Indian Hills, Northern Highlands win Big North Patriot titles by Sean Farrell of The Record
HACKENSACK – Michael Horkan almost played basketball.
The freshman who may go down as the best swimmer in Northern Highlands history almost never raced for them at all. The versatile rookie who hasn’t lost a solo race all season considered spending the year as a shooting guard.
“It was a tough decision,” said the 5-foot-9 Horkan. “But I’ve done swimming for so long so I stuck with it. It’s just been really fun to race and have the kids on the team cheering for me. It’s a good experience as a freshman.”
Boy, is Northern Highlands happy to have him.
Horkan was once again the star of the show at the Big North Patriot meet on Thursday, won by the Indian Hills boys and the Highlander girls. He captured three division championships and never let his undefeated streak get in danger. After winning the 200 IM, he put in an impressive performance in the backstroke in maybe a sneak peak of what’s to come in Saturday’s Bergen County Meet of Champions.
“It gives me a good amount of confidence,” Horkan said. “I’ll race some of them again and hopefully, I can do the same.”
Horkan started competitive swimming at age 7 and later broke a state record with the Wyckoff Sharks, where he’s often beaten much older opponents. Northern Highlands’ coach Tom Viscardi said that seeing his first-place times has given a boost to the team, now 6-3 this season. Nearly half the school records might be in Horkan’s reach.
SWIMMING: Ridgewood boys and girls sweep Big North Freedom titles
SWIMMING: NV/Demarest sweeps Big North American titles
“Sometimes, you can just tell with a kid,” Viscardi said. “They’re just a good kid. He wants to do well. He’s humble and he’s invested which is really cool. I give kids a lot of credit who can put so much time in with their club team and still give to the high school and compete for the school they go to. I’m really proud of him because he’s an impressive kid overall.”
The Braves relied on their own star underclassmen en route to their first division title of any kind while under ninth-year coach Bryan McDonnell. Sophomore Maor Shir was the winner in the butterfly and 50 freestyle, while freshmen Andrew Gamper and Jack Paul put some of the final touches on a first-place relay to close out the meet.
“I felt that the team was right there along with us so we didn’t have to step up,” Gamper said, on being a team leader right away.
Northern Highlands now owns league championships in 13 years in a row on the girls side with depth always making the difference. The Highlanders’ only individual victories came from Sora Sohn in the 200 IM and breaststroke, and Grace Aboussleman in the 50 freestyle.
“The program works on improving everyone on the team,” Aboussleman said. “Team spirit is a big part of it, too. We do anything we can to make everyone feel a part of the team and a family. We keep the encouragement level high so we’re happy to be here and happy to be racing.”