SHP Swim wins County and Conference Championships

Write up provided by Head Coach Joe Alexander 

The Seton Hall Prep Swim Team had a fabulous performance in taking first place in the combined Super Essex Conference – Essex County Championship Meet on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday at NJIT. The Pirates topped the scores with 343 points, with second place Newark Academy at 228 and third place Montclair at 155.

SHP swimmers placed first in 7 of the 11 events and second in 5 of them. Sophomore Richard Poplawski was the winner of the Cullen Jones Award as Most Valuable Swimmer. Both of Richard’s victories in individual events were in new school and meet record times, winning the 200 Freestyle in 1:41.41 and the 500 Freestyle in 4:34.06.

Richard joined fellow sophomores Cormac Rouse and Aryan Kapoor and senior Connor Townson in setting the Pirates’ third meet record of the day, taking the 400 Freestyle relay in 3:13.43.

Senior Dylan Negron was a double individual event winner at the meet, coming out on top in the 100 Freestyle (48.41) and the 100 Breaststroke (58.32). Dylan also anchored the Prep winning 200 Medley relay, joining Freshman Karl Burghardt, Townson, and Poplawski in a time of 1:37.10. Karl Burghardt would also be the county champion in the 100 Backstroke in a time of 55.00.

Connor Townson was runner up in two events, losing by just .05 in swimming 1:55.16 in the 200 IM and also swimming 58.79 in the Prep’s 1-2 finish in the 100 Breaststroke. Sophomore Patrick Miller was also a double runner-up, finishing second in both the 100 Butterfly (54.31) and the 100 backstroke (55.49).

Other medalists for SHP included Cormac Rouse, who finished third in the 50 Freestyle in 22.51 and sixth in the 100 Freestyle in 50.07. Cormac was also part of the second place Prep 200 Freestyle Relay, joining junior Vince Wong, Kapoor, and Negron in a time of 1:29.81.

Also medaling were: Aryan Kapoor, fourth in both the 50 Freestyle (23.15) and the 100 Freestyle (49.83); sophomore Owen Ripley, fourth in the 100 backstroke (56.19) and sixth in the 200 Freestyle (1:52.62); Vince Wong, fifth in the 100 Breaststroke (1:01.21); and freshman Kyle Phillips, sixth in the 500 Freestyle (5:04.21).

Just a few days prior to the County Championship on Thursday January 13, the Pirates traveled to Newark Academy to face off with their toughest conference foe, and came away with a big 110-60 win.

SHP won all three relays and finished 1-3-4 in 5 of the 8 individual events, showing both excellent frontline talent and depth. Newark Academy keeps pool records, and SHP broke two of them!

Connor Townson set a new pool record as he won the 200 IM in 1:55.35, and he joined Dylan Negron, Richard Poplawski, and Cormac Rouse in setting the new pool mark in the 200 Medley Relay in 1:37.90. Townson also won the 500 Freestyle in a time of 4:55.47.

Richard Poplawski and Dylan Negron were also double event winners, with Richard winning the 100 Butterfly in 51.72 and the 100 Backstroke in 54.97, and Dylan the 100 Freestyle in 49.26 and 100 Breaststroke in 100.19 (both by less than a tenth of a second!) Cormac Rouse took first in the 50 Freestyle in 22.71, and the 200 Freestyle Relay Team of Junior Kyler Alcebar, Senior Jose Rodriguez, Soph Pat Miller and Negron won their race in 1:33.82.

The most exciting race of the day was the last one, the 400 Freestyle Relay. Cormac Rouse, Owen Ripley, and Connor Townson swam well but Newark Academy led by over 10 yards going into the anchor leg. However, Richard Poplawski kept gaining ground on the anchor leg and wowed the crowd by edging out the Newark Academy swimmer in a sizzling 46.55 seconds. The total time for the relay was 3:18.44.

The win over Newark Academy moved the Pirates to 7-0 on the season. Next up is a road meet vs. a solid Passaic Tech team on Tuesday January 25.