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Dec. 16, 2014 Girls Swimming
Nottingham's Daisy Hoffman does the backstroke during today's meet with Hopewell Valley (Photo by Wes "The Media
Mogul" Kirkpatrick).
Steinert goes 1-2 in 400 free relay to pull out an amazing win over WW-PS
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Dec. 16: On twitter she refers to herself as Thayer the Player.
In keeping with that rhyming theme we made up this little poem about Hailey Thayer -- Today, no way
she wouldn’t play.
Despite spraining her right ankle this morning, Thayer was one of a million heroes for the Steinert girls’
swim team this afternoon as the Spartans took an absolutely pulsating, 86-84 victory over visiting
West Windsor-Plainsboro South.
Steinert had to take first and second in the 400 free relay in order to secure the win, and did just that
when Chelsea Ackerson moved from leadoff on the A team to anchor on the B team and out-touched
Annie Menninger by a fraction of a second. The second-place time was 4:02.25, less than one second
ahead of the third-place time of 4:03.16.
Thayer, who was on the winning A team, watched it all transpire.
“Oh my God!” the senior captain said. “That was insane. It was so close. I was biting my nails, I was
just like ‘Oh my God!’
“I just had this huge adrenaline rush. At that point I didn’t even care if we won or not. It was a close
finish but it proved even though we were still behind after the breaststroke we were able to finish
strong.”
And it marked the first time in
her four years Thayer got to
enjoy a win over the Pirates,
many of whom she and other
Spartans swim with at Hamilton
Aquatics.
Which is why that pesky ankle
sprain was not going to matter.
“No way I wasn’t swimming,”
she said. “It’s South, I was
definitely gonna swim.
“I knew it was going to be really
close but I had confidence if we
made some adjustments we
might be able to pull it through.” Maddie Horner won her usual four events today, and anchored the winning 400 free
relay team that set up the pulsating battle for second place in Steinert's amazing win
They made the right adjustment over WWPS (Photo by Dennis Symons Jr./purchase photos at
www.dennissymons.com).
all right, and waited until the
very last moment to do so.
Steinert (3-2) had no other option but to take 1-2 in the 400 free relay or lose the meet. That’s when
coach Caroline “Lady” Fling took Ackerson from the lead-off spot on the A team to the anchor spot on
the B team, and moved Sam Woolf to lead off on the A team.
“This was amazing,” Maddie Horner said. “We stacked the back half so we knew we had a strong end
going into the meet, but it was down to the last event. We split the relay at the very last minute, so we
put Chelsea in the B during the guys’ breaststroke.”
And it set up an ending for the ages.
The A team won in a blazing 3:31.02 with Woolf, Thayer, Tess Dalton and Horner. That left it up to the
B team of Jess Angelini, Alison Martin, Emily Gulsby and Ackerson to beat the Pirates A squad, and it
was excruciatingly close for the entire race.
Steinert had a slim lead throughout and Ackerson had the tiniest of margins coming toward the wall.
By that time the entire building was ready to collapse from the thunderous roars in the bleachers. The
rafters shook even more when Ackerson touched out .91 of a second ahead of Menninger.
“I saw the lane next to us was really close,” said Ackerson, who has been fighting a stubborn sickness
for nearly two weeks. “I know (Menninger), we’re really good friends (from HAC) and her times are
about the same as mine.
“She pushes me pretty hard in practice so I knew it would be pretty close. I knew we had to go first
and second to win. I was trying my best but I’m still not really feeling my best so I didn’t really know if I
could do it or not. It was just adrenaline in the end. ”
She did it all right, giving the Steinert girls one of their biggest wins in years.
“I was really nervous behind the block,” The Player said. “I was cheering. I knew we would get first but
I just didn’t know if we would be able to get second or not. I was really hoping I would. I just kind of
forgot I was tired and just did my best.”
Everyone on Steinert did their best, which teams have to do against a squad as talented as WWPS.
The Pirates were without two top swimmers, including one of the county’s best in Rabia Syed. But any
win over Anthony Bartolone’s team has to be considered exceptional.
“I think what this means, is it announces that Steinert girls swimming has much more depth and talent
than previous years,” Fling said. “I have a talented, driven group of girls this year and the season’s not
even halfway over. I can’t wait to see what more they can do.
“We were revved up and ready to go. We are ready to face the rest of the season and come through.”
But they will want to cherish this one for a while, as the Spartans had to battle from behind twice.
Despite Ackerson’s win in the 200 freestyle, WWPS had opened a 41-21 lead after four events.
After the open swim, Horner won the 100 fly and 100 free, Ackerson took the 500 free and Horner,
Dalton, Thayer and Woolf won the 200 free relay to put Steinert up 63-61 Not to be overlooked is that
the B team of Angelini, Martin, Katie Wiegartner and Ackerson took second.
“They held their own with amazing swimmers,” Horner said of the B team. “They went their best times
and they needed every one (in order) to get second in those relays.”
Thayer won the 100 back but the Pirates got nine points in the event to tie it at 70-70. WWPS then put
itself in a good position to win when it went 1-2-4 in the breast to open an 82-74 advantage.
That set the stage for one of the most exciting finishes you will ever want to see. It flung Fling right out
the door.
“After this finish I had to take a minute outside in the cold air, because I was exhausted after watching
that.” Fling said. “That was intense, that’s what that was. I was exhausted from cheering so much.”
It was a meet where every point counted.
“This means that all of the work that everyone has been putting in has really been paying off,” said
Horner, who notched her usual four wins despite having her bathing cap snap during the 400 relay.
“This meet came down to the other swimmers getting thirds and fourths. They all did amazing. Sam
Woolf did amazing, just phenomenal.”
“All the girls were great, it was really a team effort; it was just great,” Ackerson said. “It’s so exciting. It
was amazing. I don’t usually feel very close to the Steinert girls because we don’t go to the practices
all the time (due to HAC practices), but during the relay we were cheering together and trying to win
together so it was really great to be with them.”
Indeed, it was the kind of meet you won’t find in club swimming, when individual accomplishments
take center stage. But the entire spectacle that today produced, shows just how incredibly exciting and
uplifting a meet can be when one team, one school, is vying for something together.
“It was very exciting!” Thayer said. “Probably my favorite high school experience so far.”
An experience she had no intention of missing, even if you chopped her foot off at the ankle.
TOP THREE FINISHERS
200 medley relay: 1. WW-P South (Huang, Menninger, Zhou, Birkland) 2:06.82, 2. WW-P South 2:11.02, 3. Steinert 2:27.05.
200 freestyle: 1. Ackerson (S) 2:02.60, 2. Birkland (W) 2:1.09, 3. Ferguson (W) 2:13.56
200 IM: 1. Menninger (W) 2:22.22, 2. Zhou (W) 2:32.93, 3. Thayer (S) 2:33.39
50 free: 1. Kartoz (W) 27.51 2. Woof (S) 28.65. 3. Wilson (W) 29.37
100 fly 1. Horner (S) 1:02.43, 2. Kartoz (W) 1:05.94, 3. Angelini (S) 1:15.24
100 free: 1. Horner (S) 1:02.43, 2. Ferguson (W) 1:00.92, 3. Woolf (S) 1:02.68
500 free: 1. Ackerson (S) 5:21.94, 2. Dalton (S) 5:55.98, 3. Zhou (W) 6:04.04
200 free relay: 1. Steinert (Horner, Dalton, Thayer, Woolf) 1:50.17, 2. Steinert 1:52.85, 3. WW-P South 1:57.24
100 back: 1. Thayer (S) 1:05.33, 2. Birkland (W) 1:10.21, 3. Huang (W) 1:12.61
100 breast: 1. Menninger (W) 1:13.54, 2. Sarang (W) 1:18.37, 3. Dalton (S) 1:18.90
400 free relay: 1. Steinert (Woolf, Thayer, Dalton, Horner) 3:31.02, 2. Steinert 4:02.25, 3. WW-P South 4:03.16.
Hamilton gets some strong efforts in loss to Robbinsville
Hamilton continues to compete well but come up short, as the Hornets dropped a 98-72 decision to
Robbinsville.
Sam Courtney took seconds in the 50 free and 100 fly, while Erica Maevsky did likewise in the 400
free and 100 breast. Shelby South finished second in the 200 free and third in the 100 free, and Emma
Walter was second in the 100 back and third in the 200 IM.
Roslynn Gorski took third in the 200 and 400 free, while freshman Vladia Trinh was third in the 100
breast and freshman Caitlyn Sharkey got her first varsity points with a fifth in the 100 back. Amanda
Buchner took third in the 100 back.
“Amanda Buchner and Morgan Lokuta had incredible swims by dropping over four seconds in their
one hundred free,” coach Kyle Schulke said. “Morgan and Roslynn Gorski, who dropped 25 seconds
in the 400 free, both worked really hard during the pre-season and their effort is starting to pay off
during the regular season.”
Kouznetsova, Greaves take firsts in Stars setback to Hopewell
Hopewell Valley continued its strong season with a 109-58 win over Nottingham, but the Stars got a
couple of nice efforts.
Freshman Nkita Kouznetsova took first in the 200 freestyle in 2:23.62, while Breanne Greaves won the
200 IM in 2:58.80 and finished second in the 100 back.
Theresa Miktus was second in the 50 freestyle, and third-place swims came from Sam Wackerman
(100 breast), Kelly Ziegler (100 free, 200 IM) and Elizabeth Reed (100 fly).
Follow Rich Fisher on twitter @fish4scores