Ocean tops Patriots in A North duel
Pats fall from
ranks of the undefeated
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff Freehold Township’s Ashley Pittner swims to a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke during the Pats’ meet with Ocean on Jan. 7 at Monmouth University, West Long Branch.

WEST LONG BRANCH — Not just yet.

Ocean Township’s swim teams held off Freehold Township’s rapidly improved squads last Wednesday to take over first place in the A North Division.

Bill Kamenel’s Patriot boys and girls teams had risen rapidly in the division since starting out as a varsity program just two years ago. Now in their third year, the Patriots have proved to be serious contenders in the public schools A North Division, and if either or both could beat the Spartans in their dual meet at Monmouth University, they would have first place in public schools to themselves. However, the more experienced, veteran Spartans had their own ideas and were not ready to welcome the Patriots as a championship team.

The boys had all they could handle from Freehold Township before winning, 86-83 in the final race of the meet, while the Spartan girls were more decisive, scoring a 97-73 win. The losses were the first of the year for both teams, which sport identical 4-1 records, 3-1 in A North.

CHRIS KELLY staff Freehold Township’s Lauren Tomarer competes in the 100 breaststroke at the Monmouth County Relays at the Ocean County YMCA in Dover Township on Sunday.

Ocean’s boys are 4-1 overall and 4-1 in the division. The division loss was to state-power Christian Brothers Academy, which, as a parochial school, is not eligible for the public schools title. Freehold Township has not raced CBA yet. The Ocean girls are 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the division.

"It came down to the last relay; it could have gone either way," Kamenel said of the boys meet. "I’m very happy with the way they all performed."

Freehold Township’s lack of depth is what caught up to the team, as in five of the 11 events, the Pats couldn’t field a full compliment of swimmers. Despite winning seven of the 11 events, the Spartans were able to score the important second, third, fourth and fifth points to overcome it. They clinched the meet when their teams finished second and third in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

The return from illness of Mike Fox helped Freehold Township, as the dis­tance swimmer won the 200 freestyle (1:57.6) and was second in the 500.

Captain Jon Lindquist was in top form, winning the 100-meter backstroke (59.25) and the butterfly (57.53). He also collected wins as part of Freehold Town­ship’s victorious 200-meter medley (1:50.67) and 400 freestyle relay (3:54.87) teams.

Dimitry Kozevinkov also had four wins for Freehold Township. Individually, he captured the 50 and 100 freestyle sprints, and was a member of the 200 medley and 400 freestyle teams with Lindquist. Kozevinkov won the 50 in 24.89 and the century in 56.2.

In addition to Lindquist, Fox and Kozevinkov, the other swimmers taking part on the Patriots relay teams that won all three relays including the 200 freestyle (1:1:43.23), the 400 free and the 200 medley were Chris Eleazar, Nick Reed, Jeff Magill, Ryan Kelly and Ryan Westerman.Brittany Storoz and Abby Muller picked up Freehold Township’s only indi­vidual wins against Ocean. Storoz touched the wall in 2:08.00 in the 200 freestyle, while Muller won the 500 free in 5:51.81.

A small consolation for Freehold was the victory in the 200 medley relay. The quartet of Storoz, Ashley Pittner, Rena Eleazar and Jenn Jeffreys handed the Spartans their first loss of the season in 2:01.56.

"We made them stand up and take no­tice after winning the first two events, including the medley relay, which is their signature event," said Kamenel. "I’m very proud of the way the girls swam."

It should be clear sailing in A North for both Ocean teams, having already beaten Manalapan (whose girls were the defending champions) earlier in the sea­son.

Freehold Township and Manalapan (3-2 overall and 3-1 in division for both teams) will swim on Jan. 22 at the West­ern Monmouth YMCA. If Ocean stub its toe somewhere along the line, a co-cham­pionship may be possible.

No matter what transpires over the rest of the season, Kamenel is very pleased with the direction the programs are going.

"I’m happy with the development of the teams in their third year," he pointed out.