St. Joseph wins 40th-straight GMC boys swimming title, holding off East Brunswick

PERTH AMBOY - There was unusual premeet hype. Nervousness throughout. Fans waving pom-poms in the packed stands. Plenty of cheering and peeking at the scoring sheets. Hugging and celebrating after races as if they were in a nonviolent mosh pit.

Friday’s Greater Middlesex Conference boys swimming championship had its storyline: could St. Joseph High School win its 40th straight title, or would East Brunswick end the streak? They tied in a dual meet, and it appeared either team might pull it out, with J.P. Stevens also in the mix.

In a loud and hot Raritan Bay Area YMCA, it was St. Joseph holding off the second-place Bears with 614.5 points to 563. J.P. Stevens finished third in the 14-team meet with 417 points and Metuchen took fourth with 277.50.

“They were ready,” St. Joe’s coach Dan Cahill said. “They wanted 40. And they fought hard, and they didn’t back down. I saw fire in them at practice. And I said to my assistant coach Jimmy Petrozziello, they’re ready to go. They want to race right now and this was Monday.”

The Falcons streak started during President Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1979 when Sony Walkmans were the cool new thing and disco ruled the airwaves. Fax machines, CNN and Post-It Notes were a year away. It’s the longest county or conference run in state history in any sport, any county. Think about it – 40 straight years. That’s a grown-up with a mortgage, kids and car payments.

“I can’t even think about how many swimmers have gone through this program and what a huge legacy this is,” junior Michael Botting said. “I’m just so happy to be a part of it.”

In the last 10 years, St. Joseph had typically won by a wide margin, minus 2014 when it won by eight points. Last season, St. Joe’s beat second-place East Brunswick by 137.17 points. In 2016, the Falcons beat the Bears by 157.

There was a sense that this could be the year.

“That was really the best thing about this meet is that there was a lot of buzz going in,” said East Brunswick coach Sean Carney, adding that people from other schools were wishing them luck. “A lot of hype. Swimming’s not a sport that always gets a ton of it, so it was real exciting for us. And I think it was exciting for all the teams here.”

The St. Joseph side welcomed the challenge.

“The idea that they thought they could beat us – I love that,” Botting said. “It hyped me up, so I used that as a lot of motivation coming into this.”

READ: East Brunswick has chance to end St. Joseph's streak of 39 straight GMC swim championships

In addition to the team race, individual stars were on display. Colonia senior John Piccinic took the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle. Metuchen junior Julian Park won the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly. Wardlaw-Hartridge sophomore Logan D’Amore won the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle.

Botting also captured two individual events, the 200 IM and the 100 backstroke. St. Joseph, though, used a team effort for the title. The top 20 finishers in each race scored team points. The relay races are weighted more as teams earn double points.

Counting the St. Joseph and East Brunswick’s first places, it was tied 96-96.

Add in the second-place finishers, East Brunswick held a 199-96 lead as the Falcons didn’t have any silver medalists. Include the third-place finishers, East Brunswick still had a 259-256 lead. In other words, too close to call.

But the lower scorers gave St. Joseph the win.

“They had a couple of events where they had too many guys in the top 10 or the top 15,” Carney said. “In the past, St. Joe’s usually beat us with the first places in the relays like we had today or the first places in certain events. Today was more of their depth that really got us. That’s really what the difference maker was.”

Even though there were question marks, Cahill said “I was confident with our swimmers. I knew that they were going to pull through because we’re a strong team. We have the depth. We got the numbers and they were just ready to go and they were fired up. … We laid out the frame work for them and I said to them, ‘It’s up to you guys to put everything together now. You guys have to believe in yourselves. Believe in your teammates. That’s how we’re going to win today.’ I think they definitely did that. We were the loudest on the deck. We were the most excited on the block. The intensity was there.”

Senior Michael D’Esposito added, “The energy was high in here. That’s what did it. It was our fans. All the parents. We can’t thank the parents enough for that.”

With four races to go, the Falcons won the 200 freestyle relay (Sean Carlucci, D’Esposito, Botting and Trent Tighelaar) and finished third (Will Barnett, Marco Niro, Liam Doran and Marcel Milewski).

At that point, the Falcons side exhaled. The team chanted and some flashed a 40 with four fingers and a fist. They celebrated when it was over by, well, going back into the pool. Cahill made a bargain with his swimmers – if they won, he’d have to jump in. So, he brought extra clothes and was more than happy to take the plunge. The team followed him into the water.

“They didn’t really give me a choice in the end,” he said with a laugh. “They came up to me and said take your phone out. Take your wallet out. Take the glasses off because you’re going in. Oh, and the tie.”

Despite finishing second, the East Brunswick side gained experience.

“It didn’t go the way we wanted it to go, but we have a lot to be happy about,” Carney said. “The guys swam terrific. I told them going into it that they’re going to have to swim their best to be successful. And they swam their best. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough, but very happy. Very proud of them for the way they swam today.”

He noted that the Bears will only graduate a small senior class, “so we’re looking forward to the incoming freshmen class and seeing what we can do next year. Definitely feeling optimistic about it.”

No doubt, so will St. Joseph.  

D’Esposito noted a saying of former Falcons swimmer Matt Rein that “the feeling of winning GMCs never gets old.” In September 2014, Rein passed away in an off-campus house fire while attending Albright College. His parents are still involved with the team and the younger swimmers help keep him alive. Really, all former swimmers are still a part of the program – and that's what helps make the streak so special.

"And it’s 100 percent true,” D’Esposito said. “This feeling, it never gets old. I’ve done it four times now and every year it’s just a thrill.”

Point scorers

St. Joseph’s swimmers to score in two individual events were Will Barnett (eighth in 200 IM, seventh in 100 butterfly); Sean Carlucci (seventh in 100 freestyle, 11th in 100 backstroke); Michael D’Esposito (fourth in 100 breaststroke, fourth in 200 IM); Liam Doran (11th in 50 freestyle, 17th in 100 freestyle); Brandon Hornlein (12th in 200 free, 13th in 100 backstroke); Chris Hulsart (19th in 100 breaststroke, 19th in 200 IM); Reece Lenaz (12th in 100 backstroke, 13th in 100 butterfly); Marcel Milewski (third in the 200 free, fourth in 500 freestyle); Marco Niro (14th in 50 freestyle, 10th in 100 freestyle); C.J. Talerico (seventh in 200 free, 11th in 500 free) and Trent Tighelaar (third in 50 freestyle, fourth in 100 freestyle).

Additionally, Dominick D’Esposito (eighth in 500 freestyle); Achinth Pooblan (sixth in 100 butterfly); Christian Trevino (19th in 100 butterfly) and Adam Thompson (19th in 50 freestyle) scored in individual events.

The Bears relay teams won in the 200 medley (Maxwell Wang, Ryan VanDeVeen, Albert Chen and Jacob Snow) and in the 400 freestyle (Aditya Vidyadharan, Maxim Alexeev, Snow and Wang). The East Brunswick Top 10 individual finishers were Chen (second in the 100 butterfly and 10th in the 100 backstroke); Wang (second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 500 freestyle); Snow (third in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 100 backstroke); David Kremer (third in the 100 butterfly and ninth in 200 IM); Ryan VanDeVeen (second in the 100 breaststroke, sixth in 200 IM); Maxim Alexeev fourth in the 200 freestyle and ninth in 500 freestyle); Frank Sun (seventh in the 100 breaststroke and ninth in the 50 freestyle); Jonathan Benowitz (eight in 100 butterfly) and Aditya Vidyadharan (ninth in 100 freestyle).