The Westfield Leader Newspaper
The Times of Scotch Plains-Fanwood

CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK

THE WEEK IN SPORTS Check it out on the website! www. goleader. com High School Sports pgs 1316

BLUE DEVIL JEFF WEBER SINKS SEVEN 3POINTERS

Raiders Avail Height to Chill Blue Devil Hoopsters, 5646

By DAVID B. CORBIN

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Height superiority paid off for the Scotch PlainsFanwood High School boys basketball team as they effectively deflected many of the crosscourt passes of the smaller Westfield squad to secure a, 5646, victory in Westfield on January 4. However, one Blue Devil, Captain Jeff Weber, found the mark from beyond the threepoint circle, nailing seven while adding a layup and a free throw to lead all scoring with 24 points.

“Once they got into the lane, they blocked a lot of passes,” said Blue Devil Head Coach Kevin Everly of the larger Raiders. “With two big

guys in there like (Andy) Feeley and (Derrick) Brown, it’s difficult.”

Four Raiders hit double figures with senior Mike Jackson and 6’9” junior Feeley leading the swarm with 18 and 17 points, respectively. 6’7”, 260 poundplus Brown, a junior, laid in 10 and senior Harold Burwell rolled in 11. Blue Devil sophomore Jim McKeon was on the mark with 11 points and teammates Dan DeSerio and Jay Cook added seven and four points, respectively.

Raider Head Coach Willie Leonardi pointed out, “I thought Jackson had a real good game. And Feeley is scoring well now.”

In fact, Feeley appears to be becoming a complete player. “He’s doing a good job rebounding. He has come a long way. There’s a lot of

potential there. He has some nice moves around the basket and has a nice release on his shots. He works very hard at it. He’s a gym rat!” Leonardi commented.

Defense and team leadership has sometimes gotten overshadowed by offense, but Raider Captain Dave Herrmann did a superb job of setting up the plays and did lead the team with 10 rebounds followed by Feeley, who pulled down eight, and Brown, who grabbed six.

The Blue Devils were staggered by the larger Raiders in the first quarter, falling behind 199, and found it difficult in the second, having been outscored, 138. Feeley dominated the boards offensively and laid in eight of his points in the first quarter,

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

RAIDER GILLOOLY HITS 12, DEVIL MANAHAN NETS 10

LaForge Sinks Two as Raiders Burn Blue Devil Cagers, 3938

By DAVID B. CORBIN

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Exciting games have occurred when the Westfield and the Scotch PlainsFanwood High School girls basketball teams have met each other on the court. In their first meeting of the season, sophomore Kellie LaForge sank two separate sets of free throws with seconds remaining to give the Raiders a, 3938, victory in Scotch Plains on January 4.

On January 5, 1999, it was the Blue Devil girls who pulled off the

sting with a 2726 victory in Westfield. That time, Liz McKeon sank two free throws in the final nine seconds to secure the victory. Earlier, with just 2: 35 left in the game, McKeon was fouled, then a technical foul was mysteriously called on Raider Coach Brian Homm. McKeon capitalized. That sequence got the Blue Devils back into the game.

This year, the Raiders bounced back from an 117 first quarter deficit,

with an 110 sweep in the second quarter to take an 1811, half time lead. The Blue Devils were, however, effective with their pressing defense and fast breaks in the first quarter. Karen Manahan and Courtney Thornton hit for four and three points, respectively, and teammates Val Griffeth and Jackie Cusimano both added two. The taller Raiders did manage to get inside a few times as LaForge had three points and Erin Gillooly and Katie Feighner both had two points.

“We had to adjust to their speed. They are very quick and aggressive,” said Raider Head Coach Brian Homm of the Blue Devils. “They didn’t have much size so we tried to get the ball inside.”

Raider junior guard Nawja Glover got the Raiders in sync in the second quarter with three assists, one point and two steals. It was Gillooly, however, who led the Raiders offensively, scoring six of her gameleading 12 points. LaForge and Feighner each added two points. In the meantime, the Blue Devils missed several scoring opportunities, creating nice steals with fine passes but with an inability to convert.

“Our girls who usually hit those shots were cold,” commented Blue Devils Head Coach Joe Marino. “We had many opportunities to win that game. It just didn’t drop for us. That was the bottom line.”

With some modifications in their defensive strategy, the Blue Devils forced more turnovers and had more success beating the Raiders to the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

Blue Devil Swim Boys Finish Sixth at Pirate Invitational By BRUCE JOHNSON

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

Last Saturday’s journey to West Windsor for the 21st annual Pirate Invitational Swimming Championships proved to be a tiring, grueling and worthwhile experience for the Westfield boys swim team, which took a solid sixthplace finish.

While WHS has won more Pirate titles than any other team (six), the meet is an eightswimsinsixhours grind and finals are mostly yearround “stud” level swimmers. That’s the type teams WHS had in the mid1980s, when Chris McFadden and Aaron Weber were winning two events each, or in the early ‘90s, when Darren Hertell, Dave Schwartz, Tom Mann, Scott Kaslusky and Co. were among the top teams in the country.

But this year’s Blue Devils, ranked No. 5 in the state in both the Gannett

and The StarLedger rankings, are more a dualmeet team, using depth, not stars, to win. So, considering the powerhouse Pirate field — including Connecticut state champion Greenwich, top N. J. teams like Christian Brothers Academy (which easily won this year’s meet), defending Pirate champion St. Joseph of Metuchen, BridgewaterRaritan, host West WindsorPlainsboro South, Seton Hall Prep, Toms River East, Hunterdon Central and Pennsbury (Pa.) — the sixthplace finish wasn’t too shabby.

And WHS, which finished fourth, eighth and ninth the past three years, was one of the few teams to have a swimmer or relay scoring in every event.

Junior Cliff Haldeman had the top WHS performance, finishing second in the 100yard breaststroke with a 1: 03.66, good enough for No. 11 on the WHS AllTime Performance List. Classmate Matt Vidovich also finaled in the breaststroke, but a knee injury slowed him to a sixthplace medal. The only other individual finalist was freshman Zach Coppa, who took sixth in the 200 freestyle after swimming a lifetime best 1: 51.44 during trials.

Reaching the consolation finals were freshman Vince Shen in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke, Coppa and senior Scott Kautzmann in the 50 free, freshman Greg Matthews and Kautzmann in the 100 butterfly, Haldeman in the 100 free and senior Paul Kolterjahn in the 500 free.

In addition, all three relays scored. The medley relay of Shen, Vidovich, Matthews and Haldeman was seventh in 1: 48.42; the 4x50 free relay of Kautzmann, Haldeman, senior Matt Cahill and Coppa was fourth in 1: 34.79, while the 4x100 free team of Coppa, seniors Turner Yevich and Kyle McCloskey, and Kautzmann was eighth in 3: 32.35.

One of the top performances was by freshman John Chiesa, whose 59.92 in the 100 fly was a lifetime best. He also did a seasonbest 1: 01.94 in the 100 back.

Earlier last week, the Blue Devils improved to 62 with victories over

Union (11354) and unbeaten East Brunswick (9872).

Yevich, Kolterjahn and junior Rob Freundlich each won two events in the win over the Farmers. Yevich took the 200 free and 100 backstroke, while Kolterjahn captured the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. Freundlich won the sprint freestyles — 50 and 100 yards.

Against East Brunswick, the Blue Devils built a commanding 7634 after the 500 freestyles, with firstplace finishes from Kolterjahn (200 free), Kautzmann (200 IM), Cahill (50 free), Chiesa (100 fly) and Shen (500 free).

WHS hosts archrival Scotch PlainsFanwood today, 2: 15 p. m., at the

Wallace Pool at the Westfield Y. The Raiders have won the last four dual meets between the two teams, and last year ended Westfield’s 42year reign as champions of Union County.

Pirate Invitational: (Winners and WHS places, times)

Team scores: 1. Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) 246, 2. Greenwich (Conn.) 187, 3. BridgewaterRaritan (BR) 180, 4. St. Joseph (SJ) (Metuchen) 139, 5. West WindsorPlainsboro (WW) 129, 6. Westfield (W) 93, 7. Pennsbury (P) (Pa.) 72, 8.

Toms River East (TE) 59, 9. Scotch PlainsFanwood (SPF) 54, 10. Hunterdon Central (HC) 44, 11. Seton Hall Prep (SH) 35, 12.

Toms River South (TS) 27, 13. Lenape (L) 19, 14. A. I. duPont (D) (Del.) 16.

JESSE COXSON SEEKS TO DEFEND 200AND 500 FREESTYLE TITLES

Devil Girls Prepare for Pirate Invt’l; Swamp Union and East Brunswick By BRUCE JOHNSON

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

The past three years, the St. Mark’s High School girls have dominated the Pirate Invitational, winning the team title each year while sweeping the three relays. Last year, the Wilmington, Del., team scored a record 302 points (the old Pirate mark was 301, set by the Westfield boys’ team in 1992; the previous best girls score was 273 by Union Catholic in 1981).

Can anybody beat St. Mark’s when the 21st annual Pirate Invitational Girls Championships are held this Saturday at West WindsorPlainsboro South’s “Bubble?” Well, if anybody can, it’s probably the Westfield High School (WHS) girls. The Blue Devils have traditionally swum well at Pirate, although they’ve only managed just two team titles, in 1985 and ‘87 under Hall of Fame coach Merilyn Diamond. Under current coach Bev Torok, WHS has placed second (1998), third twice (1994, 1995), sixth (1999), seventh (1996) and ninth (1997).

Last year, Jesse Coxson won the 200and 500yard freestyles, becoming the first WHS winner at Pirate since Anne Teitelbaum’s 500 free victory in 1996. But the high caliber competition at Pirate kept the eventual state B Division champs from placing higher than tied for sixth (with Pennsbury, Pa.), behind St. Mark’s, host West WindsorPlainsboro, Hunterdon Central, Cherokee and Scotch PlainsFanwood.

Coxson will be joined by her twin sister Abby, who missed last season with a shoulder injury, fellow senior Katie Bartholomew, juniors Ashley Saul, Chrissy Schwebel, Jenny Fowler, Kerry Hart, Nicole Herttua and Stephanie Kolterjahn, sophomores Chris Kolenut and Chrissie Romano, and freshmen Heather Lane, Juli Vanarelli and Alexa Vantosky as

they try to dethrone St. Mark’s. In meets last week, WHS improved to 60 with victories over Union (10466) and East Brunswick (10565). The Blue Devils are currently ranked No. 1 in the Gannett New Jersey Top 10, and No. 2 (behind Immaculate Heart Academy) in The StarLedger

Top 20. The Union meet provided a chance for Torok to move her lineup around, and the Devils still won five of the eight individual races, with Jesse Coxson’s 1: 14.12 in the 100 breaststroke moving her into the alltime top 15 list. Vantosky (200 free), Fowler (100 fly), Schwebel (100 free), Kolterjahn (500 free) and Hart (100 back) won individual races.

WHS took first in six of the eight races against East Brunswick, with Hart (200 free), Schwebel (200 IM), Abby Coxson (50 free), Vantosky (100 fly), Kolterjahn (500 free) and

Herttua (100 breast) notching firsts.

Westfield 104, Union 66

200 medley relay — 1. Westfield (Jesse Coxson, Katie Bartholomew, Abby Coxson, Jenny Fowler) 2: 05.08, 2. Union, 3. Westfield 2: 11.63.

200 free — 1. Alexa Vantosky (W) 2: 15.26, 2. Romano 2: 16.55, 3. Beck (W) 2: 24.82, 4. Shanahan (U), 5. O’Shea (U).

200 IM — 1. Krueger (U) n. t., 2. Hart (W) 2: 31.54, 3. Lane (W) 2: 36.01, 4. Dresely (W) 2: 55.53, 5. Dombrowski (U).

50 free — 1. Perger (U) n. t., 2. Kolterjahn (W) 27.78, 3. Saul (W) 28.07, 4. Thomas (U), 5. Gebhardt (U).

100 fly — 1. Fowler (W) 1: 11.18, 2.

Anderson (W) 1: 14.19, 3. Beck (W) 1: 19.61,

4. Theresa (U), 5. Dombrowski (U).

100 free — 1. Chrissy Schwebel (W) 1: 01.59, 2. Perger (U), 3. Thomas (U), 4. O’Shea (U), 5. Curran (W) 1: 11.76.

500 free — 1. Stephanie Kolterjahn (W) 5: 56.07, 2. Bartholomew (W) 5: 58.81, 3.

Cwiakala (U), 4. Shanahan (U), 5. Duffy (W) 7: 37.80.

200 free relay — 1. Westfield (A. Coxson, Vantosky, Schwebel, Ashley Saul) 1: 56.18, 2. Union, 3. Westfield 2: 04.95.

100 back — 1. Kerry Hart (W) 1: 12.07,

2. Cwiakala (U), 3. Brosroski (U), 4. Euwer (W) 1: 20.11, 5. Eyring (W) 1: 31.34.

100 breast — 1. Krueger (U) n. t., 2. J. Coxson (W) 1: 14.12, 3. Shanahan (U), 4.

Dresely (W) 1: 30.41, 5. LeBlanc (W) 1: 34.43.

400 free relay — 1. Westfield (Hart, Schwebel, Katie Bartholomew, Fowler) 4: 09.75, 2. Union, 3. Union.

Westfield 105, East Brunswick 65

200 medley relay — 1. Westfield (Ashley Saul, Katie Bartholomew, Abby Coxson, Alexa Vantosky) 2: 02.23, 2. Westfield 2: 05.06, 3. East Brunswick.

200 free — 1. Kerry Hart (W) 2: 11.00, 2.

Larkin (EB), 3. Anderson (W) 2: 22.41, 4.

Dresely (W) 2: 26.92, 5. Caufield (EB).

200 IM — 1. Chrissy Schwebel (W)

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times USING HER HEIGHT ADVANTAGE… Raider Erin Gillooly, left, holds the ball well above the reach of Blue Devils Jackie Cusimano, No. 32, and Karen Manahan, right.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times PREPARING FOR THE SECOND LEG… Blue Devil Matt Vidovich, top platform with WHS cap, and the rest of the competitors prepare for the second leg of the 200 medley relay event at the start of the East Brunswick meet.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times PREMEET WARMUP… Blue Devil Rachel Falcone practices her backstroke prior to the meet with East Brunswick.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times CONTROLLING THE BOARDS… Raider Derrick Brown grabs a defensive rebound, then passes the ball in the game against the Blue Devils on January 4. The Raiders defeated the Blue Devils, 5646.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The Times GETTING FIRED UP FOR THE MEET… A ring of fired up Blue Devils prepare for their meet with the East Brunswick on January 6. The Devil girls burned the Bears, 10565, and will compete in the Pirate Invitational on Saturday.

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