2011-2012 Recaps

2/25
On February 25, five Blair swimmers travelled to LaSalle University in Philadelphia to participate in the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming Championships. The medley relay team of Anna Kalfaian '13, Eliza Lawless '14, Hannah Lappin '13 and Lauren Mezzanotte '12 placed eighteenth overall and broke their own record in the process. The new record is now 2:02.97. The 400-meter free relay team of Anna Kalfaian, Eliza Lawless, Shea Lawless '15 and Lauren Mezzanotte attempted to break their tied record of 3:56.7, but came up just short. Lauren Mezzanotte placed sixteenth overall in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:03.28, and each swimmer swam two individual events and came close to or broke their own personal best times for their swims.

2/1 - Blair vs. Pope John
Girls: 74 - 96
Boys: 67 - 101
Despite not adding to the win column, the Bucs took an a tough opponent and swam their hearts out. We had a total of 39 best time swims out of 84 swims... which is just under 50%... may not sound like a lot.. BUT THAT IS HUGE!!!!!!!! Props out to Jordan Grose who PRed 3 out of 4 swims (including 4 seconds in the 100 Free), Meredith Berry-Toon who dropped 5 seconds between her 200 and 500 Free, Shea Lawless and Ashley Zimmermann who both dropped 2 seconds in the 200 IM, Will Wu who swam a 56 in his 100 free, Chris Sabaitis and Kevin Pierce who both finally swam under 1:00 in the 100 Free, and Hannah Lappin who dropped almost 3 seconds in the 100 fly. These are only a handful of all the fantastic swims that occurred today.

And of course... Congrats to all the seniors who swam so well in their last home meet EVER!

1/27 - Blair 103 - Rutgers Prep 67
In the early season match-up, the Bucs dominated the meet, winning most of the events comfortably: however, this time around, Rutgers Prep were able to go 1 and 2 in the 50 and 100 free and win two of the three relays. Still, Blair had sufficient depth and produced enough good performances to pull ahead in the second half of the meet and secure the win prior to the last few events. Captain Lauren Mezzanotte posted a season best time in the 100 back of 1:04, by far her best performance in the event during her Blair career. Tim Hettinger swam a solid 500 after posting a personal best 25.9 in the 50 free leg of the medley relay. Emily Boak swam a 32 for the 50 free and Adam Jutte shattered his previous personal best for the 50 free by almost 2 seconds, posting a 26.8. Sean Callahan recorded a season's best of 2:14 in the 200 free and Eliza Lawless swam a 2:28 in the 200 IM to win the event.

1/23 - Coed Meet: Blair 125 - Belvidere 45
Belvidere won the Medley Relay handily and appeared to have thrown down the gauntlet in doing so; however, the Bucs took up the initial challenge and proved to be simply too much for the Belvidere team over the balance of the meet. Blair won each of the subsequent events, sweeping the 50 and 100 free and the 100 back. Freshman Shea Lawless won the 500 free, captains Joe Park and Lauren Mezzanotte went 1 and 2 in the 50 free, Will Wu won both the 200 IM and the 100 free, and Tyler Waldman had a terrific race in the 100 breast, posting his best time of the season, 1:15.4.

1/19 - Blair vs Vernon
Girls: 78 - 88 (loss)
Boys: 92 - 78 (win)
Given that the Bucs were fired up for a coed meet vs Vernon, they took the last minute surprise switch to a double dual meet in their stride and produced a number of excellent performances. One of the frustrations for the girls team was that the score didn't reflect just how close the meet actually was: Vernon were only leading by two points going into the penultimate race, and a first and third in the final relay would have secured the win for the Lady Bucs! All that aside, Lauren Mezzanotte swam a captain's meet, stepping up to swim four events despite being injured and posted her best flat start time of the season in the 50 free to win the event and her best time of the season in the 400 free relay. Freshman Shea Lawless swam a season's best 6:03 in the 500, and her sister, Eliza, swam a 1:09 in the 100 back. Meredith Berry-Toon, returning earlier this week from sickness, swam a wonderful race in the 500 free to secure 3rd place and Paige Bykowski turned in two great 100 free swims.

For the boys, Ace Goldstein and Sean Callahan turned in great performances in the 200 free; Sean breaking his own PB by over 2 seconds to record a 2:16. In the 500 free, Tim Hettinger took off like a man on fire, recording his best time for the event this season. Jordan Janis swam the 100 free to perfection, out-thinking his opponent in a canny race. Will Wu swam well in the 200 IM and 100 back and Jack Januszewski produced solid performances in the 100 fly and 100 back.

1/16 - Blair vs High Point (loss)
Girls 69 - 102
Boys 81 - 89
The girls won this same fixture last year in the last relay; however, six members of the girls' team were sick, so it was a much depleted line-up that faced High Point this time round. Even so, there were a number of excellent performances: Lauren Mezzanotte broke the 26-second barrier in the 50 free for the first time this season, winning both her 50 and 100 free races. Eliza Lawless produced excellent performances in both the 200 and the 500 free, posting her best time for the 200 this season and breaking through the 6-minute barrier in the 500. Annika Rollock had a terrific swim in the 200 free, posting a 2:26, and Anna Kalfaian produced solid performances in the 100 free and 100 back.

The boys meet was close until the penultimate race when High Point pulled far enough ahead to establish an unassailable lead going into the 400 free relay. Again, the boys posted some excellent performances: Sean Callahan swam a season's best 2:18 in the 200 free and Ace Goldstein pulled out a terrifically strong last 50 in the same race to win. Both Ace and Tim Hettinger swam best times in the 500 and Jordan Grose, Chris Sabaitis and Jordan Janis turned in good swims in the freestyle sprint events. Jack Januszewski, Will Wu and Nick Corrado swam well in their respective stroke events, but High Point managed to hang on to win the meet.

1/13 - Blair vs Pennington (loss)
Despite some good personal performances from the Bucs, Pennington had too much talent and too much depth, and their dominance of the meet was never in question. Will Wu turned in a solid performance in the 200 IM as did Tim Hettinger in both the 200 free and the 500 free.

Sisters Eliza and Shea Lawless performed well in the 200 IM and 500 free respectively, with Shea recording her best time on the season with a 6:07 and Eliza breaking the 2:30 barrier for the IM. Junior Jack Januszewski swam well in the 100 fly and 100 back, placing third and second respectively, and posting a 1:10 for the backstroke. Freshman Sean Callahan had a season's best performance in the 200 free with a 2:20, and Lauren Mezzanotte produced a captain's performance, swimming though injured and leading the team by example.

1/11 - Hun
Girls: 104 - 56
Boys: 106 - 58
Generally, the Hun fixture is a highly competitive affair, but this year, Hun was weaker than usual and succumbed to a dominant display by both the Bucs and the Lady Bucs. In fact, the Hun boys only won two events; Blair boys and girls won every other event in the meet. Jordan Janis earned a career best 57.5 in the 100 free, and Shea Lawless, swimming the 500 free for the first time as a Blair swimmer, posted an impressive 6:15. Annika Rollick broke the 30-second barrier for the first time in the 50 free and then bested her 50 time in her leg of the girls 200 free relay. Will Wu, swimming the 200 IM for the first time this season, posted a solid 2:30 for the event, and Hannah Lappin swam two excellent races, going 1:16 in the 100 fly and a 1:18 in the 100 back.

1/7 - Blair vs. Wallkill-Newton
Girls: 112-58
Boys: 69-106
This same fixture last year saw both boys' and girls' meets come down to the last relay, so this year was very different. It became clear early on that the Bucs were outgunned by some excellent swimmers. The Lady Bucs, on the other hand, had too much depth for the visitors and dominated the meet from the outset. Several swimmers had outstanding swims, including Meredith Berry-Toon who won an exciting race for second place in the girls 500 free and Jordan Janis who, despite not feeling well, posted his career best time in the 100 free. Hannah Lappin had good swims in the 100 fly and 100 back, and Eliza Lawless had a great race in the 200 free and coasted to victory in the 500 free.

12/12 - Blair 61 - 109 Cranford HS
As a soccer coach, I'm all too familiar with "bus legs," which account for slow starts to away games; however, I'm afraid I can't claim "bus arms" for the swimmers. We simply didn't look like ourselves from the outset of our first and only away meet of the season. Cranford's girls were outstanding, and a number of their boys were very good. It wasn't all bleak: several swimmers produced some terrific performances, including Eliza Lawless in the 500 free, which she won in 6:06; Paige Bykowski, who swam a 1:08 for the 100 free; Anna Kalfaian, who swam a 1:12 in the 100 back; and Nick Corrado, who swam a 1:21 in the 100 breast.

12/8 - Blair vs Kittatinny: Girls 86 - 84 (win); Boys 53 - 115 (loss)
The girls meet went down to the last relay, and although the team of Mezzanotte, Zimmerman, Kalfaian and Berry-Toon couldn't clinch first place, the lady Bucs had done enough earlier in the meet to secure victory by just 2 points. Some of the meet highlights included gutsy come from behind swims by Meredith Berry-Toon in the 500 free and Shea Lawless in the 100 breast, and a captain's performance from Lauren Mezzanotte, swimming a 27 in the freestyle leg of the Medley Relay. Sophomore Eliza Lawless took first in both the 200 and the 500 free, Lauren Mezzanotte did the same in the 100 free and the 100 back, but there were several notable performances that helped clinch the victory, including a great swim for fourth place by Megan Tsai in the 100 breast and terrific swims by Shea Lawless and Ashley Zimmerman in the 200 IM.

The boys were beaten fairly comprehensively by a talented Kittatinny team; however, there were a number of notable performances, including two from freshman Kevin Pierce, who impressed his teammates and his coaches with a 26.6 in the 50 free and a 1:01 in the 100 free in his first ever meet. Ace Goldstein won the 200 free in 2:08 and swam an impessive 6:24 in the 500 free. Freshman Sean Callahan swam to third in the 200 free in 2:21, and junior Jack Januszewski had good swims in both the 200 IM and the 100 back.

12/2 - Blair vs Rutgers Prep: 105 - 64 (win)
The Bucs began their season with a convincing win against old rivals, Rutgers Prep. Blair went one, two, three in several races, with Will Wu, Jordan Janis and Lauren Mezzanotte taking the honours in the 50 free, Jordan Janis, Tim Hettinger and Chris Sabaitis doing the same in the 100 free, and Eliza Lawless, Ace Goldstein and Meredith Berry-Toon taking the top three spots in the 500 free. There were also excellent performances from new team members Shea Lawless in the 200 IM and Sean Callahan in the 100 back.

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