A Different Season

Both the boys and girls Lakeland Regional – West Milford joint swim teams had very successful years in the pool this year.  According to NJ.com, the girls went 3-2 in meets and the boys went 1-4 under head Coach Patricia Kebrdle. Junior Victoria Figliuolo, explains how “the team’s overall season went very well” and that they “only had a few meets but all of the swimmers did their best to improve their times.”

Despite this, the season came with many challenges.  The pandemic made the sport harder than ever.  Because the sport takes place inside, extra COVID-19 precautions had to be established.  Sophomore Amelia Smith explains that they “had to have virtual meets, which was basically just Lakeland swimmers swimming against each other and the times would be sent to someone to compare against the other teams.”  From there they would determine who won the meet.  Smith continued to explain that “the hardest part of this year was probably following all of the guidelines that the state had for sports”.

Success in the Pool

Even though there were difficulties, swimmers took first place in many meets, while breaking records and winning meets.  Sophomores Nicole Magee (100 Fly, 500 Free, 200 IM records according to the Live Feed) and Owen Schouten (100 Fly, 500 Free, 200 IM, 100 Free, backstroke records according to the Live Feed) were two of the best swimmers for their teams, breaking many records throughout the season.  Junior, Ryan Masker also broke a school record for the 100 breaststroke.

While the girls lost their first two meets, they quickly began to hit their stroke winning their next three matches against Mahwah (114-55), Ramapo (101-69), and Tenafly (88-82).  According to a post from Coach Kebrdle on the Lakeland live feed, in the Mahwah win alone, the girls saw first place finishes from Magee, Smith, sophomore Isabelle Kuhn, junior Monica Sperzel, and freshman Christiana Ranft, with a relay of junior Riley Catalioto and sophomore Maeve Grant also taking first.  Despite having less meets, the team improved tremendously from the season before, where, according to NJ.com, they went 3-9.  According to Smith, the captains from the Lakeland side of the team were seniors Catherine Morgan, Rachel Griegel, Kailey Stoker, Hadley Noonan, Kayleigh Powers, and Olivia Hahn, who all contributed to the team’s success.

The boys also saw success winning multiple individual races and breaking records throughout the season.  According to the Lakeland live feed, during the win against Mahwah, Schouten, Masker, and junior Santino Celentano all had individual first place finishes and a relay including junior Jimmy Catalioto and junior Sean McGinty also won. The boys also improved from the previous season.  According to Smith, the captains from the Lakeland boys were seniors Malachy Henneessy, Sergei O’Hernadez, and Ian Garcia.  

Closing Remarks

Despite the difficulties, swimmers took first place in many meets, while breaking records and winning meets.  Figliuolo explained that a goal of the season was just to have “fun despite the challenges due to the pandemic.”  Smith said that she wasn’t upset about the shortened, protocol-filled season “because at least we were able to have a season.”  In general, the season saw improvement from the 2020 season, both in individual times and team scores.  With many swimmers returning to the teams next year, the future looks bright for both the boys and the girls.