Jackson swim team success involves many team members
BY MIKE WHITE Staff Writer
Despite a pair of tough losses toASouth rivals, JacksonMemorialHigh School boys swim team coach John Pelano remains optimistic as the Jaguars boast a respectable 4-2 overallmark.

"The kids are really working hard," Pelano said. "We're real pleasedwith the 4-2 start. We're looking for the boys to continue to drop times and improve their technique. We're preparing for the countymeet,which is set to take place in another week or so."

In the Jags' latestmeet, Southern proved to be toomuch for Jackson as it posted a convincing 101-59 win, but there were still a number of quality performances in the lopsided loss.

Sophomore Connor Murphy captured a pair of events. Murphy won both the 100- yard backstroke and the 50-yard freestyle. Murphy, one of the top backstrokers in the county, won the 100 back with a time of 1:00.46. He later won the 50 free in a blistering time of 24.07.

Murphy has already qualified for the Meet of Champions in the 100-yard backstroke and should be one of the favorites to win the event at the countymeet on the 19th.

"So far, he is having an outstanding year for us," Pelano said. "He is a really talented swimmer. His work ethic and dedication to the supportmake himone of the best.We're expecting great things fromhim."

EricMundy posted a season-best time of 1:13.35 to win the 100-yard breaststroke. In addition,Mundy took second place in the 100 free with a time of 58.16.

"He did a nice job in this meet," Pelano said. "He has been dropping times in the breaststroke in the last couple ofmeets. This was his best performance so far this season. We expect he can go even lower."

Jason Leonard finished second in both the 200 free and the 100-yard butterfly. Leonard completed the freestyle race in a time of 2:01.64.His runner-up time of 1:05.58 in the 100 fly should drop by the end of the year, Pelano said.

Alex Miller swam a season-best time of 2:27.05 to finish second in the 200 Individual Medley.

Mark Raimondo qualified for the Shore Conference Championshipmeet with a time of 25.27 in the 50 free.Raimondo posted that time in a win over Colts Neck earlier in the season.

SophomoreNick Frascino is on the verge of qualifying for the 100-yard butterfly, Pelano said. His time of 1:08.34 is less than a second off the pace. Pelano fully expects Frascino to shave off enough time in order to swimin themeet.

"He should have no problem making it," Pelano said. "He has been dropping time in the last couple of weeks."

Pelano has a corps of other swimmers who have put forth outstanding efforts. Freshman Kevin Carr has dropped six seconds off his best time in the 100 free. Carr's best time this season in the event is a 1:04.33.

"He has been amazing," Pelano said. "To drop that amount of time since the start of the season is really incredible."

Senior Sean Beach has trimmed nearly 15 seconds of his personal-best time in the 500 free. Beach swam a season-best time of 6:15 in a win earlier this season.

"We're looking forward to the county meet," Pelano said. "The kids have been training really hard for this. I think that we may surprise some teams out there."