Mount St. Dominic Swimmers dive right in with win over West Essex

Mount St. Dominic girls swimming team is looking to repeat last year's success this season and started off with a victory over West Essex.

The Lions topped the Knights, 129-35, on Dec. 11 at Clifton Boys and Girls Club. Mount St. Dominic swept first place in all 11 events.

Three Mount St. Dominic swimmers scored a pair of first place finishes in freshman Ashlyn Reeber, junior Sonia Jagen and freshman Noelle Rivera-Castro.

Rivera-Castro took first in the 200 freestyle (2:16.57) and the 100 butterfly (1:02.77). Another freshman made a big opening splash in Reeber with wins in the 200 individual medley (2:18.56) and 100 breastroke (1:14.22). Jagen comes back again to excel in the 100 freestyle (0:59.96) with first place along with the 100 backstroke first place (1:07.01).

The other first place finishers were junior Alexa Whitworth in the 50 freestyle (28.48) and senior Kathryn Sudovar in the 500 freestyle (6:53.62).

The Lions dominated West Essex from the start with their top two 200 medley relay teams coming in first and second in the dual meet. The foursome of Jagen, Rivera-Castro, Reeber and Whitworth finished first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:00.03. And then the second Mount St. Dominic foursome of junior Leila Colon, senior Cassie Jourdan, Sudovar and sophomore Anna Jagen came behind the top Lions group with a time of 2:24.25.

And that group (Colon, Jourdan, Sudovar and Anna Jagen) that came second in the 200 medley, brought home first against West Essex in the 200 freestyle (2:06.94).
The group of Sonia Jagen, Rivera-Castro, Reeber and Whitworth touched the wall first with a time of 4:29.40 in the 400 freestyle.

For Mount St. Dominic head coach Jane Sungurov it was a very good start for a team that lost 10 swimmers from last season's team that finished with a 7-4 record.
Sungurov knows what it will take to go for the fifth straight season where they won at least seven dual meets.

"To be successful we need all swimmers present at every meet as the team is small," said Sungurov.
And part of that small team this season, the Lions head coach said that the squad can be competitive in the Essex County Swimming Championships (ECC) on Jan. 19. Mount St. Dominic came in third in the team standings last season.

"We want to come in top four at the counties and have fun doing it," said Sungurov. "We don't have the depth and Essex County is very fast."

While the counties will be tough this season, Mount St. Dominic's arrow is pointing up with a young squad. There is a good group of juniors led by Sonia Jagen and Whitworth who both specialize in spring freestyle. Sonia was named to the All Super Essex Conference American Division second team in the 100 freestyle last season. The freshmen are also very strong led by Reeber and Rivera-Castro.

Both of their top events are individual medley, butterfly and breaststroke.

Two meets in January will be some of the toughest tests for Mount St. Dominic in Montclair and Newark Academy on Jan. 21 and Jan. 29 respectively. Both finished ahead of the Lions in the ECC last season with Newark Academy winning the ECC title.

Mount St. Dominic Girls Swimming Schedule
(Home meets at Clifton Boys and Girls Club)

Jan. 8 at Livingston, NJIT, 4 p.m.
Jan. 12 at Montclair Kimberley, 4 p.m.
Jan. 14 at Millburn, Jersey Aquatic Center, 8 p.m.
Jan. 19 Essex County Swimming Championships, Jersey Aquatic Center, TBD
Jan. 21 Montclair, 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 28 Columbia, 8:30 p.m.
Jan. 29 at Newark Academy, 4 p.m.
Feb. 3 Glen Ridge, 8:30 p.m.
Feb. 6 State Team Tournament, TBD