Cougars Swim to a Close Win Over Dayton

This update provided by assistant coach Colleen Donnelly. If you see a game we were unable to cover, please feel free to send over the score and photos.

The Cranford Cougars took on Dayton-Brearley on Tuesday at Centennial Pool and continued their winning record to 2-0 with a final score of 94-76.  

The first half of the meet was very tight as the competition between both teams was at an equal level.  Dayton-Brearley took first in the 200-yard medley relay while Cranford finished in second and third.  The Cougars rebounded in the next event with freshman Nick Kalafatis taking first in the 200-yard freestyle.  This brought the score to a tie of 15-15.  

In the 200 medley relay, the Cougars fell to Dayton-Brearley in points with junior Kathleen French taking second in the 200 Individual Medley and sophomore
Jennifer Heine capturing third.  French had a personal best in the event of 2:25:96, shaving almost three seconds off of her previous best time.  

The meet took a turn in favor of the Cougars when junior Eric Walano, senior Connor Harkins, and junior Robert Lento took first, third, and fourth respectively in the 50-yard freestyle.  From this point on the Cougars slowly gained points over Dayton-Brearley in each event which lead to the Cougars being victorious.

In the 100-yard butterfly Walano tied for first followed in third by freshman Megan Byrne.  The 100-yard freestyle saw Kalafatis, Harkins, and Lento taking first, third, and fouth, respectively.  The 500-yard freestyle consisted of junior Kelly Miller finishing second, senior Katie Pijanowski in third, and junior Peter Gallo in fourth. 

The Cougars dominated the 200-yard freestyle relay in which Walano, Harkins, Kalafatis, and Lento easily captured first.  In the 100-yard backstroke Christian Woo finished second.  The 100-yard breast stroke saw French finish first and freshman Evan Brawley finish a strong and exciting second place, just out-touching Dayton-Brearley.

Finally, the 400-yard freestyle relay made of Heine, Pijanowski, Gallo, and Woo took second.

The coaches and the swimmers are very excited this season as many of their seasonal swimmers are swimming at or faster than the times they finished with last season.  Having only two meets under their belts, the coaches are thrilled to see what their times do during the course of the rest of the season and also where they finish at.  Everyone is working very hard to reach their personal goals and cheer each other on in the process.

200 Yard Medley Relay
2nd:  Eric Walano, Kathleen French, Connor Harkins, Robert Lento  1:56:40
3rd:  Christian Woo, Evan Brawley, Zach Fried, Katie Pijanowski   2:06:82
6th:  Stephanie Bagniewski, Kaitlin Hipkin, William Allen, Naomi Assaf   2:57:66

200 Yard Freestyle
1st:  Nick Kalafatis   2:01:21
4th:  Juan Torres   2:32:05
5th:  Brian Leu  2:40:84

200 Yard Individual Medley
2nd:  Kathleen French  2:25:96
3rd:  Jennifer Heine   2:35:60
6th:  Kelsey Fried  2:40:84

50 Yard Freestyle
1st:  Eric Walano  23:79
3rd:  Connor Harkins:  25:04
4th:  Robert Lento  25:79

100 Yard Butterfly
tied for 1st with Dayton:  Eric Walano  1:01:89
3rd:  Megan Byrne:  1:17:96
5th:  Zach Fried:  1:19:16

100 Yard Freestyle
1st:  Nick Kalafatis   54:88
3rd:  Connor Harkins  57:35
4th:  Robert Lento  58:21

500 Yard Freestyle
2nd:  Kelly Miller  6:38:02
3rd:  Katie Pijanowski  6:39:90
4th:  Peter Gallo  7:03:77

200 Yard Freestyle Relay
1st:  Eric Walano, Connor Harkins, Nick Kalafatis, Rob Lento    1:43:46
3rd:  Juan Torres, Kathleen French, Tom Marra, Kelly Miller  1:58:26
4th:  Megan Kozlowski, Galen Vosseller, Matt Ghiretti, Catherine Burns    2:14:08

100 Yard Backstroke
2nd:  Christian Woo  1:08:14
4th:  Jennifer Heine  1:12:56
5th:  Ivanna Gomez  1:13:24

100 Yard Breast Stroke
1st:  Kathleen French  1:16:63
2nd:  Evan Brawley  1:20:14
5th:  Juliet Longo  1:25:96

400 Yard Freestyle Relay
2nd:  Jennifer Heine, Katie Pijanowski, Peter Gallo, Christian Woo    4:25:75
4th:  Juan Torres, Gabriel Nino, Megan Byrne, Maria Guarisco   4:45:78
5th:  Dmitry Kotov, Lori Joseph, Will Bender, Dan Couto  5:10:74