Jackson boys team is making waves early on
BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer

JACKSON — On a night when the Jackson High School boys swim team boasted numerous individual double winners, it was the effort put forth by the 200 medley relay team that had everybody talking.

The Jaguars set a new school record in the 200 medley relay as they cruised to an easy 128-42 win over Howell High School in a nondivisional meet last week.

The quartet led by brothers Danny and Connor Murphy, Ryan Van Woeart and Taylor Brink won the event in a time of 1:47.97 to smash the old school record set three years ago.

“This was definitely the highlight of the evening,” Jackson coach John Pelano said. “It was quite an exciting way to start the night. We got off to a very good start in this meet. This was the first time this group had actually swum together as a unit in a real meet. The results were fantastic.”

Pelano was pleased with the individual splits in the event and feels this squad may even be able to shave more time off by year’s end.

“It would not surprise me to see them take even more time off that mark,” Pelano said. “We’re only at the beginning of the season and they are going to get better as a unit. It will be interesting to see how much lower they can get it.”

The Jaguars met little resistance in winning the season opener. Jackson captured all 11 events, paced by three swimmers who were double winners.

Senior co-captain Danny Murphy won both the 100 butterfly and the 500 freestyle events. Murphy took the 200 free in a time of 2:05.50, and then returned to win the 500 free in a solid 5:33.80.

Freshman Connor Murphy won the 200 free in 2:05.50 and the 100 free in 55.71 in his varsity debut. Brink took the 50 free in 24.06 and later won the 100 back in 1:03.08.

“We have a number of very good swimmers on this club this year,” Pelano said. “I think that we are going to find ourselves in a very competitive situation. It should provide for a lot of fun and excitement.”

Jason Leonard won the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:52.45, while Ryan Van Woeart captured the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.42.

The team of Leonard, Van Woeart, Connor Murphy and A.J. Saker won the 200 free relay in a time of 1:41.58.

In the 400 free relay, Alex Miller, Chris Spall, Eric Mundie and Mark Raimondo finished first with a time of 4:12.37.

Jackson squared off against Brick Memorial Tuesday and is scheduled to meet A South opponent Toms River North next week.

“Toms River North is always a quality opponent,” Pelano said. “We’re going to have to put forth a huge effort in that meet.”