Morristown High School Swimming
In the News
Esposito Made the Most of Her Final Season
By Jane Havsy, The Daily Record, March 27, 2011
Link to original online article
Deirdre Esposito had something to prove this winter. Though Esposito
is a senior, it was her first year swimming for Morristown, and she
wanted to make her mark in the brief high school season.
Esposito certainly did that, winning a pair of Morris County titles and figuring into four school records.
Esposito changed both high school and club team after her sophomore
year, transferring home to Morristown and moving to Montclair-based
Cougar Aquatic Team. She knew when she left St. Elizabeth that she
wouldn't be able to compete for her new school during her junior year,
due to an NJSIAA transfer rule which was later discarded. She chose to
concentrate solely on club swimming rather than just practicing with the
Colonials or being a team scorekeeper.
So when Esposito finally got her chance to compete for Morristown, she
was determined to make the most of it. But even though she's been a
competitive swimmer since age 8, Esposito wasn't sure she would succeed.
"I really didn't know how successful my season was going to be," said Esposito, the 2010-11 All-Daily Record Swimmer of the Year. "I feel like when I doubt myself, and if I'm nervous, I swim better. I don't know what it is, but it works."
Esposito learned to swim when she was about 5 years old, shortly after the family moved to a house with an in-ground pool in Morristown. Her mother, Linda Esposito, recalled being horrified that her two small children — Deirdre and her next-younger brother, P.J. — might drown. She started swim lessons at the Morris Center YMCA and quickly became a summer swimmer at Spring Brook Country Club by age 8. Both brothers — P.J., now 15, and Joseph, 12 — soon joined the team as well.
Esposito finished 10th in the 50 breast at the YMCA State
Championships when she was 10. Two years later, she won the event — and
still keeps the meet sheet in her bedroom. She grew stronger in
freestyle after all the practice laps and most enjoys the 50 free and
100 breast.
Esposito swam almost every event for Morristown this winter, except
backstroke.
"She gave us a whole different dimension," Colonials head coach Donna Gelegonya said. "It's that extra person we needed in all our relays. The filter-down effect, with her going in one spot, opened up another spot for somebody else. It realigned all our relays, made everything a little bit stronger, and gave us a little more of an edge."
Esposito won the Morris County title in the 50-meter freestyle in
27.12 seconds, breaking a school record set in 1983 — 10 years before
she was born. That time converts to 24.32, the quickest in the Daily
Record area this winter. Esposito followed that by taking down both the
meet and school records in the breaststroke, with a 1:12.43 — a personal
best by almost two seconds. Esposito also swam breaststroke on
Morristown's fourth-place medley relay.
"I was so excited to just swim," said Esposito, who is planning to swim
at Northeastern University next winter, while studying graphic design.
"Wining those races and setting those records really propelled me to go
through Meet of Champs and finish it off strong."
The NJSIAA Meet of Champions didn't go quite as Esposito had planned. She had been incorrectly seeded in both her events and was frustrated by all the whispers about the impossibly fast times. She also had a poor start in the 50 free prelims after having trouble hearing the starter's commands, winding up in the consolation final.
But Esposito still earned the top seed in the breaststroke in a
personal-best 1:04.05, the fastest area time this season and a
junior-national qualifier. She rebounded to win the consolation final of
the 50 in 24.35, which would have placed her sixth overall. She also
finished fourth in breaststroke.
"It's very rare to find her not swimming," said Villa Walsh senior
Krista Longo, one of Esposito's closest friends since kindergarten and
the All-Daily Record Girls Soccer Player of the Year last fall.
"She's more focused when she's swimming. Years ago, when we were 10, 11 years old, I never would've thought she'd be this good at swimming or I'd be as good at soccer as I am. . . . It shows how much dedication you have to have."
Morristown HS Swimming Ready to Make Splash
Colonials have more than 120 members this season
By Giovanny Infante / Morristown Patch
If size alone can intimidate opposing schools, Morristown High School's boys and girls swimming team might have some shaking in their swim trunks.
The team boasts over 120 swimmers this year, which is just fine for Donna Gelegonya, who is entering her 19th season as head coach.
"[Our key], because of the size of our team, is our depth," she said. "We're solid top to bottom. We've got talented swimmers across the board who are able to swim most events."
Gelegonya is backed by two other long-tenured coaches, Bobby Sparano, "the force behind the force," according to Gelegonya, and Maggie Singer, who Gelegonya referred to as "the technician."
Both are key elements to what could be an improving 2010-11 season.
Sparano, who once was a swimmer for Gelegonya on the team, conditions
the current team day in and day out to ensure maximum performance, she
said. Singler, also an experienced swimmer, brings accuracy and
precision to the teams' practices. "She's great with taking times and
splits and keeping up with all the technical things that help out our
swimmers throughout the season," the head coach said.
Last season was a year of rebuilding for the boys side of the pool. Even
though the boys team had a record of 11-1, Gelegonya is confident her
young swimmers' abilities can be taken to a higher level. "We are a
pretty young team as far the boys go," she said. "We should be very
strong this year in our division and conference and we should do fairly
well in the States. We are looking to be very competitive this year
against all the teams we face."
Junior swimmer Ryan Swift will be competing at a high level this year
for the Colonials as he is one of the most talented on the team.
Bringing his experience as a club swimmer to the team, he will be a
swimmer to watch for the entire season. "He can swim anything and he'll
do well no matter what he swims," Gelegonya said.
The girls team went 10-3 last season but lost a lot of key swimmers for
this season due to graduation. But, plenty of girls have stepped up to
fill much-needed positions on the team. "I think our girls team will
compete very similarly to the way they did last year," Gelegonya said.
Senior Emily Ashton returns to the team after winning counties in Breast
Stroke last year. Senior transfer student, Diedra Espisito, will be
adding extra power to the team as an excellent sprinter. She will be
competing after sitting out a year due to the transfer and will be "a
very nice and needed addition to the team," the head coach said.
Senior Jenny Shih, who excelled this fall in a leadership role with the
Colonials tennis team, will exhibit her talents as a swimmer, as well.
"She's a very talented athlete," Gelegonya said. "I can throw her in
whatever event and she'll perform well. She has been a great asset to
the team."
The Colonials face Pequanock High School in their first meet of the
season at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 1, at home. Gelegonya said she is
confident in her teams' abilities and is looking to come out with a win
while boasting great individual times.
"I'm hoping that we can break a lot of old records this year, our team definitely feels that we can do that," she said.
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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.