Boys swimming: These North Jersey teams brought home sectional titles
WAYNE – Rutherford coach Steve Dunn missed the FaceTime, but his team answered the call with a chance at history.
The Bulldogs took home their first sectional title on Wednesday by defeating Mountain Lakes, 95-75, in the North 1C final. The breakthrough came a year after a 38-point loss to the Morris County school in the semifinal round.
This time, the top-seeded Bulldogs flipped the script with Sam Lorenc winning the 50 and 100 freestyles and fellow senior Joey Lu taking the breaststroke.
"Everyone here brought their game tonight and I think that really showed with the result," Lorenc said. "We were predicted to lose by six and we won by 20. That says it all. I can't be more proud of every single person on the team for showing up and giving everything they had. The people placing fourth or fifth brought us this meet."
It was a historic night in more ways than one for the Bulldogs (11-0), who advance to Tuesday's Group C semifinal to face an opponent to be determined. Rutherford became the first NJIC school and the first from southern Bergen County to lift a sectional title in either boys or girls swimming.
Naturally, the celebration was as unique as their place in history. With Dunn unable to make the final due to a family event, the Bulldogs huddled around assistant Julianne Nuara and tried to loop him in on a video call.
"I know he's going to more than proud of these kids," Naura said. "We have kids that come and work their butts off every day in practice. Those kids are the ones we need. That's one of the reasons why we won. The other team only had 12 kids. We have the depth."
That depth manifested in the first two relays as the Bulldogs finished 1-3 each time. Sophomore Leonardo Saraceni provided another spark by posting the top time in the 500 freestyle. The final touches came from Lu, who's taken on an active role in crafting the lineups.
"Before I went up on the block [in the breaststroke], I saw that we were exactly six points away," Lu said. "That was an amazing way to end it."
Northern Highlands ends the drought in style
Ethan Young ignored the odds stacked against him. His head coach told him exactly why.
Northern Highlands was on a team call the day before the sectional finals when Tom Viscardi predicted a two-point win for his squad.
"I've swam for him for four years," Young said. "Of course I believe him."
Northern Highlands made good on his promise Wednesday by winning the program's first sectional title in 16 years. Its belief and some fast times early in the meet helped the second seed knock off No. 1 Tenafly, 86-84, in the North 1B championship.
Northern Highlands raced to a 2-3 finish in the final event to turn the tables on the team that ended its season in the 2023 final.
Tenafly (9-1) came into the meet with an unbeaten record and three straight sectional titles to its name.
"It's obviously a bit of a relief and it makes all the time worth it," Viscardi said. "It's unbelievable how much they care and the effort they put into their swimming and practicing every day and scouting and thinking of ways to win the meet. It's a close bond with the boys this year."
An early splash helped the Highlanders (9-2) get over the hump after falling in their last five trips to the final.
Johnathon Cheng took first in the 200 freestyle, Dylan Song led a 1-2 finish in the individual medley and Young won back-to-back races in the 50 freestyle and butterfly.
The turnaround for Young was especially short without a girls race to space out the meet.
"I've done it once before," Young said. "I just thought I've got to win this for my team. When we were on the call yesterday, Viscardi said this is an important one."
Northern Highlands went into the 400 freestyle relay with an 80-76 lead despite a breaststroke win by Tenafly's Andrew Lee.
Viscardi swapped his relay teams with Anthony Cheng bumped up to the A-team and his brother Johnathon moving over to the second unit.
The move got Northern Highlands the 2-3 finish it needed to complete the upset.
Tenafly had not lost to a Bergen County public school in five seasons and had close to 400 more powerpoints than its opponent across the pool-deck.
"We came in and everyone was doubting us with Tenafly and their win streak," Johnathon Cheng said. "We took that fire and put it into the races and came out on top."
Passaic Tech swims to the top
Passaic Tech never trailed and never lost control of the title.
The Bulldogs clinched their third straight sectional crown and backed up their spot as the top seed by racing past Ridgewood, 94-76, in the North 1, Group A championship.
Chants of "number three" rang out across the pool after a wire-to-wire victory at home. Passaic Tech (11-2) showed impressive speed in the middle lanes with nine race victories led by the brotherly duo of Adam and Oliver Kiss.
"Everybody supports each other," Oliver Kiss said. "They are all supporting me and hyping me up and saying 'Go Oliver, Go Oliver'."
Passaic Tech got contributions from across the lineup on Wednesday night.
Adam and Oliver Kiss combined for four individual victories, Joseph Stauss finished on top in the butterfly with a super-quick 51.06 and Zachary McKatten prevailed in a tough race in the backstroke. McKatten, of West Milford, had to go close to a personal-best time (52.73) to fend off Bergen County silver medalist Sam Skibo.
"I was definitely really scared, but I had my teammates cheering me on and I had my coaches," McKatten said. "So I knew I had to pull through."
Oliver Kiss put the score out of reach in the breaststroke by leading a 1-3-6 finish. The Passaic Tech sophomore was amped up, even before taking a race decided by 0.14 seconds.
"It was exciting because that was my friend Connor Hong," Kiss said. "We swim together for Scarlets. I was ready to race him. We've been teammates for two years now, but he was my first friend when I joined the team. So that's like a brother to me."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Boys swimming: These North Jersey teams brought home sectional titles
