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Sports

Girls' Swimming Wins County Championship

Boys finish second to Mountain Lakes.

MORRISTOWN — The Chatham girls' swim team won the county championship on Saturday at Morristown High School.

The team overcame rival Mountain Lakes, the only team to beat the Chatham girls this year in a dual meet.

The Chatham boys took second in the meet, losing only to Mountain Lakes.

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The Chatham girls started off strong, taking first place in the girls 200 meter medley relay. Julia Harrigan, Greta Leberfinger, Kate Buchser and Margaret Nelson combined for a time of 2:05.60 in the event, beating second place Mountain Lakes by over a second and earning 32 points to start off the meet.

"It was great—we were all so excited," said Buchser. "It was a whole team effort—we did it together."

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The boys took second place in the 200 meter medley relay, losing only to Mountain Lakes and earning 26 points. Michael Strand, Sam Duren, Paul Bender, and Adam Weinbrom finished with a time of 1:53.94.

Three Chatham girls earned points in their second event of the day—the 200 meter freestyle. Taryn McLaughlin placed third in the event with a time of 2.14.73, earning 12 points, and Anne Trojanowski took fourth in the event with a time of 2:14.98, taking 11 points. Chelsea Allocco placed 10th in the field of 42, earning three more points for Chatham.

Kevin Greener took fifth out of 40 and Brendan Miller-Radest took eighth in the boys 200 meter freestyle, earning nine and five points. Later in the meet, Greener and Miller-Radest placed together again, with Greener taking fifth and Miller-Radest taking sixth in the 400 meter freestyle.

With two events scored, the Chatham girls were in first with 58 points and Mountain Lakes were in second with 46. The Chatham boys were in second with 41 points and Mountain Lakes led with 63.

Buchser took fourth and Leberfinger took fifth in the girls 200 meter IM, earning 11 and 10 points, extending Chatham's lead even further. Margaret Nelson took seventh and Julia Harrigan took eighth for Chatham in the girls 50 meter freestyle, earning 12 points together, but Mountain Lakes took 22 points total in the event, lessening the gap between first and second.

Michael Strand took first in the boys 50 meter freestyle with a time of 24.50, and together with Sam Duren, who took 12th in the event, added 17 points to the Chatham boys' total.

"I had individual goals coming in today, but I gained time in both, which is fine. It is a good get-up and race kind of meet," said Strand.

Buchser placed again in the girls 100 meter butterfly, taking third out of 42 in the event. Harrigan took seventh.

"I swam a little higher than my seeds, which is what I was trying to do," said Harrigan.

The Chatham boys took first and second in the 100 meter butterfly. Strand, with the only time under one minute in the event, took first, and Weinbrom took second.

McLaughlin and Nelson both placed again in the girls 100 meter freestyle, with McLaughlin taking fifth and Nelson taking sixth, together earning 17 points for the Chatham girls. Mountain Lakes scored 20 points in the event as it continued to try to decrease the difference between itself and the Chatham girls, who were still holding on to first place.

Mountain Lakes was pulling further away in the boys' competition. The team took first in the boys 100 meter freestyle, while Chatham's top finisher in the event was Duren in 10th.

With five events scored and six to go, the Chatham girls held first with 127. Mountain Lakes was in second with 101.5. The situation was reversed for the boys, with Mountain Lakes leading by over 50 points, with 140.5, and Chatham in second with 90 points.

Trojanowski and Alloco extended the Chatham girls' lead with a second and fourth place finish in the girls 400 meter freestyle. Trojanowski's time would have been a county record had Caroline Brennan of Madison not beaten her in the race.

The Mountain Lakes girls started to come back late in the meet, gaining some ground in the girls 200 meter freestyle relay and the girls 100 meter backstroke by outscoring the Chatham girls in both events.

The Chatham boys were hanging on to second, partly due to another second place finish in the 100 meter backstroke by Weinbrom.

Going into the final event, the 400 meter freestyle relay, the Chatham girls needed only to hold onto a 21 point lead to win. This meant that despite how Mountain Lakes placed, as long as Chatham placed above seventh, it would repeat as champions. Mountain Lakes took first in the race, but McLaughlin, Trojanowski, Harrigan, and Buchser combined for second and the Chatham girls defended their title.

Chatham's girls finished with 215 points, and the Mountain Lakes girls finished with 196.5.

"We knew it would be hard, but we knew going in it would be possible," said McLaughlin, "But everyone swam better than they were seeded, and it shows if you work hard you can win."

The Chatham boys finished with 186 points. Mountain Lakes' boys finished with a dominant 246.5 points, winning the championship.

"Coming into the meet we were confident we could swim well. We challenged the girls to try to repeat even though most people thought we couldn't. We are proud of both the boys and girls, and there were many personal records today," said boys and girls head Coach Dave Steele.

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