Morristown High School Swimming
In the News
Logistical quagmire forces NJAC to scrap divisional swim
meets
Star Ledger (NJ.com) January 05, 2010, 11:53PM
Apparently there are a ton of kinks to be ironed out with regard to
the NJSIAA-mandated realignment.
The newly-formed Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, which encompasses
Morris and Sussex county teams as well as Hackettstown from Warren
County, was supposed to host a multiple-site swim meet on Saturday.
For swimming, the NJAC has been broken down into three divisions – the
conference is still a work in progress; as a cross-reference,
cross-country featured five divisions, indoor track has two divisions --
but conference athletic directors determined there was no suitable third
site after Morristown High and Sussex Tech were chosen for two of the
divisional meets.
Well, because of the lack of a suitable third site, as well as because
of coaches’ concerns about racing three times in four weeks – the
divisional races would be followed by the NJAC Meet of Champions on Jan.
16 and the Morris County meet on Jan. 30 -- the NJAC divisional weekend
was scrapped.
Now, the NJAC Championships have been divided into boys and girls meets.
The girls are in action 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5 at Morristown High,
and the boys will swim on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 9:30 a.m. at Sussex Tech
in Sparta.
This format was a suitable compromise, but I have already fielded some
well-founded complaints about it.
For starters, the now-defunct Iron Hills Conference allowed teams to
enter four individuals into a particular event. Because the NJAC is now
one big meet for each gender, the entry limit is three per event. It is
unclear as to whether four entrants per school per event would have been
allowed had the divisional weekend played out as originally scheduled.
The NJAC boasts 27 swim teams and only one girls team and one boys team
will be rewarded at the end of the meet. That’s a lot of teams in the
meet. Why not reward the top three teams for girls and boys? Or keep
track of team points for divisional purposes and reward the first-place
team from each division?
The NJAC combined the Iron Hills Conference with the Sussex County
Interscholastic League, a group of schools somewhat weaker than Iron
Hills. Because of the size and makeup of the meet, qualifying times are
higher (read: slower) to help most or all of the schools enable their
swimmers to compete. But this effort actually takes away from the
schools which could enter more swimmers who are faster than athletes
from other schools.
Coaches I have spoken with accept that some of their mid-level swimmers
who would normally fare well in a particular event won’t be able to
compete, and these same coaches accept that the conference wants equal
representation, especially from the lesser programs.
For the sake of fairness, at least this year since we’ve settled on one
huge meet, why not settle on a sturdy but reachable qualifying time for
each event? It would help expedite the meet instead of forcing parents
and friends to sit through a five-hour meet, and after all, don’t we
want the fastest swimmers in the pool, anyway?
Next year when ADs figure out the logistics of a divisional weekend, it
will present the perfect scenario for the swimmers from lesser programs
to be rewarded for their efforts.
As far as facilities go, there aren’t too many places to choose from.
There are outstanding pools at Passaic Tech, the County College of
Morris, the Morris-Union Jointure Pool, Lakeland Hills YMCA, Fairleigh
Dickinson-Madison and Drew University, but none of these places have
reasonable capacity levels for fans.
All things considered, the NJAC is in its infancy, and considering its
members, I’m sure it is bound to grow into one of the strongest
alignments in the state.
But make no mistake, this swim meet scenario is just the beginning of
the conference’s growing pains. And like any infant – and take it from
me, a father of four -- there’s still a lot of diapers to be changed. (see
original article online)
NJ BOYS SWIMMING: Season preview 2009-2010
Star Ledger (NJ.com) December 16, 2009
Morristown's own Tyler Poling is on the list of swimmers to watch this season. (read the full article)
NJ GIRLS SWIMMING: Season preview 2009-2010
Star Ledger (NJ.com) December 16, 2009
Star Ledger list of swimmers to watch this season. (read the full article)
Morristown High School Boys’ Swim Team Defeats Livingston
High School 109-43
TheAlternativePress.com
MORRISTOWN, NJ - Morristown High School boys’ swim team defeated Livingston High School 109-43 on Thursday at Morristown High School’s home pool. (read the full article)
Morristown daughters win last family meet
Daily Record / High School Sports News
December 9, 2009
MORRISTOWN — Kelly Hall grinned as she hugged her mother after
Morristown defeated Morris Knolls in a
swim meet on Tuesday afternoon.
"Sorry," she said to her mom, Golden Eagles coach Kathy Hall. "Love ya,
mom."
The Colonials won all four of the Hall vs. Hall matchups over the past four years. The Morristown girls took at least the top two spots in five events in a 105-65 victory on Tuesday. The Colonial boys went 1-2-3 in three events in a 108-62 victory over Morris Knolls. (read the full article)
12/8 Swim Meet vs Morris Knolls -- Meet Photos
(Click
here to see photos)
Gelegonya Charts Path to Coach of the Year Award
STAR-LEDGER / Boys Swimming News March 27, 2009
The chart stood visible at every Morristown practice. Right there on
paper, for all the swimmers to see, was a list of every school record.
And a pen was always close by. (read
the full article)
Morris County Boys Swimming Season in Review (read
the full article)
STAR-LEDGER / Boys Swimming News March 26, 2009
Team of the year: Morristown, led by the likes of Jeff Gomez, John Sittman, Tom Long and Tyler Poling, enjoyed one of those seasons which will be hard to duplicate. Never before had the program enjoyed so much success in a single campaign, at least during coach Donna Gelegonya's 17-year tenure.
On Jan. 6, Morristown defeated Seton Hall Prep in an Iron Hills Conference dual meet for the first time since December of 1988. On Jan. 17, Morristown defeated Seton Hall once again to snap the Prep's 10-year winning streak and claim its first conference title since 1987. Making the conference title that much sweeter for Morristown, it was the final Iron Hills Conference meet, as the conference will cease to exist next season due to state-wide conference realignment.
Morristown won its first Morris County title since 1980 by beating Mountain Lakes in the meet-concluding, 400-meter freestyle relay by .02 seconds, and by one point in the team standings.
In the North Jersey, Section 1, Public A tournament, Morristown
defeated Fair Lawn (134-36), Ridge of Basking Ridge (112-58) and
Ridgewood (97-73) to earn its first sectional title ever.
In what must be regarded as the upset of the year in the state,
Morristown tied Cherry Hill East, 85-85, in the Public A state
semifinals, but the tiebreaker is power points, and Morristown earned a
berth in the state championship because it scored 4,325 points in the
meet, edging Cherry Hill East by a scant 16 points.
Morristown produced 16 personal-best swims in the state final against Westfield, the top-ranked team in The Star-Ledger Top 20, but faltered down the stretch in a 101-69 defeat.