're finishing first or fifth, every point counts and every point is really important and everyone is a contributor."

Hulnik was very impressed by her teams' performance in the county meet, with the boys and girls taking second place.

But now the states are on the horizon, and expectations in Raider land are high.

"Hopefully everyone stays healthy and that they all swim well," said coach Judy Sharkey. "The state sectionals would be very nice. We definitely have a chance. I think that we have a good shot at making it far. We definitely are hoping to make it to the sectional final, if not further, but we're just going to play it meet by meet. We have a strong team this year, a lot of depth and I think we can do very well."