SPORTS

Boys Swim Notebook: East Brunswick showed its potential this season

Andy Mendlowitz
@andy_mendlowitz

The East Brunswick High School boys swim team wasn’t a squad comprised of local Michael Phelps.

The Bears didn’t have that one superstar who racked up gold medals in multiple events. Rather, they just kept coming at you en route to a second-place finish at the Greater Middlesex Conference meet.

“We always get depth,” said East Brunswick coach Sean Carney, who was selected as the GMC Coach of the Year by the league members. “We have guys who could do everything. Some of the guys specialize in a certain event, but they’re open and willing to swim whatever they’re put in.”

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And that’s what makes a successful team. East Brunswick placed in the top six in nine of the 11 events at the meet on Jan. 28 at the Raritan Bay YMCA in Perth Amboy. Having depth, however, doesn’t mean that there weren’t some great individual performances.

Maxwell Wang had the team’s highest finish placing second in the 100-yard backstroke. The sophomore also took sixth in the 100-yard freestyle.

Notably, three school records fell at the meet. Luca Biagiotti, a senior, took third in the 100 butterfly in 54.19 and placed fourth in the 200 freestyle in 1:48.43. He also etched his name in the East Brunswick record book as a member of the 400-freestyle relay team that took third in 3:22.77, also a school record. Biagiotti joined with Maxwell Wang, senior Aaron Wang (no relation to Maxwell) and sophomore Jacob Snow.

Other East Brunswick swimmers who placed in the top six included Jonathan Brown and Aditya Vidyadharan.

All in all, the team met its potential.

“That was a good meet for us,” Carney said. “We didn’t think we were going to really make a push for first, but we were happy with a second-place finish there because the guys swam fantastic. They had a really great meet. I told them after the meet that we have every reason to be happy because everybody really contributed to this, and really did a great job.”

Notes

Area sports fans may see Colonia’s John Piccinic and think that name sounds familiar. He’s the brother of cross country and track star Shelby Piccinic, who was the school’s first-ever girls GMC cross country champ this fall. John is also making a name for himself. He placed third in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle at the GMCs.

Sometimes it’s good when coaches listen to their athletes. Metuchen sophomore Julian Park captured the 100 butterfly gold at the GMC meet. For his second event, Bulldogs coach Jim Thomas originally slated him to swim in the 200 IM. Park, though, convinced Thomas to let him swim the 50 freestyle instead. Turns out, a good rapport goes a long way. Park placed second in 22.17 behind Evers.

J.P. Stevens placed third as a team in the GMC with strong solo performances. Multiple place-winners included Andrew Galarza (first in 200 freestyle, second in 500 freestyle), Keren Huang (second in 200 IM, fourth in 100 backstroke) and Shayshadri Mallick (third in 200 IM, fifth in 100 butterfly).

North Brunswick showed they’re stronger as a whole than as individuals. The team’s best solo GMC finish was Jesse Gibbons taking fourth in the 500 freestyle. Gibbons also placed fifth in the 200 freestyle and Jordan Leonardo finished fifth in the 50 freestyle and in the 100 backstroke. But the Raiders came together to win the 200-freestyle relay, which consisted of Akhil Yetukuri, Ashwin Gokhale, Leonardo and Gibbons.

Piscataway’s Brandon Evers was the only swimmer to claim two individual events at the GMCs, taking the 100 freestyle (47.84) and the 50 free (21.70). His Chiefs teammate Joel Kincade won the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.31.

While St. Joseph won its incredible 39th-straight GMC championship, don’t expect the Falcons to hit much of a rebuilding year next season. St. Joe’s had just four seniors this winter. Returning stars include sophomore Sean Doran, who won the 100 backstroke and was part of the gold-medal winning 400 freestyle and 200 medley relay teams. Other returning Falcons swimmers to watch include Michael Botting, Sean Carlucci, Michael D'Esposito and George Wade.

Two youngsters set records for the Wardlaw-Hartridge School this winter. Freshman Logan D'Amore re-set the 500 freestyle mark with a 4:42.39. Additionally, D’Amore won that event at the GMC championships in 4:43.68. Julian Kaniuka, who is still in middle school, swam a 26.62 in the 50 fly.