Raider girls, East Brunswick boys victorious
Battles of
conference heavyweights do not disappoint
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff East Brunswick H.S. had six first-place finishes on Tuesday to top host North Brunswick in a key dual meet. Above is Eric Blank Jr.

With the Feb. 7 GMC Champion-ships rapidly approaching, local swimmers are kicking it into high gear in preparation for the highly anticipated meet.

On Tuesday, two of the conference’s top boys and girls programs dueled it out in North Brunswick as the Raiders hosted rival East Brunswick in what is always a competitive match-up.

The top-ranked North Brunswick girls held off a game Bears squad, 95-75, on the strength of its top swimmers. As expected, both Nina Malanga and Julie Rose were the top performers of the day, as the Raiders survived a solid effort from the third-ranked Bears.

Malanga won the 50-yard freestyle (25.67), 100-yard free (57.58) and anchored the 200-yard freestyle relay, while Rose won the 200 free (2:10.73), 500 free (5:50.71) and 100 back (1:04.67), while also anchoring the winning 400-free relay team (4:07.97) and swimming the lead leg on the winning 200-medley relay team (2:00.8).

Joan Baltazar added a win in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.00) as the Raiders took first in all 11 events.

Joining Malanga on the winning 200-free relay team were Nicole Pagliaro, Melissa Socha and Tanya Holubiak, while Barton, Holubiak and Baltazar also swam on the winning 400-free relay team. Rose Baltazar, Barton and Malanga were the winning 200-medley relay team.

With the win, the Raiders improved to 6-1 on the year, and gave further evidence that they are indeed the GMC’s elite team, and the favorite in the upcoming conference championships. The Bears fell to 7-3 with the loss, and should battle it out with Bishop Ahr for second at the GMC meet.

On the boys side, the second-ranked Bears took first in six of the 11 events to hold off the fourth-ranked Raiders, 100-70.

Ryan Martinetti led the way for the Bears, winning the 50 free (23.64) and the 100 butterfly (55.96), as well as swimming the anchor leg for the winning 200-free relay team (1:34.62) and the lead leg for the winning 400-free relay team (3:47.49).

Joining Martinetti on the 200-free relay team were Tom Nawrot, Bryan O’Sullivan and Stephen Schreyer, while Bryan Lee, O’Sullivan and Nawrot were the other members of the 400-free relay team.

Nawrot matched Martinetti’s success on the day as he also scored wins in both the 100 freestyle (52.25) and 100 backstroke (1:02.84).

North Brunswick opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay as the team of Tom Waidlich, Casey Snepar, Raymond Williams and Drew Schanen touched the wall first in 1:53.45.

John Kosmo then won the 200 freestyle race in 1:59.98, before Waidlich came back to win the 200 individual medley in 2:19.92 and the 500 freestyle in 5:47.99.

Snepar took home the Raiders final gold medal of the day, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.67.

The Bears improved to 7-3 on the season with the win, and further cemented their status as the GMC’s second best team, behind the incomparable St. Joseph’s of Metuchen squad that is threatening to become fastest team in state history.

While St. Joseph’s victory at the GMCs is inevitable, the Bears should place second at the Feb. 7 meet, and with no seniors on the team this year, the Bears promise to be even better next season.

Tuesday’s meet ended the Bears dual-meet schedule, allowing them to prepare for both the GMCs and the NJSIAA tournament, where they could be the No. 2 seed in the Central Jersey Public A tournament, behind Hillsborough.

The Pirates beat EB by 65 points in a dual meet earlier this year, but the Bears have improved since then, as evidenced by their sixth-place finish at the recent Pirate Invitational, just one point behind Hillsborough.