CBA wins again; eyes state title next
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above, Shore’s Andrew Dennis competes in the 500-yard freestyle race during the Shore Conference Championships at the Ocean County YMCA on Saturday. At left, Ocean’s Matt Stengel completes the freestyle portion of the 200-yard individual medley.

Winning the Shore Conference championship year after year never gets to be “old hat” for the Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) swim team. Just ask their coach.

“No, it’s very exciting every time,” Michael Sullivan said after the Colts captured their 15th straight conference title on Saturday at the Ocean County YMCA in Toms River. “The Shore Conference is a large conference with 40 some teams in it, so it’s really a big thing. It’s always a fun meet, and there are a lot of good swimmers in the conference.

“So, our kids are very excited about winning it. It’s special to win it every year because the teams change from year to year.”

But the results don’t. As usual CBA, the No. 2-ranked boys swim team in the state, dominated the competition, finishing with 379 points to easily outdistance runner-up Toms River North, which finished with 250 points.

RBC’s TedRechlin competes in the 200 IM during Saturday’s SCmeet in Toms RIver.

“It was a good meet. We had a lot of good swims,” said Sullivan, who in his 15th season has coached CBA to every title during its incredible run. “Last year, we didn’t win any of the relays so this year we wanted to, and we won all three. Last year, we finished second in all three.”

What more, the Colts set new Shore Conference records in two of them. The 200-medley relay team of junior Larkin MacDonald, seniors Donato Santangelo and Greg Plakoudas, and sophomore Kyle Slate set a new record with its winning time of 1:41.01, breaking the previous mark of 1:41.42 set in 2002.

Meanwhile, the 400-freestyle relay team of juniors Chris Cefalo and Mike Harm, MacDonald and senior Kelly McCarthy also won in a record-shattering time of 3:18.24, almost a full second faster than the old record of 3:19.18 established in 1998.

The 200-free relay team of Cefalo, senior Nolan Doyle, junior Ryan Guttornsen and McCarthy completed the sweep with a winning time of 1:31.73.

In addition, CBA won two individual events as McCarthy finished first in the 100 butterfly in 54.34 seconds, while MacDonald captured top honors in the 100 backstroke in 53.74.

That gave the Colts wins in five of the 12 events, while their superior depth piled up additional points. McCarthy added a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle, while MacDonald was third in the 200 IM. Santangelo finished third in the 100 breaststroke, Cefalo was fourth in both the 50 and 100 freestyles, Andrew DiPietro placed third in the 500 free and sixth in the IM, and Harm was sixth in the 200 freestyle.

With a total of 36 swimmers on the team, Sullivan says his formula for success is very simple.

“We have a lot of club swimmers, and that makes a difference in high school,” he pointed out. “They get additional training early in the season and more hours in the pool than I can provide.

“Plus, we have a lot of kids who swim only high school,” said Sullivan, a former swimmer himself at St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn and then St. Francis College. “We have a core of about 15 kids who just swim high school and train with me. The rest are all club swimmers. The combination of both seems to be a good recipe for success.”

Another factor is the Colts always seem to have swimmers ready to step in and replace those who graduate. They never rebuild; only reload.

This year’s team, for example, has eight seniors on the roster, but it also has 11 juniors, and 17 sophomores and freshmen.

“Every year we have between eight and 11 seniors. We always have a pretty good mix,” said Sullivan, a physical education teacher at Aldrich Elementary School in Howell. “We usually have a lot of upperclassmen, but we always have a bunch of young kids coming in behind them and ready to step in.”

And with one championship already locked up, the Colts have set their sights on another with the NJSIAA state team tournament beginning this week. Eight teams will be competing in the Non-Public A class, and CBA, the No. 2 seed, will host No. 7 Bergen County today at home in a first-round matchup.

St. Augustine, the top-ranked swim team in the state and the only team to beat CBA, is the No. 1 seed. The Colts, 9-1 during the dual-meet season, lost to St. Augustine 88-82 back in December.

Meanwhile, one of CBA’s nine victories was a thrilling 86-84 win over St. Joseph of Metuchen, the No. 3 team in the state and the third seed in Non-Public A. Should CBA and St. Joe’s both win on Wednesday as expected, the two teams would meet in a rematch in the state semifinals next Tuesday at CBA.

The winner of that meet would then likely meet St. Augustine in the state final on Sunday, Feb. 27 at the College of New Jersey.

“It should be an interesting team tournament,” said Sullivan, who coached CBA to the 1998 state title. “Three parochial schools are the three top teams in the state and only one of them can win a state championship because we’re all in the same division. It’s gonna be tough because the three teams are all very close. It’s going to come down to who’s healthy and who swims well. You never know with kids.

“But it’s gonna be a lot of fun either way, and very interesting. The championship team tournaments at the end of the season are what we point to all year.”

Which is probably why winning them never gets to be old hat, even for the CBA swim team.

Rumson, RBC teams also fare well at SC meet

Rumson-Fair Haven senior Shawn Matthews won two events on Saturday — the 200 freestyle (1:45.97) and the 500 freestyle (4:49.39) — to lead the Bulldogs to a third-place finish with 160 points.

RFH junior Pavel Milke continued Rumson’s dominance in the freestyle, winning the 50-yard sprint in a time of 22.58. Milke also took seventh in the 100 butterfly (56.28).

The Rumson boys also had some success in the relays, taking third in both the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.99) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:26.67).

The Red Bank Regional boys finished in eight place (105), thanks to a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:45.01), a fifth-place in the 400 freestyle relay (3:29.17), junior Cameron Voell’s fourth-place in the 100 butterfly (55.54) and senior Tim Chambrovich’s seventh-place in the 200 individual medley (2:06.59).

Shore Regional finished in 12th place (61.25), led by freshman Andrew Dennis’ fifth place in the 500 freestyle (5:01.21) and seventh-place in the 200 free (1:51.30).

In the girls competition, Toms River North won three events and placed high in a host of other events to win the team title with 240 points.

Red Bank Catholic’s girls took second (232.5), led by second-place finishes from Aubrey Cefalo (50 freestyle — 25.42) and Ivy Wimberley (100 breaststroke — 1:09.42).

RBC also got third-place finishes in the 200 medley relay (1:57.61) and 200 freestyle relay (1:45.76), a fifth in the 100 butterfly (Wimberley — 1:02.02), a sixth in the 100 freestyle (Lauren Mirynowski — 58.67), an eighth-place in the 100 free (Colleen Murphy — 58.72), an eighth in the 100 backstroke (Becky Schwartz — 1:04.88), and a sixth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay (3:54.71).

The Rumson-Fair Haven girls were third with 213.5 points, led by two wins from sophomore Paige Bissett — 200 IM (2:11.78) and the 100 backstroke (57.28, new meet record).

Rumson also got wins from sophomore Lesley Pringle in the 100 breaststroke, in another meet record time of 1:06.90, and from the 200 medley relay team of senior Marisa McGuire, Bissett, junior Dana Jaeger and Pringle, who swam to a meet record time of 1:52.70.

Among the other top finishers for the Lady Bulldogs were Pringle — second 100 freestyle (54.82); sophomore Jillian Duncan — sixth 100 free (58.67); Jaeger — eighth in the 200 IM (2:19.24); and the 400 freestyle relay team (third, 3:44.72).

Ocean Township’s girls also had a strong meet, finishing fourth with 208 points.

The Spartans were led by Katie English, who took second in the 100 butterfly (59.75) and fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:01.25).

Holly Biro also swam well, taking fourth in the 100 free (55.46) and sixth in the 50 free (25.69), while Lauren Pembleton was fourth in the 500 freestyle (5:25.81) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (1:03.04).

Ocean also got points from the 200 medley relay team (second in 1:56.04) and the 400 freestyle relay team (fourth, 3:47.29).