Lawrence’s Eden Briggs swims in a meet this season.
High school swimming programs are all different when it comes to setting goals. Some teams feature three or four studs and clean up at invitational meets, while others have a bunch of solid swimmers across the board who provide the kind of depth that can lead to dual meet success.
The Lawrence High School girls’ team was the latter this past season, as it went 12-2 and received a double bye in the NJSIAA South Jersey Public C semifinals before falling to Oakcrest, 94-76. The Cardinals’ only other loss was to Princeton, which reached the Public B finals.
“I thought we had a fantastic season,” senior tri-captain Allie Wengler said. “We had very high expectations and everyone pulled together to do our best to meet them.”
Wengler added that while the coaches pushed the squad to its limits, it only proved to the girls how much they could accomplish.
“We all came together and our enthusiasm and motivation built throughout the season and we got a great outcome,” she said.
Lawrence’s goals included winning the Colonial Valley Conference Patriot Division, making a strong showing at the Hornet Relays and the Mercer County meet and reaching the sectional finals. The Cards beat out a quality Hopewell team to win the division, repeated as Hornet Relay champs and came within one meet of the SJC finals.
Interestingly, Lawrence finished seventh in the Mercer County meet behind several of the teams it defeated in dual meets. That was no surprise to coach Mike Underwood.
“Our team has always focused on dual meets rather than the MCT,” Underwood said. “Winning the MCT is a big deal, but it shows which teams have the most elite swimmers in each event. That usually means what team has the most star club swimmers. I’m proud of telling teams that we have only a handful of swimmers that swim year round. It makes other teams really open their eyes and realize that we have a special group of kids.”
That group was led by two senior captains in Maeve Humphries and Wengler, and a rare freshman captain in Angelina Franceschini.
Humphries was the most vocal girl on the team according to the coach, and she was a big influence during all four of her years at Lawrence. Wengler was a utility swimmer who could be plugged into any spot, be it as an individual or a relay, and still excel.
Franceschini was able to step into any role as well. A strong sprinter, she filled in at the IM this year and worked hard at it for the good of the team.
All three provided the necessary leadership.
“We always tried to set a positive tone going into each meet, no matter who we were against,” Wengler said. “Before the start of each meet we would gather for our cheer and give a pep talk to the girls. We always made sure everyone was up and cheering for our teammates in the water. The more positive we were, the better we did.”
Things started off on a positive note on opening day, when Lawrence defeated Steinert 90-80 in what has become an intense but friendly rivalry over the years. Steinert finished third in the MCT.
“Our first meet was a great opportunity to view where we were as a team,” Underwood said. “Steinert is a very talented team with lots of quality club swimmers. Being able to win at their school was a wonderful feeling for the team and brought lots of confidence to the rest of the season. “
Wengler agreed.
“We knew they had some very good swimmers and we knew that we had our own,” she said. “It gave us an impression of how the season would turn out because they were practically a mirror image of us. Starting out with the win gave us all the confidence to push harder throughout the season, and it showed.”
Aside from Steinert, some of the team’s biggest wins were a 94-76 victory over Hopewell on Dec. 22 that put Lawrence in control of the Patriot Division race, and 89-81 and 91-79 triumphs over West Windsor-Plainsboro South and North on Jan. 6 and 8, respectively.
Other key contributors to the cause included sophomore distance freestyle and backstroker Kayla Krisak and junior breaststroker Sarah Dauer, who took a top 6 at the MCT.
“We call Kayla the pitbull because she is fearless and never quits in a race,” Underwood said.
That was actually the trait of the entire team, according to the coach.
“Our girls never quit,” Underwood said. “We always preach that we need to not only train hard in the water, but also mentally, no matter who you are swimming against. It’s a total team effort that begins with your attitude prior to hitting the water. Perfect performance will never be reached without preparation. Our girls are very focused and love to compete.”
Wengler felt a big key to the success was several young girls emerging after the Cardinals graduated some quality swimmers last spring.
“We knew we had to step it up,” she said. “We got some stellar freshmen who came in where we needed them, and moved some people around. We all knew that if we wanted another incredible season, we had to get it ourselves, and we definitely did.”
And the coach felt that losing to Oakcrest was nothing to be upset about.
“They had more depth in the pool that day than we could handle,” Underwood said. “We put together our best lineup, however we didn’t know very much about them as a team. They only had limited information in the papers and they could scout 12 meets that we had over the season. It was unfortunate, but they deserved to win that day. But I can’t look back at this season and say anything other than it was great effort and great memories. This was a wonderful team and a wonderful season.”
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