Athletes Of The Week: Julia Kudryashova and Zach Troutman

Zach Troutman

Senior 285-pounder is a force to be reckoned with this season. With a 14-0 record, not a single opponent has pinned him yet.

Taking home last Saturday and pinning Gov. Livingston’s Anthony Manganiello Wednesday night in 38 seconds, Troutman has 8 pins in the first period, 12 pins overall and is ranked third in the state in the Heavyweight class.

“At the Pioneer Tournament, I did alright. I was seated first by far. I wrestled well,” said Troutman, who finished first overall and pinned Plainfield senior Tiaquan Womack in 2:48. “No one had won the Pioneer Tournament before from New Providence, and me and Tim went into the finals. That was cool to win it for the first time.”

Although Troutman performed well in Wednesday night’s meet against Gov. Livingston, he was not happy with .

“I hated losing as a team to them. I had to go out there and beat my kid fast, just to make up for how bad we were doing as a team,” Troutman said.

But Troutman is looking ahead, especially to tomorrow’s Union County Wrestling Tournament, beginning at 9 a.m.

“We should have some good individual efforts. There are a lot of good teams in the county, so team wise, I don’t know how we will finish,” Troutman said. “I won it last year so I’m seated first. But there’s a good kid from Linden and a good kid from Rahway who will probably be pretty tough if I see either of them in the final.”

As for the rest of the season, Troutman said he wants to remain undefeated and win the state championship. But this may be it for Troutman — in terms of wrestling, that is.

“I’m going to play football (in college). I’m basically down to Marist or University of Albany,” Troutman said.

As an offensive and defensive tackle on the varsity football team last fall, helping the team win the over the Lincoln Lions, Troutman has an unofficial scholarship offer from Marist, is expecting an offer from Albany, and will be submitting his applications this week.

Julia Kudryashova

As one of the best freestyle swimmers in the state, senior Julia Kudryashova’s season is off to a superb start.

Kudryashova is the county record holder in the 50 freestyle (24.09) and 100 freestyle (52.27), not to mention one of four county record holders in the 200 freestyle relay (1:38.25) — all from last season. But Kudryashova keeps drilling out top performances in her races this season, with her sights set on new county records in the 50 free and 100 free next week, and placing in the Meet of Champions later this season.

“I want to break the county records again, but at the Meet of Champions, the last meet we have, I really want to qualify in the 200 freestyle relay with the other girls and just try to place high in the 50 and 100 there because that’s pretty much (the) state (meet) for swimming,” Kudryashova said.

At last Tuesday’s meet against Kent Place, because the 400 freestyle team of Kudryashova, Lesia Olesnyckyj, Megan Sullivan and Caroline van Kimmenade placed first in 4:11.9. The third place finish of sophomore Alex Esposito, sophomore Cara Meddick, freshman Ashley Evangelos and senior captain Allie Barbagallo also sealed the verdict for coach Walter Kempner’s team, 86-83.

Last Thursday’s meet against Westfield had a very different result, but Kudryashova still performed at the top of her ability, finishing first in her races: 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle, of course.

“Westfield is one of the top-notch teams in the state. Their girls are actually second,” Kudryashova said. “We tried to put up our best lineup, but the score ended up being pretty bad. Not our best meet, but everyone still swam well and had good finishes.”

In last night’s meet against Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Yet Kudryashova finished (if you haven’t already guessed) first in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle.

Kudryashova says she just having fun swimming on the Lady Pioneers swim team.

“Personally with high school meets, I just try to have fun with it. With high school, it’s not that much pressure and this year, I think we’ve been doing really well because we gained some freshman so we have more depth this year than we did in other years,” she said. “Next week, we have county's and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we’ll finish in, especially in the 200 freestyle relay."

Looking ahead, Kudryashova already has plans to swim on a college team this fall.

“I actually signed with the University of Maryland, College Park. I got a scholarship,” Kudryashova said. “It’s a Division 1 school and they have an incredible swimming program so I’m really looking forward to swimming with them in the fall. That’s where I wanted to go from the beginning so it’s the perfect fit for me.”

Congratulations, Julia and Zach!