Both the Madison boys’ and girls’ swim teams had incredible wins against Mendham to close out 2021 before the holiday break. Due to the upsurge in COVID-19 cases, the meet did not allow spectators and was live-streamed on YouTube instead. 

Boys

After opening up the season with four straight losses, the Dodger boys finally won a dual meet, beating Mendham 96 to 73 despite having several absences on the team due to COVID-19.

The 200-yard medley relay was a tight race between Madison and Mendham’s “A” relays that ended in the team of freshman Jacques Chemaly, senior Shane Faraher, senior Justin Lee, and senior Artha Abeysinghe edging out Mendham by 0.5 seconds in a time of 1:48.27. Chemaly’s 27.34-second backstroke leg gave Madison a lead, but Mendham caught up and the two teams were close together in the breaststroke and butterfly legs. Finally, Abeysinghe’s freestyle leg widened the Dodger lead again and led the team to a victory. The Madison “B” relay of junior Evan Katz, senior David Ameiva, senior Sterling Hart, and senior Nick Modi finished third in a time of 2:09.21.

Junior Owen Weller led from start to finish of the race and won the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:00.84, with freshman Anuthra Abeysinghe and junior Jake Terry following behind in 3rd and 4th with times of 2:14.89 and 2:33.87 respectively. 

There was a very close race in the 200-yard individual medley, consisting of four 50-yard legs of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle, between teammates Justin Lee, Jacques Chemaly, and Mendham’s Craig Sharer. Lee had about a body-length lead during his strongest stroke of butterfly, but the other two caught up in the backstroke leg of the race and Chemaly was winning at the halfway point. The race was in Lee’s favor after the breaststroke leg, and a strong freestyle leg brought him home first in a time of 2:10.78. Chemaly, who was in third behind Shrarer and Chemaly entering the last 50, had a very good finish that helped him pass Shrarer and almost close in on Lee and touched second in a 2:11.20. Evan Katz finished fifth in a time of 2:40.19.

Medham’s Nick Pattino won the 50-yard freestyle, but Madison’s Artha Abeysinghe, Sterling Hart, and Shane Faraher came behind in second, third, and fourth with times of 24.44, 25.75, and 27.44 respectively.

Justin Lee followed up his individual medley win by finishing first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.57. Medham’s Raghav Reddy was following close behind him all race, but Lee’s lead increased substantially in the final 25 yards and he beat Reddy by over a second. Sterling Hart finished third in a time of 1.10.65.

Jacques Chemaly and Craig Shrarer faced off again in the 100-yard freestyle. Sharer was winning for the first 75 yards, but once again Chemaly chased him down in the final lap and beat the Mendham swimmer with a time of 56.57. Nick Modi finished fourth with a time of 1:00.96.

The Abeysinghe brothers both scored points for the team in the 500-yard freestyle, with Artha finishing 2nd in a time of 5:35.77 and Anuthra finishing 4th in a time of 6:14.84.

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Owen Weller’s 24.12 split put the Dodger “A” relay on-par with the Mendham “A” relay, but Madison fell behind and the team of Weller, sophomore Justin Dickson, Nick Modi, and Anuthra Abeysinghe finished second with a time of 1:46.43. Madison’s “B” relay of freshmen John Davidson, Adam Haydoutov, Martin Bria, and Mathis Ledru finished third with a time of 2:22.77.

The 100-yard backstroke saw Owen Weller finish second behind Raghav Reddy in a time of 58.51, while Evan Katz and Jake Terry followed in third and fourth with times of 1:12.20 and 1:15.77 respectively.

Shane Faraher, David Ameiva, and Nick Modi finished second, fourth, and fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke with times of 1:10.14, 1:23.97, and 1:29.88 respectively.

The Madison “A” relay team of Justin Lee, Artha Abeysinghe, Jacques Chemaly, and Owen Weller finished off the meet strong and won the 400-yard freestyle relay by almost 19 seconds, posting a time of 3:45.45 compared to the Mendham “A” relay’s 4:03.99. The Madison “B” relay of Anuthra Abeysinghe, Evan Katz, Sterling Hart, and Shane Faraher finished third with a time of 4:07.13.

Girls

After posting an incredible performance last week against Villa Walsh, the Madison girls’ team beat Mendham by an even bigger margin of 133 to 35 this week. They captured a first-place finish in every event that they competed in, a feat that has not been accomplished since the girls competed against Parsippany in February 2019. Furthermore, in three events, they took the top three positions. Their record improved to 3-2.

In the 200-yard medley relay, the Dodgers went 1-2 and the Madison “A” relay of sophomore Erin Barisonek, Lily Barisonek, Karen Wu, and Bella Guarino finished first by almost 20 seconds in a time of 2:08.73. The Madison “B” relay of sophomore Emma Dooley, junior Alexa Leo, senior Allison Lee, and junior Fiona Beacom touched second in 2:23.54.

Freshman Layla Knoll pulled away from the field early in the 200-yard freestyle and won the race by nine seconds in a time of 2:22.72. Isabella Sarullo and Evelyn Juliano followed behind in third and fourth with times of 2:31.46 and 2:38.91 respectively.

Karen Wu won the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 2:22.07, and Erin Barisonek finished second with a 2:26.82. The race for third place was very close, with junior Amanda Beneventano and Mendham’s Emma Prigano being dead-even in the middle part of the race (backstroke and breaststroke). However, Beneventano managed to break free in the final 10 meters of her breaststroke leg and established a clear lead over Prigano in the freestyle leg to touch third with a time of 2:44.68 compared to Prigano’s 2:49.61.

Being the only swimmer under 30 seconds, Fiona Beacom won the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 29.63. Allison Lee and Alexa Leo followed in second and fourth with times of 31.91 and 33.47 respectively.

The Dodgers went 1-2-3 for the second time in the 100-yard butterfly, with Karen Wu getting her second win of the night with a 1:02.20 time, Amanda Beneventano finishing second with a time of 1:16.96, and Allison Lee going third with a time of 1:22.18.

Following the first 25 yards of the 100-yard freestyle, Bella Guarino and Emma Dooley were completely separated from their competition. Guarino won in a time of 1:01.82, while Dooley followed after her in a time of 1:05.03 that was 10 seconds faster than Mendham’s top finisher. Sophomore Sophia Modi Finished fourth with a time of 1:21.31.

In the longest race of the night, Lily Barisonek and Layla Knoll went 1-2 in the 500-yard freestyle with times of 5:50.96 and 6:34.91 respectively, while Alexa Leo finished fifth with a time of 8:01.65.

The team of Bella Guarino, Evelyn Juliano, Fiona Beacom, and Amanda Beneventano won the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:59.79, while the team of junior Nina Kornchankul, Layla Knoll, junior Kaitlyn Engel, and sophomore Isabella Sarullo finished second in a time of 2:05.12.

In their final sweep of the night, Erin Barisonek, Emma Dooley, and junior Sasha Knoll broke free from their Mendham opponents early on in the 100-yard backstroke and led them from start to finish. Barisonek finished first with a time of 1:07.47, Dooley was second in a 1:14.28, and Knoll was third in a 1:24.77.

The 100-yard was a close race between Lily Barisonek and Bella Guarino, with Barisonek out-touching Guarino for third by just a tenth of a second. Isabella Sarullo finished fourth. 

The Dodger girls dominated in their final event of the night, going 1-2 in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Karen Wu, Erin Barisonek, Amanda Beneventano, and Lily Barisonek finished first in a time of 4:16.02, while the team of Layla Knoll, Fiona Beacom, Allison Lee, and Emma Dooley touched second in a time of 4:40.77

Coach’s remarks

“We were so pleased to even get these meets in with the surge of cases everywhere. That was truly our first victory. Both the girls’ and boys’ teams swam the best that they possibly could and it showed. We were missing key swimmers and despite that, the depth of our swimmers won these meets. There was incredible spirit displayed during the meet and it was really fun, even with no live spectators present. Thank you to LiveSight Productions for stepping in to accommodate a last-minute request to live stream the meets!” Coach Moretti said, following the conclusion of the meet.

For full meet results, see https://highschoolsports.nj.com/school/madison-madison/girlsswimming/season/2021-2022/ for the girls and https://highschoolsports.nj.com/school/madison-madison/boysswimming/season/2021-2022 for the boys.