Derek He has heard about the Morristown swim team for many years. His older brother Elvin swam for the Colonials. His club teammates at Morris County Swim Club, like Jamie Viotto and Ryan Trackenberg,have been telling him about their meets. Even swimmers on other club teams have told Derek, “You’re going to love high school swimming.” Said He, a Morristown freshman, “They were right.” He has been embraced by the huge Colonials squad, and fit right in, swimming the freestyle sprints, breaststroke, and as part of the very successful freestyle relays.
Roxbury freshman Jackie Kleinsorgen also followed an older sibling, her big sister Allyson, from club to high school swimming. The Gaels have a big sister-little sister system, and Jackie Kleinsorgen was assigned to Gaels junior Stephanie Shulkowski — one of Allyson’s classmates who she’d known for years. “She helped me get into the swing of things,” Jackie said. “I knew, pretty much, how it worked, but where to go to get the bus for practice, I didn’t know that, and how to get to the (Morristown) pool from the lunchroom. . . . I’m representing my school more, and not just myself. I think it’s pretty cool.” Jackie Kleinsorgen swims the IM and breaststroke, and hopes to qualify for the NJSIAA Meet of Champions in the 50 free. Allyson Kleinsorgen has represented Roxbury for the past two years.
“They should just try it,” said freshman Ellie Martine, a Madison resident who chose swimming over basketball when she got to St. Elizabeth. “It’s something you have to get used to, because it’s a lot of work. In the end, it definitely feels good to see how much progress you’ve made.”
After two years of watching her older sister Allison swim at Villa Walsh, and their brother, Tyler, at Mendham, Rebecca Morel thought she knew what to expect from high school swimming. “But it’s definitely more fun being on the pool deck than watching from the stands,” said Morel, a Vikings freshman. “This team is smaller, so I feel like we’re a real team, and we connect with each other. We’re cheering for each other a lot. Everybody wants everybody to do well.” The Morel sisters have to wake up at 5:15 a.m. to get to Villa Walsh’s 6 a.m. practices at Morristown-Beard. School starts two hours later, ending at 3 p.m., and there’s a couple of hours to do homework before the Somerset Hills YMCA’s evening practice. “I know I really enjoy swimming,” Rebecca said. “That’s what I like to do. That’s how I want to spend my time.”
Making a statement
Kevin Fulton is the Morris Tech diving team. A juniorfromRoxbury who is enrolled in the Academy for Health Care Sciences, Fulton has competed at the NJSIAA Championships twice. He qualified for his third appearance at Friday’s Cougar 6-Dive Invitational. Fulton finished second of the eight boys at the invitational with 233.75 points. He completed a total of 11 dives for 413 points, easily surpassing the 228 he needed to make the NJSIAA meet. Fulton was one of five boys to make the cut on Friday. His best dive was the front 2 1 ⁄ 2 tuck. A converted gymnast who “likes doing flips,” Fulton trains with Lords of the Boards at the Somerset Valley YMCA in Bridgewater. “I had to create the diving team,” said Fulton, whose older brother Tom and younger sister Moira swim for Roxbury. “I’m into it. It’s all the same stuff, but it’s less pressure.”
Who leads the (Wolf)pack?
West Morris’ medley relays got a rare opportunity to race each other at the U&ME Invitational. Both squads had missed their heats, but since the event was designed to get Meet of Champions cuts, they were allowed to dive in anyway. The boys quartet — Robby Ambrose, Matt Donnelly, Michael Schommer and Aaron Vinh — finished in 2:10.45, beating the girls by about 10 seconds. But the girls — Briellen Crowley, Julia and Sierra Castaneda and Sarah Murray — were proud they held their own.
