Falcon boys dominate GMC meet once again
East Brunswick boys finish distant second
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

METUCHEN — The St. Joseph High School boys swim team finished in the top spot in nine of the 11 events at this year’s Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) championship to dominate the field and win its 28th straight title.

For the Falcons, it was their first GMC championship at DeNunzio Pool on the campus of Princeton University.

“Any pool that can make my swimmers faster is a favorite pool of mine,” St. Joseph head coach Steve Whittington said. “The new venue really motivated us.”

The Falcons finished with 726 total points to coast into first place, followed by East Brunswick in second (372 points) and South Brunswick (269 points) at third place.

The event began with the Falcons finishing in first and second place in the 200-medley relay. John Virack, David Ford, Phil Luzny and Justin Morgan won the race in 1:43.20; while the relay team of Calvin Devries, Travis Catania, Jonathan Feeley and Ryan Terracciano took second in 1:48.79.

“It was a solid swim throughout,” Whittington said. “Those were decent times for us this year.”

Whittington opted not to split up the two teams, and the move paid off as the second-place team knew it had to battle to wrap up second place. Terracciano’s anchor leg in 24.00 helped his squad edge out East Brunswick. The Bears finished in third at 1:49.77. Scott Marino followed the 200-medley relay by winning the 200 freestyle in 1:46.40.

“That was the first time Scotty swam that distance in yards,” Whittington said. “I wasn’t quite sure he could go that fast, and it proved to be just fast enough to beat out Tom Medvecky, of Piscataway.”

Medvecky’s time of 1:46.84 put him in second place ahead of St. Joe’s Bobby Besner (1:51.23), Jimmy Clarkin (1:51.28) and Catania (1:54.33), who finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Virack’s win in the 200 intermediate relay (2:03.85) was next. Teammate Eric Brozek took fourth in 2:09.83.

“John swam his best time by 2.5 seconds in an event he always swims,” Whittington said. “To get such a big drop is unusual, and it probably happened because he knew he had a close race. He had lots of adrenaline.”

Brozek, a sophomore, started swimming for the Falcons last year and has improved tremendously.

“He trained hard over the summer, and his goal at the start of the season was to be in the county race,” Whittington said. “To break 2:10 and to place fourth will leave him with a memory he won’t forget.”

The Falcons followed the 200 intermediate relay by going 1-2-3-6 in the 50-freestyle event. For Marino, his time of 22.26 was good enough to earn him his second victory of the day. Ford took second in 22.88, Morgan was third in 23.13, and Donald Keenan was sixth in 23.61.

“The 50 free is always a tough one to swim because any little mistake can be costly,” Whittington said.

“It was a great win for Scotty, as he swam his fastest time along with freshman Donald Keenan.”

Luzny’s time of 55.41 gave him the win in the 100 butterfly with teammates Devries (56.06), Feeley (57.08) and Nick Sosnovich (58.92) finishing second, third and sixth respectively.

Tim Mancuso, Besner and Morgan went 2-3-5 in the 100 freestyle before Joe LaCava, Clarkin, Joey Costello and Marcus Fowler went 2-5 in the 500 freestyle.

“Even though we didn’t place as well as we were seeded to in the 100 free, we walked away with best times for everyone,” Whittington said.

“Joey LaCava and Jimmy Clarkin also put forth their best times of the season at the 500 free. It was one of those times where they got locked into a nice pace and were able to hold it.”

LaCava’s time of 5:00.28 was six seconds faster than his previous personal best, while Clarkin improved his best time by 13 seconds with a 5:00.40 finish.

The Falcons wrapped up the day’s festivities by going 1-2 in both the 200-freestyle relay and 400-freestyle relay events, and by dominating the 100-backstroke and 100-breaststroke events.

Mancuso, Virack and Feeley went 1-3 in the backstroke, while Ford, Terracciano, Keenan and Catania finished 1-3-4-5 in the breaststroke.

“Terracciano and Keenan are having phenomenal years,” Whittington said. “They’re always exciting to watch because they’re competitors every time.”

The Falcons got the No. 2 seed for the state tournament, which is set to begin Feb. 16 before wrapping up on Feb. 25. Whittington expected his team to earn the No. 2 seed behind St. Augustine, and will now prepare his team for its first-round opponent — seventh-seeded Bergen Catholic. The winner will get either CBA (seeded third) or Notre Dame (seeded sixth).

“We’ll use our success at the GMC race to prepare for the next step,” Whittington said. “St. Augustine looks to be the team to beat.”

Notes ... While the Falcons were the dominant team on Saturday, the East Brunswick boys once again showcased their swimming prowess with a solid second-place showing at the GMC meet.

The Bears were led by Aaron Moskovich’s win in the 100 freestyle — a bit of a surprise victory for the fifth-seeded swimmer. However, East Brunswick had several other top finishes, including a pair of third-place finishes in the 200-medley and 400-freestyle relays, and a fourth in the 200-freestyle relay.

Among the other top individual finishes for the Bears were: Moskovich (fifth, 200 IM, 2:10.54); Johnny Giampietro (fifth, 50 free, 23.40); Andre Bartynski (fifth, 100 butterfly, 58.91); Matt Polito (sixth, 500 free, 5:22.57); and Dennis Jang (sixth, 100 breast, 1:06.42).

Old Bridge’s boys finished in sixth place (183), led by a sixth place in the 200-medley relay.

Right behind the Knights was the Sayreville boys (91.5 points), who were led by Alex Ratajczk, who finished sixth in both the 100 back (1:01.71) and the 200-freestyle (1:54.36).

East Brunswick’s boys, like St. Joseph’s, are now preparing for the state tournament, and a Central A first-round date with second-seeded Lawrence next Wednesday.