The Verona High School swim team had its first meet on Monday night and came away with several first, second and third place finishes–and a notable personal best.
The 2:05.70 time turned in by Jenna Gabbe, Jaimie Hoimark, Kelly Nulty and Harmonie Chang in the 200 Medley A Relay will go down in the record books as the first win in program history. While Verona swimmers have competed at the county meet as individuals after qualifying through their club teams, the Verona Board of Education only approved a formal VHS team in August. As with many other sports at VHS, the swim team is pay-to-play and fully funded by the families participating.
Nulty would later take first in the 100 Fly with a time of 1:04.22 and second in the 200 IM at 2:28.10. Gabbe earned seconds in the 100 Free (1:06.97) and 100 Back (1:13.26). Hoimark also scored a second place in the 200 Free with a 2:21.82 finish, while Chang placed second in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:25.04.
In the 200 Free A Relay, Renata Curcio, Abbey Bermeo, Gianna Mattia and Alena Gabbe finished third at 2:16.86. Trinity Hughes finished third in the 100 Breast (1:30.62), while Verona’s 400 Freestyle A Relay team of Jenna Gabbe, Jaimie Hoimark, Kelly Nulty and Harmonie Chang took second in 4:24.36. Overall, the VHS girls lost to the Millburn High School girls team, 114 to 53. Fourteen Verona girls and six Verona boys swam on Monday.
For the boys team, Will Sheehan took second in the 100 Back (1:09.83) and recorded a personal best in the 100 Free with a time of 55.32. Killian Blitz finished a strong second in the 500 Free with a time of 5:22.78 and also claimed third place in the 200 Free (2:01.26).
In the boys relays teams, the 200 Medley A Relay squad of Sheehan, Blitz, Andrew Hunt and Zack Balogh took third place at 2:01.95, while the 200 Free Relay efforts of Hunt, Balogh, Justin Koebernick and Kyle Jacobsen earned them third place after a 1:55.43 finish. The 400 Free Relay team of Sheehan, Hunt, Blitz and Koebernick finished second at 4:06.32. The boys also lost to Millburn, 131-30.
