Swimming wins NJSIAA State Championship

Swim Team Wins Non-Public A Title – First State Tournament Championship in School History! 

The Seton Hall Prep Swim Team completed their season with a 93-77 win over Christian Brothers Academy to win the NJSIAA Non-Public A State Championship on Saturday February 26.  

The meet culminated an incredible playoff run where the Pirates swam the fastest meet in school history three straight times, with the 4845 Power Points against CBA a significant increase from the 4706 posted against St. Augustine last week.   

SHP got off to a great start in the 200 Medley Relay with a 1-3 finish to take a 10-4 lead.  Karl Burghardt, Dylan Negron, Richard Poplawski, and Aryan Kapoor, won in a time of 136.45.  

The event had an oddity in that CBA did not even enter a second relay, conceding the 3^rd place finish, saving swimmers for later races.  

Poplawski got right back into the water to win the 200 Freestyle in 1:44.30, and Owen Ripley grabbed an unexpected fourth place in a time of 1:48.97, a lifetime best by over 2 seconds!  The event was split 8-8, and the Pirates led 18-12. 

The Pirates increased their lead to 28-18 after the 200 IM, finishing 1-3-5. Co-Captain Connor Townson won going away in 1:54.88, with Kyler Alcebar (2:00.86) and Vince Wong (2:05.36) also posting SHP bests.  

CBA bounced back with a 1-3-5 finish of their own in the 50 Freestyle to trail by 6 at the break, 34-28.  This was in spite of 3 lifetime bests in the event from Cormac Rouse (21.54), Dom Ancey (22.37) and Fran Jaso (23.33) for SHP. 

CBA crept closer after the 100 Butterfly, pulling to a 4 point deficit at 41-37.  Dylan Negron and Pat Miller grabbed 2^nd and 3^rd for the Prep in the event.   

The next two events split 8-8, with SHP 1-4 and CBA 2-3-5 in both.  Rouse continued his incredible streak by winning the 100 Freestyle in 47.41, easily a lifetime best, joined by Aryan Kapoor in 4^th in 49.30 with a lifetime best of his own.  

Poplawski won his second race of the day in the 500 Free in 443.29, and Kyle Phillips showed grit in taking 4^th.  Phillips led a CBA swimmer most of the way but was caught and surpassed at the 475 mark, only to surge back over the last 25 to earn a key point for the Prep.   

Event 8 was the 200 Free Relay, and event in which CBA was favored and thus expected to take the lead, but the SHP foursome of Ancey (22.23), Jose Rodriguez (22.42), Kapoor (22.85), and Rouse (21.71) pulled off the upset, winning in 129.21.  

CBA’s 2-3 finish kept the meet close, and the score was SHP 65 CBA 59 with 3 events remaining.   

The Pirates have excellent backstrokers, but CBA was equal to the task, resulting in another split event.  CBA took 1 and 4 with SHP taking 2,3, and 5, with lifetime bests from Karl Burghardt (53.45) and Owen Ripley (53.92) pacing the Pirate effort.   

The next to last event, the 100 Breaststroke, was projected to be SHPs biggest advantage, and this played out as planned with incredible times posted from Co-Captain Dylan Negron (57.70), Kyler Alcebar (59.67), and Aidan Liwanag (1:03.35) going 1-2-4, giving SHP an insurmountable 85-71 lead with one event remaining.  

The Pirates closed the meet in fine fashion with the 400 Freestyle Relay Team of Rouse, Townson, Negron, and Poplawski winning in 3:14.21.   

There is one event left on the Prep schedule, the NJSIAA Meet of Champions on March 5-6, the Individual Event Championships.  The meet is not team scored.  9 Pirates will be attending.   

COVER PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Hernandez | For NJ Advance Media