Boys Win Thriller, Girls Dominate Swim Meet

The West Morris Central Boys and Girls Swim teams both swam to victory against Pequannock on Jan. 18 at Centenary College. 

The Boys team pulled off their win despite only two first place finishes, relying on the depth of their relays. Aaron Vinh placed first in the 50 Freestyle, while Michael Schommer placed first in the 500 Freestyle. Vinh anchored the 200 Free Relay with Devon Holm, Matt Gruby, and Troy Antonucci that out-touched Pequannock. The medley relay (Antonucci, Donnelly, Schommer, Vinh) placed second.

Troy Antonucci had two second place finishes in the 100 Free and 100 Backstroke. Adding more second place finishes were Austin Farnworth (200 Free), Holm (200 IM), Gruby (100 Fly), and Matt Donnelly (100 Breast).  Contributing to the scoring with third place finishes were Evan Beyerl (50 Free), Andrew Tamburrino (500 Free), and Ray Waters (100 Back).

Chris Meyler (200 Free), Lucas Stahlhut (200 IM), Ryan Vinh (100 Fly), Tyler Dlouhy (100 Free), and Mario Bracero (100 Breast) all had fourth place finishes.

In order for the Boys to win the meet, they needed a first and second place finish in the last event, the 400 Free Relay. The relay team of Vinh, Schommer, Gruby, and Holm won easily. The relay of Donnelly, Beyerl, Waters, and Tamburrino were neck and neck with Pequannock. Andrew Tamburrino dove into the pool behind Pequannock, but was able to out-touch Pequannock in the end for the second place finish, and meet win. The Boys are now 5-2 for the season.

The Girls team won easily against Pequannock by a score of 76-17, bringing their record to 4-3. Double first place winners were Katie Papa (200 IM, 100 Back), Paige Stricker (200 Free, 500 Free), Jessica Chu (50 Free, 100 Free), and Molly Shannon (100 Breast, 100 Back). Ashley Laden won the 100 Butterfly.

Finishing in second place were Rachel Schmitt (200 Free), Violet Ungemach (200 IM), Shannon Dagon (50 Free), Olivia Latran (100 Free), Samantha Beatrice (500 Free), Elyssa Lamperti (100 Back), and Sabrina Belen (100 Breast).

The Girls won all three relays, the Medley Relay (Papa, Shannon, Stricker, Ungemach), the 200 Free Relay (Chu, Dagon, Laden, Lamperti), and the 400 Free Relay (Laden, Lamperti, Schmitt, Shannon). 

Contributing in the relays were Lindsey Hoffman, Samantha Belen, Danielle Armenti, Elizabeth Worth, Katelyn Cappello, Kyla Tiernan, Rebecca Trillo, and Lauren O’Dowd.

All information and photos provided by Shelley Stricker.