2023-24 Morris/Sussex boys swimming team-by-team preview capsules
CHATHAM
Coach: Laura Hartnett, fourth season
Last year: 15-0; two-time NJSIAA Public B champion; two-time Morris County champion
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Jack Bigham, Jr. Charlie Kulp, Sr. Chip Powers, Sr. Simon Stryszak, Jr. Ryan O'Day, Jr. Ransom Chang.
Newcomers: Fr. Yikai Dang, Fr. Roger Rice, Fr. Andrew O'Day.
Outlook: Deep, experienced Chatham is aiming for continued success.
DELBARTON
Coach: Patrick Savidge, sixth season
Last year: 8-3
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Michael Fialcowitz, Sr. Merric Hu, Sr. Jonah Kim, Sr. Nick Yoo, Sr. Mark Sebastian, So. Femi Oshodi, So. Dalton Brooks, So. Alex Makovsky.
Newcomers: Fr. Dom Narduzzi, Fr. Kenny East.
Outlook: With six point-scorers, including two-time NJSIAA champion Rob Alexy, gone to graduation, Delbarton will rely on younger swimmers.
HACKETTSTOWN
Coach: Jacob Maier, first season
Last year: 1-5
Returning letter-winners: Sr. C.J. Tumminelli, Sr. Ari Schaffer, Sr. Kygan Garletts, Jr. Nick Moscagiuri, Jr. Austin Ruppel.
Newcomers: Fr. Benjamin Chodkiewicz, Fr. Joshua Clegg.
Outlook: The small Tigers team hopes to improve.
HIGH POINT/ WALLKILL VALLEY
Coaches: Brooke Martin and Sergio Rivas, second seasons
Last year: 1-5
Returning letter-winners: Sr. John Postma, Sr. Darren Rockwell, Jr. Liam Cuniffe.
Newcomers: Jr. Chris Gutierrez.
Outlook: The growing co-op hopes to improve its record.
KINNELON
Coach: Brian Boardman, 16th season
Last year: 10-1, 8-0 NJAC-South I champion; NJSIAA North 1-C champion
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Ben Papendick, Jr. Jon Papendick, Jr. Vito Bubbico, Jr. David Zoltek, Jr. Braeden Curran, Jr. Everett Feinhals, Jr. Owen Fernstorm, So. Kyle Barsch, So. Lars Olsen.
Newcomers: Fr. A.J. Connelly, Fr. Trevor D'Anton, Fr. John Mieczkowski, Fr. Alex Smilyanets, Fr. Michael Spano.
Outlook: The Colts hope to build on one of the program's most successful seasons.
KITTATINNY
Coach: George Soutter, 25th season
Last year: 1-5
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Trey Gallant, Sr. Luke Laukaitis, Sr. Zach Pender, Jr. Enzo Lombardo, Jr. Marcus Innamorato.
Newcomers: Fr. Rico Brex, Jr. Nathaniel Kern, Fr. Connor Kovach, Fr. Carter Muller, Fr. Justin Ortiz.
Outlook: The Cougars hope to rebound.
MADISON
Coach: Jeff Coviello, first season
Last year: 6-5
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Justin Dickson, Jr. Anuthra Abeysinghe, Jr. Martin Bria, Jr. Jacques Chemaly, So. Spencer Rosenbaum, So. Ethan Simms.
Newcomers: Fr. Oliver Liu, Fr. Ian Faigenbaum.
Outlook: Coviello inherits a small but determined squad from Nancy Leib, the coach for a decade.
MENDHAM
Coach: Brad Klippel, second season
Last year: 11-4
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Luke Martinez, Sr. Raaghav Reddy, Sr. Miquel Ferrer-Guy, Jr. Cameron Miller, Jr. Kenneth Barnicle, Jr. Martin Castro-Salazar, Jr. Justin Patino, Jr. Blake van Deventer, So. Carlos Espin, So. Dimitri Fedorov, So. Maksim Mendel, So. Aiden McTighe, So. Weibe Schuitema, So. Ian Wardle.
Newcomers: Sr. Riccardo Casali, Sr. Nikoloz Rukhasze, Jr. Enzo Guillon, Jr. Andrew Tang, So. Ashane Madawala, Fr. Kiam Abraham, Fr. Dylan Ahrens, Fr. Matthew Barnicle, Fr. Charles Harrison, Fr. Pieter Miltenburg, Fr. William Parsnick, Fr. Shiven Raghubanshi, Fr. Jedd van Deventer.
Outlook: Mendham hopes to capitalize on depth.
MORRIS HILLS
Coach: Bruce Campbell Jr., first season
Last year: 3-6
Returning letter-winners: Sr. David Xu, Sr. Evan Park, Sr. Syon Gupta, Jr. Timothy Lee, Jr. Morgan Wrobel, So. Roey Paglingayen, So. Jacob Sun, So. Justin Flynn, So. Logan Pfarrer.
Newcomers: Fr. Michael Xu, Fr. Syon Shah.
Outlook: The Scarlet Knights are relying on a large sophomore class.
MORRIS KNOLLS
Coach: Sara Lakatos, first season
Last year: 1-7
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Calvin Chen, Sr. Liam Kelleher, So. Jake Danish, So. Nick Tecchio.
Newcomers: Fr. Andrew Lahey, Fr. Adam Margeson, Fr. Cooper Kipp, Fr. Kristian Kipp, Fr. Brennan Scott.
Outlook: Lakatos, a former Morris Knolls swimmer, moves over from Morris Hills to replace longtime coach Tom Steif.
MORRISTOWN
Coach: Joe Cecala, second season
Last year: 4-8
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Owen Barone, Sr. Lincoln Stuek, Jr. Jack MacMillan.
Outlook: The Colonials hope to continue to improve.
MORRISTOWN BEARD
Coach: Eugene Sharp, second season
Last year: 1-9
Returning letter-winners: Jr. Will L'Estrange.
Outlook: The Crimson are rebuilding.
MOUNTAIN LAKES
Coach: Dave Leshnower, 31st season
Last year: 8-3
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Zach Ferdico, Sr. Brian Few, Sr. Michael Bednar, Sr. Gus Hann, Sr. Ryan Lalani, Sr. Shane Tucker, Sr. Zak Kahn, Sr. Anthony Wu, Sr. Marco DiRezze, Jr. Will Murphy, Jr. Eddie Lin.
Newcomers: Sr. Fernando Ramos, So. James Brantner, So. Finn Buzby.
Outlook: Smaller and younger than usual, Mountain Lakes hopes to contend for the division and sectional titles.
NEWTON/LENAPE VALLEY
Coach: Jessica Jacobellis, 13th season
Last year: 5-1
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Dylan Cotter, Sr. Brenden Lynch, Sr. Teddy Mills, Sr. Timmy Walsh, Jr. Michael Signorile, So. Jourdan Franco, So. Grayson Petrie, So. David Sabol.
Newcomers: So. Eric Van De More, Fr. Michael Pedersen, Fr. Alex Johnson.
Outlook: NLV's newcomers will help build the program.
PARK REGIONAL
Coach: Lauren Bsales, third season
Last year: 3-5-1
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Thien Tran, Sr. Francis Murray, Sr. Grant Nelson, Jr. Richard Sannito, Jr. Ian Cynk, So. Jonathan Callanan, So. Grant Zou.
Newcomers: Fr. Andrew Capone, Fr. Andrwe Grosso, Fr. Rishen Mistry, Fr. Nicholas Rafaniello.
Outlook: The growing boys' squad hopes to improve.
PARSIPPANY HILLS
Coach: Rachael Summa, first season
Last year: 3-5
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Haroon Afzal, Sr. Max Gilpathis, Jr. Ivan Chen, Jr. Nick Iwaszko, Jr. Connor Johnson, Jr. Sam Lau, Jr. Cooper Moffatt, Jr. Samir Saha, So. Martin Chaves Mora, So. William Duffy, So. Andrei Filipescu, So. C.J. Hilgendorff.
Newcomers: Michael Bunzendahl, Aidan Kane, Ojas Kulkarni, Ryan Nolan, Vithun Sivaraj, Alex Spada, Nick Spada, Dylan Stevens.
Outlook: Summa inherits a growing squad from Bill Soden, the founding coach who had been at the helm for almost 40 years.
PEQUANNOCK
Coach: Casey Murphy, third season
Last year: 8-5
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Sean Bolan, Sr. Alex Frame, Sr. Will Hyde, Sr. Brandon Sutherland, Jr. Chas Messina.
Newcomers: Fr. Greg Dabice, Demitrius Balevski.
Outlook: The veteran Golden Panthers hope to improve.
POPE JOHN
Coach: Bianca Wargo, first season
Last year: 6-1, Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex champion; Sussex County champion; four-time NJAC-North champion
Returning letter-winners: Jr. Kai Batchelor, So. Hunter Gallo,
Outlook: Lions alumna Wargo inherits an experienced team from Thomas Kane, the coach for five years.
ROXBURY
Coach: Thomas Gervasio, seventh season
Last year: 8-3
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Aizik Guevara, Sr. Derek Gutowski, Sr. Mathew Milun, Jr. Tyler Chen, Jr. Alex Ochoa, Jr. Nick Riska, Jr. Aidan Saldino, So. Gabriel Farkas, So. Matthew McKenna, So. Nathan Milun.
Newcomers: Fr. Gilbert Asuncion, Fr. Kevin Berdej, Fr. Zack Riska.
Outlook: Roxbury has high expectations.
SPARTA/ JEFFERSON
Coaches: Rachel Koenig and Patrick Chodkiewicz, second seasons
Last year: 2-5
Returning letter-winners: Jr. Jelphis Joaquin, Jr. Dylan Lee, Matthew Flanz, Jack McGurrin.
Newcomers: Owen Englehardt, Daniel Westervelt, Brayden Libysen.
Outlook: Added depth should propel the second-year co-op to greater success.
VERNON
Coach: Doug Miller, 23rd season
Last year: 4-2
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Ketchell Terzakis, Sr. Ty Holden, Sr. Colin Dignan, Jr. Jack Paladini, Jr. Austin Geisler, So. Sean Allen-Poole, So. Jeremy Garcia, So. Aiden Zachowski.
Newcomers: Sr. Jake Stauffer.
Outlook: Vernon hopes to finish over .500.
WEST MORRIS
Coach: Samantha Beatrice, fifth season
Last year: 3-6-1
Returning letter-winners: Sr. Carter Searle, Jr. Dashiell Antonov, Jr. Sam Fiesseler, So. Evan Weinberger.
Newcomers: Fr. Nicholas Dungan, Fr. Matthew Sturgeon.
Outlook: West Morris is rebuilding.
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ boys swimming: Morris/Sussex team-by-team preview capsules 2023-24
