The experience from the success of last year’s accomplishments has only made the Westfield High School boys swim team even hungrier this year. Last year, the Blue Devil boys ran the table, finished 15-0 and captured its 28th State title so they are definitely looking for State title No. 29.
On their way to the title, the Blue Devils won their 67th Union County Tournament (UCT) crown, the North 2, Group A crown by squeaking past their perennial rival, Bridgewater-Raritan (86-84) and the GroupAsemifinal by thrashing Passaic Tech (11753). The for all the marbles (Group A crown), the Blue Devils outpaced Cherry Hill East (90-80).
At the UCT, the Blue Devils broke four meet records (MR) and Owen Waibel was involved in all four. He set the MR in the 50-freestyle and the 100-butterfly and anchored the 200medley relay (with Danny Pierce, Dylan Lagrimas and Logan Swenson) and the 400-free relay (with Mike Fisher, Swenson and Pierce). Lagrimas won the 100-breaststroke and Pierce won the 100-backstroke. Swenson. Fisher, Charlie Jeckell and Dan McGann won the 200-free relay.
In order to oust Bridgewater-Raritan, the Blue Devils took advantage of their excellent depth to finish 1-3 in the final event, the 400freestyle. Against Cherry Hill East, Pierce, Lagrimas, Swenson and Waibel won the 200-medley relay. Fisher, Swenson, Pierce and Waibel won the 400-free relay. Pierce won the 100-backstroke and Lagrimas won the 100-breaststroke but it was their ability to reap many 2-3-4 spots that put them over the top.
From that very talented squad, the Blue Devils have graduated several fine athletes like McGann, Ben Nematadzira, Dylan Altman, Jeckell, Archie Mtsituri and Caleb Wiggins among others.
“We obviously lose a lot of talent and leadership with the graduation of last year’s senior class. They will be hard to replace but this year’s senior class is extremely motivated and were thinking ‘3-peat’ probably from the moment last year’s state championship meet ended,” Blue Devil Head Coach Jeff Knight said.
Of the returning senior class, Hudson Wilcomes, Pierce and Fisher have been selected team captains, which includes Waibel, Artem Dobrovolskyi, Carson Donnelly, Cole Sharkey, Swenson, Alejandro Villar and Wes Young. The juniors consist of Lagrimas, Flynn Martin, Liam Mulkeen, Clark Seeder and Logan Welsh. The sophomores consist of Elias Chang, Alex Fu, Gavin Gimblette, Luke Jenner, Joe Kiley, Ben Lane, Max Laskow, Andrew Vorobiev and Ben Zhou. There is also an enthusiastic freshman class.
“They (seniors) have been preparing as such and the returning underclassmen have clearly been putting the work in and are looking to fill the gaps left by graduation. We also have a hungry freshman class that are looking to make their mark right from the start,” Coach Knight pointed out.
The Blue Devils opened their season with a warm-up meet at Union on December 9, then will be at Governor Livingston on Tuesday, December 17, before having their first test at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, December 18, at the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA against the Raiders.
