Demarest sweeps Big North American titles by Sean Farrell of The Record
HACKENSACK – For five minutes, Gabby Cervone had a shadow.
With every stroke she took in the water, she could not escape the girl in the next lane. When she swims the 500-yard freestyle, she doesn’t get a tough challenge too often.
But she faced an unusual opponent at the Big North American championship meet on Tuesday. She faced Rachel Woods-Bannan, her NV/Demarest teammate.
“We feed off each other,” said Woods-Bannan, a sophomore. “We push each other.”
The dominant long-distance duo pushed NV/Demarest to the top at the Big North American meet at Hackensack High School.
Cervone won the event in 5:22.71. Woods-Bannan came next, just a few seconds behind.
The race proved to be a turning point for the Norsewomen, who earned their first division title since the 2009-10 season. NV/Demarest’s boys swimming team also won the meet, with Tenafly taking second on both sides.
“It feels good going into the county meet knowing that we won our league,” said Cervone, who owns Bergen’s 500-yard freestyle record. “It’s pretty significant for the school since we hadn’t won in years.”
Cervone and Woods-Bannan are both their own best friends and their own worst enemies.
They are club teammates and carpool buddies during morning drives to practices at 4:30. The competition against each other, while rare, can drive each other to their fastest.
A division championship event turned into a two-person race. They swam in one direction, while everyone else was going the other way.
“Nobody likes to lose,” NV/Demarest coach Samantha Singer said.
“I just don’t feel like it’s necessary,” Cervone joked. “It’s better to have us spread out. There’s no need for us to race each other.”
The Norsewomen have accomplished one of the most remarkable turnarounds over the last few seasons. They were 4-6-1 two years ago in Cervone’s freshman season. This winter, they are 10-0 in dual meets and own the No. 3 spot in The Record girls swimming rankings, even without any seniors on the roster.
“We thought especially after Christina [Paspalas] left, that we had no chance,” junior Meredith Gioia said. “Where are we going to get all the depth from? But with Rachel and Alexa [O’Connor] and Kaitlyn [Yoo], we were really excited for them to come in. When they came last year, we knew that this year would be a really big turnaround.”
Lucas Keh and Tim Park led the way for the Norsemen by winning two individual races apiece, and joining together on the fastest 400-yard freestyle relay to close the meet.
Tenafly benefited from strong performances by Yuri Katsev, Jacob Baltaytis and Hudson Tritter, while Cleopatra Lim was a two-time division champion for the Tigers on the girls side.
Ramapo sprinter Abby Choi won the 50- and 100-yard freestyles, while the Green Raiders’ star freshman Molly Arts placed first in the backstroke. Arts won in just 1:00.88 in what looks to be the first of many division titles in her promising career.
But NV/Demarest’s girls swimming team won all three relays to pile up 530.5 points and become champions.
“The freshmen who came in added so much depth to our team,” Gioia said. “Even though we don’t have any seniors, we’re stronger than in so many years past.”
For one day, Woods-Bannan didn’t mind coming in second. She couldn’t catch Cervone, but no one could catch NV/Demarest.
“We wanted to win this league meet so badly,” Woods-Bannan said. “It’s special winning it. So it doesn’t matter who touched first.”