It
was nearly a doubly lucky Friday the 13th for Cranford’s two
powerful Winter sports teams but
The wrestlers fell one
point short of matching the girls swimming team as first time sectional
champions when they dropped a heartbreaking 25-24 match at perennial power
South Plainfield. Thirty miles to the south at Neptune Aquatic Center on Friday
night, the girls, swimming with heavy hearts and the memory of deceased team
member Justin Juzefyk, swam one of their best meets and clobbered top seed
Summit 105-65.
“Friday night was an exciting time for Cranford
Athletics having both swimming and wrestling competing for sectional titles at
the same time. We are very proud of both programs for their success so
far this season. Last Friday was the result of many hours and years of
preparation by these athletes and coaches,” said Athletic Director Darren
Torsone.
As she has for
four brilliant years, senior Julie Byrne led the swimming team by winning two individual
events and swam on two winning relays. Byrne took first in her specialties, the
200-yard individual medley in 2:06.66 and the 100 butterfly in 57.29. She was joined
in the quadruple winners’ circle by spectacular freshman Emily Wilson who swept
the freestyle sprints, winning the 50 free in 24.75 and the 100 free in 54.23
and also swam on the winning 200 yard medley and 200 yard freestyle relays.
Byrne is happy to pass the torch to such a talented freshman.
“Emily Wilson is a terrific swimmer. She is having a fantastic
season as a freshman and I know she will continue to grow and improve over the
next three years. She has a lot of talent and potential and I know the team
will continue to succeed with her contributions, “said Byrne.
In
addition to Wilson, sophomores Isabella DeSimone, and Amelia Templeton, have
helped the team dominate the 50 and 100 yard freestyle events. Junior Sarah
Turkavage joined Wilson and Byrne as double winners by taking first in the 200
yard freestyle (2:02.90) and the 500 yard freestyle (5:17.21). Cranford won the
first seven events of the day as it built an early lead in a rematch of its
96-74 win over Summit on Dec. 4. After three years of swimming coed meets,
Byrne was thrilled to cap her senior year with a championship.
“Winning a sectional
title my senior year was so exciting. Our team has worked hard for this and I'm
so proud of our accomplishment. Our success has to be credited to our two
coaches, Coach Kolesa and Coach Donnelly. They have put a lot of hard work into
our season and have supported us through everything,” said Byrne.
Veteran
Coach Barb Kolesa saw the focus of her season change tragically Juzefy, a member of the Cranford boys
swimming team, was killed in a car accident on Feb. 3.
“We were just getting ready for the State Team
Competition when we received the
news that Justin had died. Many of our
swimmers took it hard,” said Kolesa, who tried to help the team through its
ordeal.
“We met at the pool the day he passed and talked,
cried and did our best to cope with the news. The team attended his
memorial service together and being together through the whole ordeal helped
the team cope with the tragedy. The team decided that all swims, and swim meets
would be dedicated to the memory of Justin Juzefyk.”
In the first year that Cranford,
separated from a co-ed into two separate programs, the sectional title fulfilled
and even surpassed Kolesa’s hopes.
“I always believed that the team was capable of
winning a sectional title. We have a very talented group of swimmers and
a lot of depth. In regards to our sectional win, my prediction was that
we were going to win by a close margin of around ten points. The girls
surpassed my expectations when they defeated Summit by over30 points.
I thought the meet was going to be determined by the last relay, however,
the girls already had the meet won after the
backstroke event, two events before the end,” said Kolesa.
"The other three years have been really exciting and we’ve
gotten really close with the boys team. But, being able to be a girls team and
win a sectional title has been really special for us,” said Byrne.
Coach Patrick Gorman has gradually
built the Cranford Wrestling program into the best in Union County and has held
its own with some of the state’s renown powers. That fact was again made
apparent in the final week of dual matches when the Cougars turned back
perennial power Long Branch, the 18th ranked team in the state,
34-28 on Wednesday February 11 before a raucous crowd at sold out Martin Gym in
Cranford.
“It
was a big stepping stone victory for us and the fans were great,” said Gorman.
Sophomore Tom DiGiovanni, opened things with an exciting 8-6
victory at 120 followed by another pin from Sophomore Chris Scorese at 126. Junior
Dave Busch scored a late take down to win at 138 and sophomore Brian McGovern won
6-3 at 145. Senior Captain Gavin Murray wasted no time in securing a pin at 152
to extend the early lead 21-3. Junior Niko Cappello added a pin at 182 to push
the lead to 27-10 and senior captain Nick Ballas added four big points with a
9-1 major decision. With a 31-24 lead sophomore Anthony Capece clinched the
match with an 8-3 victory at 106. As the clock ticked down the final seconds in
the third period the Cranford fans were all on their feet cheering on, knowing
the team effort had advanced Cranford to the state sectional finals.
Against a seasoned South Plainfield team playing in one of the
toughest home venues, the Cougars fought SPF even, splitting the 14 matches. DiGiovanni
won by pin, Scorese took a close decision, McGovern took another impressive
win, Murray won by major decision, Cappello and Ballas won tough matches and
heavyweight Kevin Doran took an impressive 1-0 victory.
For the wrestlers, it is now on to the individual state tournament
phase of their schedule which begins this weekend with the District 11
tournament at Westfield. Cranford is heavily favored to defend its title.
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