Six meet records were set at the Union County Tournament boys swimming championships and half of them were set by the No. 1-ranked Westfield Blue Devils, who also captured their 68th title (since the UCT began in 1938) at the Jersey Aquatic Center in New Providence on January 26. The seventh-ranked Summit Hilltoppers won the girls title and the Blue Devil girls placed second.
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The Blue Devil boys beat out the Summit Hilltoppers, who set two meet records, for the top spot with 432 points to 371. The Oratory Prep Rams placed third with a total of 274, followed by the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders at 249 and the Governor Livingston Highlanders, who set one meet record, at 196. New Providence placed sixth at 132 and the Cranford Cougars tied for seventh at 96.
Senior Owen Waibel, who set meet records in the 50-freestyle (20.74) and 100-butterfly (50.97) and swam on the record-setting 200-medley relay and 400-free relay (3:08.01) last year, was involved in all three records set by the Blue Devils this year. Their first meet record was set in the 200medley relay when Danny Pierce, Hudson Wilcomes, Logan Swenson and Waibel touched the wall in 1:34.11, followed very closely by the Hilltoppers in 1:34.38. The previous record of 1:34.62 (Pierce, Dylan Lagrimas, Swenson and anchor Waibel) was set by Westfield last year. Governor Livingston finished third at 1:44.0.
Wilcomes, Mike Fisher, Swenson and Waibel broke the meet record in the 200-freestyle relay with a time of 1:26.54, followed by the Raiders at 1:30.22 and Oratory Prep at 1:30.29. Pierce broke the meet record in the 100-backstroke at 50.84, followed by Declan Vargas (Summit) at 54.35 and Paul Knecht (Oratory) at 54.93.
The two meet records set by Summit were in the 200-Individual Medley (IM) and the 100-beaststroke. Yehor Maistruck took first in the 200IM at 1:50.97, followed by Summit’s Kyle Dripchak at 1:55.99 and Blue Devil Lagrimas at 1:56.83. Maistruck’s time in the 100-breaststroke was 55.12, followed by Blue Devils Lagrimas at 59.18 and Wilcomes at 1:01.55. Highlander Caden Wong set the meet record in the 100-butterfly at 49.21, followed by Pierce at 51.06 and Summit’s Dripchak at 51.92.
Waibel took top honors in the 100freestyle with a time of 46.5, followed by Raider Dylan Condell at 47.96 and Summit’s Charlie Moon at 48.35. The Hilltoppers just edged out the Blue Devils, 3:12.19 to 3:12.55 in the 400-freestyle relay and Oratory Prep took third at 3:18.73. Raider Harrison McClure won the 200freestyle in 1:43.47, followed by Waibel at 1:44.61 and Oratory’s Henry Crowther at 1:46.04. McClure also won the 500-free in 4:44.63, followed by Rich Fadeev (New Providence) at 4:51.34 and Wong (Summit) at 4:51.37. Raider Condell took first in the 50-free at 21.63, followed by Lou Conlin (New Providence) at 21.81 and Moon (Summit) at 22.05.
In the girls UCT, Summit finished first with a total of 368, followed by the Blue Devils at 311 and the Kent Place Dragons at 259. Governor Livingston (GL) placed fourth at 224, followed by the Cranford Cougars at 219 and the SPF Raiders at 214.
The Blue Devils won two individual races and Jane Kavanagh was on top in both. First, Kavanagh touched first in the 200IM with a time of 2:07.99, followed by KP Dragon Ayah Bedri at 2:08.94 and NP Pioneer Mariia Netrebko at 2:10.76. Kavanagh also finished first in the 100-backstroke at 58.75, followed by Nia Joseph (GL) at 1:00.87 and Dragon Mary Ferrerro at 1:01.74.
Kent Place took the top spot in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:49.5, followed by Summit at 1:50.08 and Westfield at 1:54.56. Governor Livingston took first in the 200-free relay at 1:42.58, followed by Summit at 1:43.56 and New Providence at 1:44.1. Summit won the 400-free relay in 3:36.98, followed by Westfield at 3:43.94 and Kent Place at 3:44.58.
Nia Joseph (GL) finished first in the 50-free at 24.82, followed by Juliet Webb (Summit) at 24.89 and Blue Devil Brooke McAndrew at 25.03. Summit’s SydneyArcella took first in the 200-free at 1:49.99, followed by Normandie Beversluis (Union Catholic) at 1:55.99 and Amanda Sensel (Summit) at 1:58.21.Arcella also took first in the 500-free at 5:02.63, followed by McAndrew at 5:18.37 and Ferrerro (Kent Place) at 5:22.98.
Netrebko (New Providence) won the 100-butterfly in 57.49, followed by Juliet Ho (Summit) at1:00.11 and Liv Minton (Kent Place) at 1:01.01. Bedri (New Providence) took first in the 100-breaststroke at 1:04.15, followed by Marleigh McDonald (Linden) at 1:09.41 and Cranford Cougar Lylah Wilhelm at 1:06.46. Nina Frolov (GL) won the 100-free in 53.53, followed by Beversluis (UC) at 53.65 and Webb (Summit) at 55.12.
