Old Bridge girls swim takes home program’s first GMC title - nj.com

Old Bridge has slowly been climbing the ranks of the Greater Middlesex Conference.

Two years ago Old Bridge finished in fifth at the GMC Championship meet, and last year it climbed all the way up to third. That all set the stage for this season when Old Bridge won its program’s first GMC Championship meet with 567 points.

The total was more than 100 points more than second-place East Brunswick, which had 462, with Bishop Ahr and South Brunswick closely behind with 459 and 430 points, respectively.

Old Bridge set that tone early by claiming the 200 medley relay behind the team of Niyati Saravanakumar, Lia Vendel, Hannah Kretkowski and Ashley Chui, swimming to a time of 1:53.94 to win the event by .17 seconds over Bishop Ahr.

Chui also excelled individually, collecting the only other first-place finish Old Bridge had at the meet, taking the 100 fly with a time of 58.50 to win it by .26 seconds. Chui also finished second in the 50 free.

Old Bridge ultimately earned eight top-six finishes in the eight individual events, highlighted by Niyati Saravanakumar and Emily Hopkins finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100 back, and Lily Shay and Lia Vendel taking second and third, respectively, in the 100 breast.

Those individual finishes helped Old Bridge take firm control of the meet, with a second-place finish in the 400 free relay capping a stellar performance.

-- Metuchen’s Bridget Thomas put together another show this year at the championship meet, winning both the 200 and 500 free. She set the meet record in both with a time of 1:53.10 in the 200 free and 5:01.71 in the 500 free. The records stay in the Metuchen family with both times breaking records previously set by former Metuchen swimmer Julie Stankiewicz. They were the only records set at Saturday’s meet.

-- Piscataway’s Olivia Willemsen proved to be the conference’s top sprinter, taking both the 50 and 100 free at the meet. She just edged out Chui in an exciting race in the 50 free, swimming in 25.02 to win the race by .05 seconds, and swam the 100 free in 55.04 to win the race by .35 seconds.

-- Bishop Ahr had some very impressive performances to finish a close third at the meet. Sophia Hardy kept the 200 IM title in the family with a win in the 200 IM with teammate Sierra Smith finishing second, and Brianna Dy earned a commanding win in the 100 breast, taking the event by more than two seconds. Grace Neno, Sydney Zeszotarski, Dy and Sierra Smith also combined for a win in the 400 free relay.

Evan Slavit may be reached at eslavit@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @EvanSlavitHS. Like NJ.com HS sports on Facebook.

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