Swimmers Advance to North Final with a Big Victory

Pictures: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBdXX4
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGsoL_IF644

Story provided by Head Coach Joe Alexander: 
In their best performance of the season, the SHP swim team scored a decisive 103-67 victory over St. Peter’s Prep in the NJSIAA Non-Public North Semifinal held February 12 at the Yanitelli Center in Jersey City.  The victory was especially sweet for the now 10-1 Pirates as St. Peter’s had given the Pirates their only defeat in December. 

The Pirates opened the meet by finishing 1^st and 3^rd in the 200 Medley Relay, as junior Karl Burghardt, senior Aryan Kapoor, senior Pat Miller, and senior Cormac Rouse took first in 1:36.60, with Kapoor’s 25.87 breaststroke split being the fastest in school history!  Senior Richard Poplawski then won the 200 Freestyle in 1:42.80, with senior Owen Ripley rising up to finish second in a personal best 1:47.31 in an event where he was thought to be 4^th based on previous best times. 

In December, St. Peter’s swimmer Isaac Rivers had “touched out” junior Connor O’Neill in the 200 IM, but in another indicator that this would be a different day, O’Neill cruised to victory by over 4 seconds, winning in a time of 1:59.37.  Rouse then led a 1-3-5 finish for SHP in the 50 Freestyle, and the Pirates led 38-24 at the break. 

When the action resumed, Kapoor led a 1-2-4 finish for the Pirates in the 100 Butterfly, winning in 52.92.  Kapoor’s swims were particularly noteworthy as he has struggled with injury all season and had missed the first meeting with St. Peter’s.  SHP then went 2-3-5 in the 100 Freestyle, followed by Poplawski’s second win of the day in the 500 Freestyle in 4:42.63.  This made the score 66-44 in favor of the Pirates going into the 200 Freestyle Relay, which proved to be decisive.  SHP had placed Rouse on the “B” relay in an effort to secure first and third in the event, but the gambit proved to be even more effective, as the Pirates took both 1^st and 2^nd to take a commanding 78-46 lead, paced by the winning foursome of Ripley, freshman Ryan Pelosi, Kapoor and Poplawski in 1:29.68. 

A 2-3-5 finish by the Pirates in the 100 Backstroke clinched the victory as the score was then 86-54, but SHP closed the meet with 2 more victories – O’Neill grabbed his second win of the day in the 100 Breaststroke in 1:01.19, and the 400 Freestyle Relay team of Junior Kyle Phillips, Ripley, Kapoor, and Poplawski in 3:16.72. 

The Pirates advance to the Non-Public North Final vs. Bergen Catholic on Presidents Day, Monday February 19, at 10:00 AM at a neutral site, the Neptune Aquatic Center.