SP-F Girls Swimming Edged By Chatham In Sectional Final

PERTH AMBOY -- Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School swimming coach Jess Hulnik said that everything had to go right for her team to win its North II, Public B final.

Unfortunately for the Raiders, almost everything going right wasn't quite enough.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood fell to Chatham, 88-82, in the sectional championship dual meet Friday at ther Raritan Bay Area YMCA. The Cougars, the Morris County champions, won their second straight North II, Public B crown.

Ana Bogdanovski was the only Raider to win an individual event, finishing first in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events. Kelsey Rossi picked up a pair of individual second-place finishes (100 freestyle, 100 breaststroke) as well.

But Scotch Plains-Fanwood (12-2) also took second and fourth place in both of Bogdanovski's wins. In addition, the Raiders won two of the three relay races and had a golden opportunity to sweep.

"We swam a good meet," Hulnik said. "They're a great team, and they took a lot of close races. Sometimes, a second or two, in some cases even less than that, can make all the difference."

Chatham (15-1) just barely edged the Raiders to win the opening event, the 200 medley relay, but the result was a four-point swing that perhaps could have swung the meet.

"I don't want my kids to beat themselves up over anything," Hulnik said. "So I'm not going to do that. We did way too many good things today. I'm really proud of these girls."

The Raiders took an early lead, losing it in the second leg. But after three swimmers, they trailed by just .13 seconds. However, Chatham's closing kick was strong and the Cougars' 1:53.88 just barely edged Scotch Plains-Fanwood's 1:53.96.

The Cougars jumped out to a 31-15 lead by winning the 200 freestyle and sweeping the top three in the 200 individual medley.

"I told the kids there would be ebbs and flows in this meet," said Chatham coach Dave Steele. "(Scotch Plains-Fanwood) have strong freestyle sprinters. Winning that first relay, and those next two races was very important, knowing we'd take a hit."

And sure enough, Scotch Plains-Fanwood made a huge run, spurred by Bogdanovski. She scored a comfortable win in the 50 freestyle - 0.59 seconds ahead of Hannah Markey, who took second place for the Raiders - followed by another sprint win two races later, this time a 0.68-second margin in the 100 freestyle.

The Raiders' 200-yard freestyle relay team picked up another Scotch Plains-Fanwood win, cutting Chatham's lead to 64-60 with three races remaining.

"We had some girls swimming injured, swimming hurt," Hulnik said. "And we almost pulled it out. We were right there, we were so close."

But the Cougars' Kate Buchser (1:03.15 in the 100 backstroke) and Greta Leberfinger (1:07.99 in the 100 breaststroke) cruised to victory to cut off the Raiders' comeback.

"It was an odd meet," Hulnik said. "It's not often that you see a team finish 1-2, and then in the next race a 1-2 on their side, alternating back and forth."

Scotch Plains-Fanwood closed with another strong relay effort, as the 400 freestyle relay team of Bogdanovski, Becca Dunn, Jodie Thompson and Caitlyn English defeated Chatham's top team by more than three seconds.

Chatham 88, Scotch Plains 82

200 Medley Relay: Chatham (Julia Harrigan, Greta Leberfinger, Kate Buchser, Maggie Nelson), 1:53.88
200 Freestyle: Anne Trojanowski, Chatham (2:00.72)
200 Individual Medley: Leberfinger, Chatham (2:15.64)
50 Freestyle: Ana Bogdanovski, Scotch Plains (25.40)
100 Butterfly: Buchser, Chatham (1:02.23)
100 Freestyle: Bogdanovski, Scotch Plains (54.61)
500 Freestyle: Trojanowski, Chatham (5:23.86)
200 Freestyle Relay: Scotch Plains (Bogdanovski, Hannah Markey, Steph Baliko, Kelsey Rossi), 1:45.29
100 Backstroke: Buchser, Chatham (1:03.15)
100 Breaststroke: Leberfinger, Chatham (1:07.99)
400 Freestyle Relay: Scotch Plains (Bogdanovski, Becca Dunn, Jodie Thompson, Caitlyn English), 3:47.20