Lady Cougars Swim to Sectional Finals

WARREN — The Chatham Lady Cougar girls' swim team, which is seeded first in its section, showed its dominance Tuesday night.

Chatham obliterated Summit in an NJSIAA state sectional semifinal competition, winning 117-53 on Tuesday evening at the Morris-Union Jointure pool.

The Lady Cougars looked very strong, losing only one race on the night.

"The girls did great today," Head Coach Dave Steele said. "We really challenged them to step up and swim well. And they did."

The Lady Cougars started off with a win in the 200 meter medley relay. Julia Harrigan, Greta Leberfinger, Kate Buchser and Maggie Nelson recorded a time of 1:52.65, four seconds better than Summit.

Next, Chatham's Taryn McLaughlin took home first place in the 200 meter freestyle with a time of 2:01.20, beating her teammate, Anne Trojanowski, by over three seconds.

In the 200 meter individual medley Leberfinger, starting in lane four, swam away with the win to keep Chatham perfect, recording a time of 2:12.75.

Perfection would continue through the meet's fourth race as Nelson flew through the water to take the win in the 50 meter freestyle, recording a time of 0:26.1.

After a short break, the Lady Cougars were back at it, this time recording a win in the 100 meter butterfly. Buchser came in with a winning time of 1:01.91, which was over five seconds better than her second place competition.

In the 100 freestyle McLaughlin got her second win of the day as she recorded a 0:56.78, keeping the Lady Cougars perfect.

The 500 meter freestyle ended the perfect day for Chatham, though, as Summit's Carey Fries took home her teams lone win with a time of 5:18.90. That time was nine seconds better than Chatham's Anne Trojanowski.

But Chatham wouldn't be derailed. It rattled off four straight wins to take home an easy victory.

In the 200 meter freestyle relay, Rachel Tortorella, Trojanowski, McLaughlin, and Nelson took home the win.

Chatham followed that up with a win in the 100 meter backstroke as Buchser recorded a time of 1:01.20.

Next, Leberfinger won in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:07.67, three seconds better than her second place competition.

In the final race of the day, Chatham finished off Summit with a win in the 400 freestyle relay as the grouping of Buchser, Trojanowski, Harrigan and McLaughlin finished with a time of 3:52.21.

"[The girls have] been peaking all year and we had a little bit of a let down after we won the counties and conference, so we had to get them back up for the state tournament, and I think we're starting to peak now," Steele said after the meet.

The Lady Cougars will face Scotch Plains-Fanwood in their NJSIAA sectional final on Friday at 5:30pm at the Raritan Bay YMCA.

"It should be a great meet. We saw them yesterday because our boys swam against their boys," Steele said. "It should be a real good meet and we're looking forward to it."