Hopewell Valley Central High School
This week, the Hopewell Valley Boys Swim team competed in two meets in the NJSIAA Central Group B state tournament. On Tuesday, the boys faced Colts Necks, pulling out a close win by a score of 89-81. Alex Helmrich contributed by finishing first in both the 200 free and the 500 free, while Alex Nicolai placed first in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 fly and Tyler Mac tied for first in the 100 backstroke. The team continued to rack up points with second place finishes from Chris Sawicki in the 50 free and the 100 free and Owen Seibold in the 100 breaststroke.
The meet also featured many close races that earned the Bulldogs critical points. For example, Jonah Corvelyn touched out his opponent to placed fifth in the 200 free, and Joe Genovesi closely out-touched two Colts-Neck swimmers to take third in the 100 fly. In the 200 medley relay, Genovesi, Seibold, Mac, and AJ Yadamiec placed second, while Nicolai, Sawicki, Seibold, and Helmrich finished first in the 200 free relay. In the critical 400 free relay, Nicolai, Sawicki, Mac, and Helmrich took first, while Yadamiec, Corvelyn, Genovesi, and Armaan Desai placed second to win the meet.
On Thursday, the boys competed against Manasquan in the sectional quarterfinals, unfortunately losing 108-62. Despite the loss, the Bulldogs swam many great races. Helmrich contributed with a first place in the 200 free and second in the 500 free, and Alex Nicolai earned points with a first in the 100 fly and second in the 200 individual medley. In addition, Mac placed second in the 100 backstroke, Seibold placed second in the 100 breaststroke, and Sawicki placed second in both the 50 free and the 100 free. In the 200 free relay, Nicolai, Sawicki, Seibold, and Helmrich placed second, and in the 400 free relay Helmrich, Sawicki, Mac, and Nicolai placed second as well. With this loss, the Bulldogs concluded their season with a record of 8-7. -Emilie Sawicki
This week the Hopewell Valley Girls Swim team participated in their first meet in the NJSIAA state tournament (the girls were seeded third in the Central Group C section, so they got a bye in the first round). They were matched up against Bernards and were able to pull out a close win by a score of 89-81. In the individual events, Regan Sherman placed first in the 200 yard freestyle (2:04.62) and the 500 yard freestyle (5:33.37), Ava D’Alessandro won the 100 yard freestyle (57.95), Emilie Sawicki finished second in the 200 yard individual medley (2:25.99) and the 100 yard breaststroke (1:12.01), Amelie Bass placed second in the 50 yard freestyle (25.48) and 100 yard butterfly (1:05.53), and May Hartog finished second in the 100 yard backstroke (1:09.88). The girls won the 200 yard freestyle relay (D’Alessandro, Sherman, Kelley Dwyer, Bass, 1:51.18), and finished second in both the 200 yard medley relay (Hartog, Sawicki, Claire Christie, Dwyer, 2:11.61) and the 400 yard freestyle relay (D’Alessandro, Sherman, Sawicki, Bass, 3:59.12). The girls were also paced by several other strong individual and relay swims which recorded third, fourth and fifth place finishes.
With their victory, the girls’ next meet will be against Governor Livingston on Monday in the semifinals of the NJSIAA Central Group C tournament. -Christopher Sawicki
Featured photo caption: The Hopewell Valley boys swim team concludes their season after a loss against Manasquan in the NJSIAA Central Group B quarterfinals.
