SCOTCH PLAINS — The Cougars gave it everything they had.
But when the final results were tallied, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood boys' swim team, ranked No. 6 in the state, had defeated Chatham 97-73 in the NJSIAA sectional semifinals at the Jewish Community Center of Central NJ on Monday to shut the door on a successful Cougar season.
No one was hanging their heads afterwards.
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"We came in knowing it would be a tough meet," said Chatham senior Adam Weinbrom. "We swam our best. They're just a good team. We did everything we could."
Weinbrom's teammates echoed that sentiment.
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"Like Adam said, we knew it was going to be a tough meet," said senior Kevin Greener. "It's hard not to try your best when you know you have so many people pulling for you. A bunch of the girls came out to see us today. It feels so good to swim for a team.
"You're representing your town, not just yourself."
Chatham ended its season 12-5. Its year was marked by a strong showing in the Morris County Tournament, during which the Cougars finished second to Mountain Lakes.
The Cougars had defeated Morristown on Friday to advance to the NJSIAA sectional semifinal.
The Chatham swimmers finished second in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle to begin the meet, but an off-the-board finish in the 200 individual medley allowed the Raiders to come away with an early 33-13 lead. They would never look back.
Scotch Plains-Fanwood's Paul Bender captured the 50 freestyle in 22.17 and David Ranshous impressed with a victory in 100 freestyle with a time of 48.74.
Raider Eddie Mostera was first in the 100 backstroke before the Cougar 400 freestyle relay team captured the meet's final event in 3:29.41. The team was led by the combination of Brendan Miller, Cuyler Lam, John Burns and Mostera.
"It was a lot of fun, that's all I can say," Greener said. "It was so much fun. High school swimming, in my opinion, is the best sport because, sure, there's the individual aspect, but everyone comes in knowing they're fighting for a team. We faced some tough teams. There were a few rough bumps there. All in all, it was great."
This was the second consecutive year the Cougars fell just short of a state title which, for Weinbrom, was a little disappointing.
"We were really close to winning the sectional championship for the second straight year," he said. "And that's always hard, coming up to a big meet and being so close to winning."
