Dodger Swim Team Loses To Chatham, Splits Against Morristown In Season Opener Meets
In the last two weeks, the Madison High School swim team competed in meets against Chatham and Morristown to open up their 2022-23 season.
While both the boys and girls teams suffered losses against Chatham on December 13, they split their meet against Morristown on December 20, with the girls losing by a narrow margin and the boys winning. The boys’ win was a historic one–it was their first win against Morristown in over ten years.
This season, the Dodgers are once again led by head coaches Nancy Leib and Lisa Moretti. They are joined by volunteer coach Adair Fleming, a Madison High School history teacher, who is a new addition to the staff. Senior Owen Weller leads the boys team as a captain, while seniors Fiona Beacom, Bella Guarino, and Karen Wu are the captains of the girls team.
Chatham
As one of the strongest teams in the state, Chatham has historically been the Dodgers’ most challenging opponent on both the girls and boys side–and the same trend continued this time around.
The girls’ lost 106 to 64, with Karen Wu being responsible for Madison’s only two first-place finishes. She swept the sprint events, winning the 50-yard freestyle (25.33) and the 100-yard freestyle (55.72). Other top performers included Bella Guarino, who took third in the 200 individual medley (2:22.28) and second in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.50); and junior Erin Barisonek, who was second in the 100 butterfly (1:04.00) and 100 backstroke (1:03.46).
Barisonek’s time in the 100 back was particularly impressive, as she went faster than her 2021-22 season-best time of 1:04.83 by over a second in just the first meet of this season.
On the boys’ side, the Dodgers suffered a similar loss to the defending NJSIAA Group B state champions, scoring 55 points compared to Chatham’s 115. Owen Weller had the team’s only individual win, as he took first in the 100 back (56.27) by 0.73 seconds. In addition, he also scored a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:09.51).
Another top performer on the boys’ side was sophomore Jacques Chemaly, who took on a wide range of distances to place second in both the 50 freestyle (23.21) and 500 freestyle (5:09.00). Both of his times were faster than his season-bests from last year (23.5 in the 50 free, 5:16.86 in the 500 free). Sophomore Anuthra Abeysinghe was also a big contributor, finishing third in the 200 freestyle (2:03.76) and second in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.46). He saw a three-second drop from 1:06.48 to 1:03.46 in the 100 breast, which is arguably his best event.
The boys did see some success on their relays, as they finished off their meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay. In that relay, the Madison ‘A’ team of Chemaly (51.76), freshman Spencer Rosenbaum (53.53), Weller (52.68), and Abeysinghe (59.20) combined for a time of 3:31.94 to beat Chatham by over half a second.
Morristown
The Dodgers saw much more favorable results at the Morristown meet, for the girls and boys. Their meet was held at Morristown High School, which has a 25-meter pool. This was a contrast from the 25-yard pool at the Madison YMCA that the Dodgers practiced in every day, and many swimmers were racing in short course meters for the first time in their lives.
On the girls’ side, Madison lost 81 to 90, but it was the closest margin they had lost to Morristown in over a decade and the first time a matchup between them was decided by single digits in that same timeframe.
Once more, Wu was a standout performer, winning the 100-meter butterfly (1:09.89) and 200-meter individual medley (2:39.08). Barisonek was also a double winner, taking first in the 400 freestyle (4:55.89) and 100 backstroke (1:12.51).
Also taking top two finishes were Guarino, who was second in the 50 freestyle (31.38) and 100 breaststroke (1:23.91); and sophomore Layla Knoll, who was third in the 200 individual medley (2:54.14) and second in the 100 freestyle (1:07.09).
The Dodger girls won their first relay of the season at this meet, as Wu (1:02.88), Knoll (1:07.38), Barisonek (1:11.86), and Guarino (1;15.09) combined for a time of 4:32.33 to win the 400 freestyle relay.
This meet marked the high school swimming debut of several newcomers that didn’t race at the Chatham meet. Freshmen Alex Modi, Saanvi Sureka, Victoria Rojas, Adrian Mitchell, Asia Sohoni, Harper Masterson, Olivia Burrow, and Lexi Maroukian all swam their first-ever high school swim races against Morristown.
The boys’ team beat Morristown 93 to 76, winning their first matchup against them in over ten years. In this historic win, the Dodgers had superb performances, finishing no worse than second in every single event besides the 200 freestyle relay. Weller, Chemaly, and Abeysinghe took two individual wins each.
Weller shifted from his typical backstroke/individual medley lineup to race the mid-distance freestyle events, and he won both the 200 freestyle (2:16.51) and 400 freestyle (4:59.28). Abeysinghe took the 200 individual medley (2:26.65) and 100 breaststroke (1:11.70), and Chemaly the 50 freestyle (26.15) and 100 backstroke (1:04.83).
The Dodgers also had two swimmers place top two for the first time this season, as freshman Spencer Rosenbaum was second in the 100 butterfly (1:12.83) and senior Evan Katz was second in the 100 freestyle (1:07.28).
On relays, the Dodger boys were victorious twice. The team of Weller (29.38), Abeysinghe (32.31), Rosenbaum (30.40), and Chemaly (29.76) combined for a time of 1:57.61 to win the 200 medley relay, while Chemaly (57.24), Weller (1:00.25), Rosenbaum (1:06.28), and Abeysinghe (1:06.51) took the 400 freestyle relay in 4:11.61.
Up next, the Dodgers will face Parsippany Hills on January 4. In addition, some of the team’s best swimmers will be competing at ‘A’ championships on January 6. ‘A’ championships is a meet that requires swimmers to hit certain qualification time standards in order to participate.
Pre-Season Video Footage
Prior to the start of the season, a press conference was held for seniors Weller, Beacom, Katz, and Alexa Leo to discuss their experiences on the swim team and their takeaways headed into the start of competition. You can view the full conference here:
