Chatham's Michael Strand Wins State Championship

A week after the girls swim team won the NJSIAA Public B Swimming Championship, the Chatham High School boys also came away with a state title.

Michael Strand won the 100 butterfly (49.55) and 100 backstroke (48.63) while competing in the individual state championships at Gloucester County Institute of Technology this past weekend.

"You never know for sure, but we thought he had a real good chance to win," Chatham Coach David Steele said. "He won the backstroke last year. He was second in the butterfly. It was good for him to win and break some records."

Turns out that breaking the Chatham High record was the same as setting a new meet record in the backstroke. Strand broke Chatham grad Chris Dart's record in the backstroke.

"We're trying to keep it in the family," Steele said.

Brendan Miller-Radest also qualified to swim for Chatham in the boys championships, but he didn't make it past Saturday's preliminary round. Individuals needed to finish among the top 16 to advance and Miller-Radest was 19th in the 500 free.

On the girls side, Chatham advanced in 11 different races to reach Sunday's finals.

"I was pleasantly surprised by how well the girls swam over the weekend," Steele said. "I didn't have high expectations for the girls because we expended so much energy to get to the state finals. Between the county and state meets, we've been swimming at a high level for over a month. The kids are getting a little tired at this point."

Chatham came away with two fourths. Regan Kology was fourth in the 500 free (5:05.93). The 200 medley relay team of Julia Harrigan, Greta Leberfinger, Katie Buchser and Jess Gorham was fourth in a time of 1:50.37.

Kology also managed a 11th in the 200 free (1:56.20). Kology also was part of two other relay teams that swam on Sunday. Taryn McLaughlin, Anne Trojanowski, Maggie Nelson and Kology were 13th in the 200 free in a time of 1:42.92. McLauglin, Harrigan, Gorham and Kology were 8th in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:39.92.

Buchser and Gorham both swam in two individual finals on Sunday. Buchser was ninth in the 100 backstroke (59.05) and 12th in the 100 butterfly (59.36). Gorham was seventh in the 100 free (52.93) and 14th in the 100 backstroke (1:00.53).

Leberfinger (seventh in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:06.09) and Trojanowski (16th in the 500 free in a time of 5:16.21) were the other Chatham girls to swim on Sunday.

Anna Dexheimer and Kara Miller-Radest also swam in the meet for Chatham.

"This is a great meet," Steele noted. "This is an individual championship, a reward for the kids that did so well all season."

Not many people deserved that reward more than the Chatham swimmers. Not many people took advantage of theis opportunities as well as Chatham did this season, either. The girls got their team title and the boys got an individual that won a pair of state championships.

"It was a nice ending to what was a dream season," Steele said.