Teaneck’s Jason Arthur won four event at the Bergen County Meet of Champions. (STAFF FILE PHOTO BY TYSON TRISH)
Even Jason Arthur couldn’t believe it himself.
What he did at the Big North Patriot meet last week hasn’t happened before in North Jersey and it will likely be a while before someone comes close again.
The Teaneck senior won the 50-yard freestyle in 20.98, possibly the fastest time ever in North Jersey and certainly the best time this season in the event.
“To be honest, I’m not even sure how that happened,” Arthur said. “I had no idea I had that in me. To go a best time in the 50 in this part of the season gives me huge confidence.”
In 2013, Varsity Aces created the All-Time North Jersey record book for boys and girls swimming. The fastest time in the 50 free came in 21.3 seconds by Terry Li of NV/Demarest.
Matt Green, the 27th year head coach at Teaneck, said he’s never heard of anyone in this area completing the event in under 21 seconds. Arthur, likewise, believes he’s the only person in Bergen County ever to do it.
Part of his motivation came from Tristan Highet, his senior teammate. Highet is one of the best short distance swimmers in the region and put Arthur’s goal of owning every Teaneck record in danger.
“(Highet) told me he’s shooting for that 21.86 record I had,” Arthur said of his previous best. “And he’s been getting close and it was a sign for me that I needed to swim it one last time and put down a good one.”
Highet finished second in the 50 free at the league meet (22.18 seconds) and remains undefeated in that event this year against everyone beside Arthur.
In Arthur and Highet, Teaneck has one of the top senior tandems in the region. They joined together on the Teaneck 200-yard medley relay team that won at the Bergen County meet and on 200-yard freestyle relay team that set the event record.
It helped Teaneck finish fourth overall, up one position from a year ago.
“We’ve always been pretty good, but Jason’s put us over the top,” Green said. “Now that we have Tristan with him, we’re really something to contend with.”
And even in a week highlighted by the county race, it’s important to take a second to recognize an individual achievement that is truly historic.
If you missed it, here are the winners from the week:
Bergen County Meet of Champions:
Bergen Catholic (boys) and NV/Demarest (boys)
Immaculate Heart (girls)
Big North Patriot:
NV/Demarest (boys)
Pascack Regional (girls)
Big North Freedom
Northern Highlands (boys)
Northern Highlands (girls)
Big North Liberty
Passaic Tech (boys)
Wayne Hills (girls)
Big North United
Bergen Catholic (boys)
Immaculate Heart (girls)
Here are some other news and notes from the week of swimming:
Boys
If football is a game of inches, the county tournament showed that swimming is a game of split seconds. And with the talent so deep, it makes sense that the smallest of margins can make a huge difference. Take the 200-yard individual medley, for example. Tom Scrivanich of Bergen Catholic finished second in 1:59.01 and alongside him was Lucas Keh of NV/Demarest in 1:59.02. The difference in 0.01 seconds was the difference in earning two points in that race. Had Scrivanich finished any slower, Bergen Catholic may not be celebrating this week as the co-champions.
Arthur’s new school record in the 100-yard butterfly (50.25 seconds) came by just 0.01 seconds, as well. When he checked the clock for his time, he could only see “50.2” at first glance before the last number came into view.
And the new Bergen County record in the 200-free relay (1:29.27) was broken by Teaneck by 0.06 seconds.
The list goes on and on…
Santiago Rivero of Ridgewood performed very well at the county race by exceeding his seed time by good margins in both individual races. Rivero just snuck into the last heat of the 50-yard freestyle as the eighth seed. He was placed on the outermost lane, but was in contention even toward the end of the race and took fourth. In the 100-yard freestyle, he was the 11th seed. But he improved on his seed time by nearly two full seconds. It got him a third place finish, despite not even being in the top heat.
Ali Kolenovic of Paramus Catholic had a similar situation. The 19th seed of the 200-yard freestyle earned fifth.
More than just some bragging rights will be on the line on Tuesday. Bergen Catholic and NV/Demarest will face off in a dual meet. Could it come at a better time? Both schools felt a little bittersweet about being co-champions on Saturday and will be looking to prove something. The Crusaders’ what-if moment comes from its disqualified relay team in the first event. And Sam Puso of NV/Demarest saw her team’s eight point lead slip away in the final race. So the rematch between the top public and top private school teams of North Jersey should make for a good encore.
Girls
At the county tournament, junior Jamie Yadoff of Indian Hills lowered her own school record in the 50-yard freestyle by doing it in 24.38 seconds.
“The reason why she’s so good is that her starts are dynamite and she can close out a race,” coach Bryan McDonnell said leading up to the race. “In the 50, that’s everything.”
If not for Immaculate Heart’s Kate Sheridan, it would have been enough to win the race and reset Yadoff’s county record in the event. The 50 free race was one of the most contested races of the day with the top four from 2015 all returning and all placing in the top four again. Yadoff’s dream of winning four 50 free county titles fell just short, but she still has four school records to show for and one more chance next year at the Meet of Champions.
Pascack Regional freshman Haleigh Marzano will be one of the players to watch in 2016-17. In her county debut, she placed sixth or higher in all four events. Her most impressive result may have come in the 100-yard breast stroke (1:07.39), only finishing behind Ramsey’s Heather Wong and NV/Old Tappan’s Gabby Baratta. Earlier in the week, Marzano helped her team hold off NV/Demarest and repeat as Big North Patriot champions.
The state tournament begins on Tuesday and Varsity Aces will have live coverage from the Wyckoff YMCA for the boys meet between Indian Hills and NV/Old Tappan.