For the Princeton High girls’ swimming team, posting a solid win over Lawrence last week could portend some big things to come.
“I think we did well; we got a better sense of who are,” said PHS head coach Greg Hand, reflecting on his team’s 108-62 victory over the Cardinals. “They love to race; they are very excited about competing.”
Hand is excited to have a pair of senior stars, Serena Deardorff and Marisa Giglio, leading the way for his team. In the victory over Lawrence, Deardorff posted wins in both the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle races while Giglio was victorious in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.
“They are just terrific kids; they take a lot of pride in swimming relays for us,” said Hand, referring to Deardorff and Giglio.
“They know who is out there in the CVC and they are very involved in helping to craft the lineup. Each of them could swim absolutely everything in a typical meet. Marisa has changed her specialty; she has gone from a breaststroker to a very good backstroker. Serena is a technically sound butterfly swimmer who is also good at the backstroke and the freestyle.”
PHS has some other terrific senior leaders in Victoria Carroll, Nicole Kratzer, Felicia He, and Cory Allikas.
“Victoria Carroll has been with us for four years and is the fourth from a great family to swim with us; she has a good backstroke and is a good relay swimmer,” said Hand, whose team topped Ewing 130-34 last Thursday to improve to 4-0.
“She is a terrific leader. Nicole Kratzer hurt her shoulder and is our manager this year. She provides a terrific presence on the deck. Felicia He had been with us for four years, she is a great trainer and a positive presence on the team. Cory Allikas is another contributor.”
The team’s Class of 2013 sets a positive tone for the squad. “The senior crew just creates a terrific climate for the team,” asserted Hand. “It is a situation where the kids like to work with each other. It is low pressure, high effort.”
Hand is looking for some good work from such younger veterans as Taylor Chiang, Hannah Ash, and Stephanie Tam.
“They scored significant points for us last year and we need them to be scoring points for us this year if we are to have a chance in some of the big meets
coming up,” said Hand, whose team faces a gauntlet of WW/P-S, Steinert, WW/P-N, and Notre Dame early in 2013.
With PHS already getting significant contributions from precocious freshmen, Madeleine Deardorff and Brianna Romaine, the Little Tigers should be right there in the big meets to come.
“Madeleine is a terrific swimmer with extraordinary energy and great power in her swimming,” said Hand, whose team swims at Trenton Central on December 20 in its last action before the holiday break.
“She is very fast in the fly and is solid in the free. Brianna is lights out fast. We will be using her a lot in the 50 and 100 free and the backstroke. Both of them have a terrific attitude. They are able to race hard and then have a great capacity to move on to the next thing regardless of how they did.”