Zdroik wins three golds to lead Hillsborough, Pingry takes two relay wins at boys swimming MOC

SEWELL – One year after finishing in second and third across two individual events and two relays at last year's boys swimming NJSIAA Meet of Champions, the last thing Hillsborough senior Brad Zdroik wanted to do again this year was come in second again.

Zdroik atoned for that, winning the 200 free in 1:38.60 by nearly a full three seconds, followed that up with another gold medal in the 100 free (44.85), and finishing the day and his career by anchoring the Hillsborough 400 freestyle relay team to first place in 3:07.56.

"It feels great. All the hard work I've put in over the course of the year is finally paying off," said Zdroik, who will swim at Stanford next year. "That was my one goal, just didn't want to get second again."

Zdroik did have one second place finish, helping Hillsborough to a second place in the 200 free relay (1:24.83), however, when asked if there was any better way he could have ended his high school career, he responded, "I don't think so."

Pingry fared well also, as it started the day off with a come-from-behind win in the 200 medley relay as Sebastian Lutz and Kamau Holston helped close ground in the end to overtake Moorestown.

Lutz also captured the 50 free (20.56), winning it for the second time in his career after also taking it as a sophomore two years ago, and the Big Blue followed that up with a second relay gold medal, taking the 200 freestyle relay in 1:24.45 to edge Hillsborough.

"It feels good," Lutz said. "I put a lot of hard work in this summer with a lot of my teammates. I've been lucky enough to be a part of a good team that practices hard and has a lot of good kids that really want to swim fast and I think that a lot of people have helped me get to this point.

The two relay wins were certainly a redeeming victory for Holston, who on Saturday in the preliminaries, caused the Pingry 400 freestyle relay team to be disqualified after his goggles came off in the middle of swimming and he subsequently missed touching the wall, preventing Pingry from going for a sweep of the relays on Sunday.

"Today I really wanted to kind of like redeem myself. This is my last Meet of Champions, I'm a senior in high school, so I just wanted to do my all," Holston said.

"That's all I was thinking about behind the blocks. I haven't had something like that happened in years, since I was like eight years old. For that to happen yesterday, I was pretty heartbroken."

Ridge senior Aaron Schlemovitz won the 500 free relay in 4:37.32, holding off St. Augustine's Zach Washart by .13 seconds.

"It's definitely a big accomplishment," Schlemovitz said. "I've been working towards this since freshman year when Bradley Wachenfeld was on my team and he won, so it's great to have a repeat of someone winning it."

Westfield's John Lindros placed second in the 200 free (1:41.53), finishing behind Zdroik, while Hillsborough's Sam Hendrix came in third in the 100 free (46.89).

BOYS FINAL RESULTS

Top eight finishers qualify for championship final, next eight qualify for consolation final. Relays have two consolation finals.

Medley relay: 1. Pingry (Alex Wolfson, Jamie Finnegan, Sebastian Lutz, Kamau Holston) 1:34.03; 2. Cherry Hill East (Duncan Brookover, Nick Rosa, David Rowe, Pat Gillooly) 1:34.43; 3. Moorestown (Alex Martin, Zach Fong, Tim Runfola, J.D. Schurer) 1:34.49; 4. St. Augustine (Luke Snyder, Colin McHugh, Ryan Seay, Andrew Burr) 1:34.9; 5. Seton Hall Prep (Colby Dixon, Tavish Boyle, Brandon Wang, Justin Dunn) 1:35.81; 6. Shawnee (James Elmendorf, Brenden Meagher, Jon Burkett, Matt Boblenz) 1:36.01; 7. Bergen Catholic (Tom Scrivanich, Ralph Cannarozzi, Joe Om, Luke Boswell) 1:36.31; 8. Lenape (Steven Shek, Dragan Vujovic, Jacob Gray, Nathan Yezril) 1:36.65; 9. Morristown (Michael Macchia, Owen Breslin, Matt Critchley, Brian Honicky) 1:37.81; 10. Mainland (Derek Kneisel, Brian McGoarty, Brandon Truong, Justin Liu) 1:39.2; 11. Pequannock (Kyle Stefanides, Tyler Schaub, Jack Pownall, Kevin Richard) 1:39.42; 12. Hillsborough (Kian O'Brien, Daniel Sanders, Eric Kohlenstein, Matthew Sanders) 1:39.73; 13. St. Peter's Prep (John Juan, Winston Chu, Michael Dillane, Ed Oser) 1:39.93; 14. Toms River South (Brett Weiss, Jacob Limaldi, Matt Buccella, Maxwell Berntsen) 1:40.62; 15. Ridge (Jackson Crewe, Andrew Glockenmeier, Aaron Schlemovitz, Alex Klippel) 1:40.91; 16. Westfield (David Lindros, Steve Warren, Colin Daniel, Gavin Conlon) 1:41.71; 17. J.P. Stevens (David Wang, Matt Chan, Gary Sun, Paul Stanik) 1:40.18; 18. Hunterdon Central (Chandler Amato, Chris Jameson, Ross Welsh, Trever Van Orden) 1:40.96; 19. Delbarton (Alex Zhang, Peter Shepanzyk, Jade Rice, Tim Sienko) 1:41.13; 20. Egg Harbor (Christian Bell, Andrew Duff, Tyler Valentino, Thomas Duff) 1:42.01; 21. Teaneck (Jason Arthur, Raymon Sarza, Joshua Palpallatoc, Tristan Highet) 1:42.29; 22. Montgomery (Lawrence Lin, Eric Tong, Wesley Chen, Jack Winge) 1:42.34; 23. Millburn (Bryant Le, Ethan Hu, Chris Balbo, Stav Zelnik) 1:42.72; 24. Notre Dame (R.J. Dreyfuss, Austin Nance, Surya Vazirani, Anthony Ciaralli) 1:44.74.

200 freestyle: 1. Brad Zdroik (Hillsborough) 1:38.6; 2. John Lindros (Westfield) 1:41.53; 3. Dan Betts (Toms River East) 1:43.17; 4. Vincent Gibbons (North Brunswick) 1:43.57; 5. Kyle Worrell (Rancocas Valley) 1:44.33; 6. Mark Novatorskiy (Vineland) 1:44.42; 7. Max McCall (Gloucester Catholic) 1:44.48; 8. Jake Otterbein (Montgomery) 1:44.56; 9. Harrison Yi (Tenafly) 1:44.54; 10. Aaron Schlemovitz (Ridge) 1:44.67; 11. Joseph Rogers (Cedar Creek) 1:45.1; 12. Ryan Waters (Morristown-Beard) 1:45.15; 13. Zach Washart (St. Augustine) 1:45.4; 14. Hunter Klingener (Newton/Lenape Valley) 1:45.63; 15. Matt Zeikel (Pingry) 1:45.88; 16. Julien Esposito (Gill St. Bernard's) 1:45.95.

200 IM: 1. Jason Arthur (Teaneck) 1:49.16* (old record: 1:50.43, Chris Dart, Chatham, 2008); 2. Steven Shek (Lenape) 1:51.06; 3. Zach Fong (Moorestown) 1:51.28; 4. Colin McHugh (St. Augustine) 1:51.74; 5. Ralph Cannarozzi (Bergen Catholic) 1:54.25; 6. Kyle Stefanides (Pequannock) 1:54.55; 7. Joe Skimmons (Point Pleasant Borough) 1:54.83; 8. Chris Balbo (Millburn) 1:54.94; 9. Duncan Brookover (Cherry Hill East) 1:54.42; 10. Tim Barth (West Essex) 1:54.51; 11. Jackson Crewe (Ridge) 1:54.51; 12. Karl Sarier (Demarest) 1:56.44; 13. Anthony Rizzo (Newton/Lenape Valley) 1:56.47; 14. Zach Valenzuela (Wayne Valley) 1:56.98; 15. Joe Scerbo (Mountain Lakes) 1:58.05; 16. Brian McGorarty (Mainland) 1:58.54.

50 freestyle: 1. Sebastian Lutz (Pingry) 20.56; 2. Justin Dunn (Seton Hall Prep) 20.67; 3. Sid Farber (Rumson) 21.23; 4. Jamie Finnegan (Pingry) 21.38; 5. Edward Parks (Vineland) 21.54; 6. David Hua (New Providence) 21.72; 7. Hunter McNamara (Clearview) 21.98; 8. Michael Kurtz (Haddonfield) 22.02; 9. Matt Shaw (Rumson) 21.94; 10. C.J. McAninlley (Washington Twp.) 21.95; 11. Jake Kayati (Woodstown) 22.15; 12. Matt Kazanowsky (Toms River North) 22.16; 13. Alex Barszcz (New Milford/Dumont) 22.19; 14. Nolan Choi (East Brunswick) 22.25; 15. Matthew McSorley (West Deptford) 22.26; 16. Justin Liu (Mainland) 22.27.

100 butterfly: 1. Jon Burkett (Shawnee) 49.43; 2. David Rowe (Cherry Hill East) 50.08; 3. John Om (Bergen Catholic) 50.1; 4. Liam Cosgrove (St. Rose) 50.32; 5. Matt Luciano (Mountain Lakes) 50.35; 6. Joseph DelBuono (Rutgers Prep) 51.6; 7. Edward Parks (Vineland) 51.96; 8. Matt Critchley (Morristown) 52.17; 9. Michael Presta (DePaul) 52.45; 10. Gary Sun (J.P. Stevens) 52.64; 11. Jake Kayati (Woodstown) 52.71; 12. (tie) Jade Rice (Delbarton) and Jesse Smith (New Milford/Dumont) 52.87; 14. Rob Kahrs (Notre Dame) 53.28; 15. Dragan Vujovic (Lenape) 53.36; 16. Kurt Von Autenried (West Windsor South) 53.44.

100 freestyle: 1. Brad Zdroik (Hillsborough) 44.85; 2. Justin Dunn (Seton Hall Prep) 45.06; 3. Sam Hendrix (Hillsborough) 46.89; 4. Pat Gillooly (Cherry Hill East) 47.13; 5. Vincent Gibbons (North Brunswick) 57.38; 6. Luke Snyder (St. Augustine) 47.43; 7. Sid Farber (Rumson) 47.54; 8. Alex Skoog (Scotch Plains) 48.12; 9. David Hua (New Providence) 47.33; 10. John Kilduff (Demarest) 47.79; 11. Mark Novatorskiy (Vineland) 47.82; 12. Connor Payne (Donovan Catholic) 48.17; 13. Marc Gernhardt (Cherokee) 48.53; 14. Justin Liu (Mainland) 48.58; 15. Aedan Collins (Westfield) 48.8; 16. Ross Welsh (Hunterdon Central) 49.33.

500 freestyle: 1. Aaron Schlemovitz (Ridge) 4:37.32; 2. Zach Washart (St. Augustine) 4:37.45; 3. Chris Balbo (Millburn) 4:37.71; 4. Jackson Crewe (Ridge) 4:42.15; 5. Ryan Waters (Morristown-Beard) 4:42.31; 6. J.D. Schurer (Moorestown) 4:46.98; 8. Joe Scerbo (Mountain Lakes) 4:50.71; 9. Nick Rosa (Cherry Hill East) 4:44.79; 10. Matt Gough (Bishop Eustace) 4:45.26; 11. Doug Quagliato (Bridgewater) 4:45.76; 12. Austin Lee (Bergen Catholic) 4:45.93; 13. Brian McGoarty (Mainland) 4:46.53; 14. Jamie Viotto (Morristown) 4:48.16; 15. Tim Barth (West Essex) 4:48.91; 16. Anthony Rizzo (Newton/Lenape Valley) 4:50.63.

200 free relay: 1. Pingry (Sebastian Lutz, Kamau Holston, William Zhang, Jamie Finnegan) 1:24.45* (old record: 1:24.82, Pingry, Saturday); 2. Hillsborough (Brad Zdroik, Matthew Sanders, Daniel Sanders, Sam Hendrix) 1:24.83; 3. Cherry Hill East (David Rowe, Danny Aronson, Pat Gillooly, Duncan Brookover) 1:25.63; 4. St. Augustine (Luke Snyder, Andrew Burr, Matt Mahon, Colin McHugh) 1:26.32; 5. Moorestown (Alex Martin, Kyle Blaskovich, J.D. Schurer, Zach Fong) 1:27.35; 6. Haddonfield (Jared MacNeill, Michael Kurtz, Peter Kurtz, Brendan Finnegan) 1:28.19; 7. Vineland (Mark Novatorskiy, Marc Bennett, Dominick Merighi, Edward Parks) 1:28.35; 8. Westfield (John Lindros, Ryan Bebel, Ryan Daniel, Aedan Collins) 1:29.15; 9. Rancocas Valley (Kyle Worrell, Erik Jenson, Jake McGee, Connor Davis) 1:28.95; 10. Bergen Catholic (Anthony Bradshaw, Luke Boswell, Ralph Cannarozzi, John Om) 1:29.25; 11. St. Peter's Prep (Michael Dillane, Ed Oser, Peter Tomljanovic, Grant Thieroff) 1:30.01; 12. Shawnee (Jon Burkett, Matt Boblenz, Jacob Fleisher, James Elmendorf) 1:30.09; 13. Montgomery (Jake Otterbein, Jack Winge, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Evan O'Mara) 1:30.38; 14. Notre Dame (David Madigan, Rob Kahrs, Anthony Ciaralli, Surya Vazirani) 1:30.4; 15. Morristown (Michael Macchia, Owen Breslin, Derek He, Jamie Viotto) 1:30.57; 16. Seton Hall Prep (Jared Kovacs, Jack Pietrucha, Gregory Spicka, Connor Mailley) 1:30.69; 17. Clearview (Matthew Grubb, Dylan Regan, Mike Avallone, Hunter McNamara) 1:30.8; 18. Warren Hills (Hunter Page, Ethan Smith, Micha'l Breslin, Liam Breslin) 1:30.85; 19. Hunterdon Central (Chris Jameson, Chandler Amato, Trever Van Orden, Ross Welch) 1:31.29; 20. Gloucester Catholic (Max McCall, Ryan Gervasi, Mike Quigley, Dino Buffetta) 1:31.31; 21. Mountain Lakes (Matt Luciano, Quinn Rozanitis, Mark Richards, Joe Scerbo) 1:31.36; 22. West Windsor North (Abdallah Gendia, Eric Lei, Shotallo Kato, Alex Yu) 1:31.51; 23. Toms River South (Maxwell Berntsen, Ethan Lucas, Alex Adamek, Jacob Limaldi) 1:32.13; 24. Washington Twp. (Scott Emerson, Len Lacovaria, Brandon Siegel, C.J. McAninlley) 1:32.46.

100 backstroke: 1. Alex Martin (Moorestown) 49.46; 2. Jason Arthur (Teaneck) 50.14; 3. Jon Burkett (Shawnee) 50.48; 4. John Kilduff (Demarest) 51.01; 5. Kyle Stefanides (Pequannock) 51.04; 6. Liam Cosgrove (St. Rose) 51.46; 7. Christian Bell (Egg Harbor) 52.03; 8. Alex Wolfson (Pingry) 52.98; 9. Alex Skoog (Scotch Plains) 52.1; 10. James Elmendorf (Shawnee) 52.38; 11. Alex Zhang (Delbarton) 52.87; 12. Colby Dixon (Seton Hall Prep) 53.03; 13. Tom Scrivanich (Bergen Catholic) 53.58; 14. Connor Schenk (Gloucester Catholic) 54.03; 15. Brandon Wang (Seton Hall Prep) 54.3; 16. Corbin Borrero (Donovan Catholic) 55.29.

100 breaststroke: 1. Colin McHugh (St. Augustine) 54.77* (old record: 54.89; Zack Warner, Moorestown); 2. Steven Shek (Lenape) 56.15; 3. Ralph Cannarozzi (Bergen Catholic) 56.75; 4. Jacob Limaldi (Toms River South) 57.09; 5. Joe Skimmons (Point Pleasant Borough) 58.02; 6. Winston Chu (St. Peter's Prep) 58.17; 7. Tavish Boyle (Seton Hall Prep) 58.51; 8. Chris Bondarowicz (Scotch Plains) 59.87; 9. Dragan Vujovic (Lenape) 59.77; 10. Andrew Givone (Kittatinny) 1:00.03; 11. Steve Warren (Westfield) 1:00.08; 12. Andrew Duff (Egg Harbor) 1:00.32; 13. Brenden Meagher (Shawnee) 1:00.55; 14. Christopher Ruhnke (Bridgewater) 1:00.82; 15. Brandon Truong (Mainland) 1:00.92; 16. Matt Chan (J.P. Stevens) 1:01.26.

400 free relay: 1. Hillsborough (Sam Hendrix, Ryan Morgan, Daniel Sanders, Brad Zdroik) 3:07.56; 2. Cherry Hill East (Pat Gillooly, Danny Aronson, David Rowe, Duncan Brookover) 3:09.2; 3. Vineland (Mark Novatorskiy, Marc Bennett, Dominick Merighi, Edward Parks) 3:12.73; 4. Rancocas Valley (Kyle Worrell, Erik Jenson, Jake McGee, Connor Davis) 3:12.8; 5. Seton Hall Prep (Jack Pietrucha, Connor Mailley, Colby Dixon, Justin Dunn) 3:12.89; 6. Lenape (Steven Shek, Alex Trauger, Jacob Gray, Dragan Vujovic) 3:13.3; 7. Morristown (Brian Honicky, Derek He, Jamie Viotto, Matt Critchley) 3:18.7; 9. Montgomery (Jake Otterbein, Jack Winge, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Evan O'Mara) 3:15.09; 10. Westfield (John Lindros, Ryan Daniel, Kevin Clauss, Aedan Collins) 3:16.53; 11. Mainland (Justin Liu, Richard Richmond, Brian McGorarty, Glenn Lasco) 3:16.7; 12. Notre Dame (David Madigan, Rob Kahrs, Anthony Ciaralli, R.J. Dreyfuss) 3:17.48; 13. St. Peter's Prep (Michael Dillane, Ed Oser, Chris Capparis, Peter Tomljanovic) 3:17.55; 14. St. Augustine (Matt Mahon, Andrew Burr, Christopher Durbin, Zach Washart) 3:18.45; 15. Bergen Catholic (Kevin Cortright, Austin Lee, Tom Scrivanich, Anthony Bradshaw) 3:19.66; 16. Gloucester Catholic (Connor Shenk, Max McCall, Ryan Gervasi, Dino Buffetta) 3:19.79; 17. Haddonfield (Michael Kurtz, Jared MacNeill, Brendan Finnegan, Peter Kurtz) 3:17.29; 18. Newton/Lenape Valley (Hunter Klingener, Chris Laite, Nick Adams, Anthony Rizzo) 3:19.05; 19. Ridge (Aaron Schlemovitz, Alex Klippel, Andrew Glockenmeier, Jackson Crewe) 3:19.4; 20. West Windsor North (Abdallah Gendia, Ethan Vaca, Shotallo Kato, Alex Yu) 3:21.65; 21. Hunterdon Central (Chandler Amato, Karcs Szabo, Ross Welsh, Chris Jameson) 3:22.87; 22. North Brunswick (Jesse Gibbons, Joey Gaston, Adam Luk, Vincent Gibbons) 3:23.23; 23. Toms River North (Matt Kazanowsky, Eric Yeung, Michael Culbert, Jake Gutkes) 3:23.7; 24. Teaneck (Joshua Palpallatoc, Raymon Sarza, Tristan Highet, Jason Arthur) 3:26.22.

Site of meet: Gloucester County Institute of Technology. Distances in yards.

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@mycentraljersey.com