Team News Archives (2018-19 season)

March 26, 2019

19 Bernards swimmers have been named to the 2019 "All-Conference" team for the Skylands Conference Valley Division.  The following selections have been announced.  Girls First Team:  Medley Relay - Mallika Negi, Jessica Snyder, Ali Maffei, Caroline Casella. 200 Free - Izzy Piccone, 100 Fly - Ali Maffei, 200 Free Relay - Jessica Snyder, Clare Johnson, Zoe Bender, Izzy Piccone, 100 Back - Caroline Casella, 100 Breast - Jessica Snyder, 400 Free Relay - Caroline Casella, Izzy Piccone, Mallika Negi, Ali Maffei.  Girls Second Team: 200 Free - Nina Marquard, 100 Free - Maddie Kiel.  Girls Honorable Mention:  Cydney McGee.  Boys First Team:  Medley Relay - Matt Voight, Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel, Ross Zazzarino, 200 Free - Ryan Schuller, 100 Fly - Joe Kiel, 500 Free - Matt Voight, 100 Breast - Sean Robinson, 400 Free Relay - Joe Kiel, Ross Zazzarino, Matt Sardis, Matt Voight.  Boys Second Team:  200 Free - Everett Bailey, 50 Free - Bryce Lukacsko, 100 Fly - Matt Sardis, 100 Free - Ross Zazzarino.  Boys Honorable Mention - Vincent Falivene.

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March 3, 2019

The Bernards swim team continued their assault on the record books and finished with 4 All-State swimmers at the finals of the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology on March 3.  Matt Voight, Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel, and Ross Zazzarino all earned NISCA All-State honors with a 13th place finish in the 200 medley relay and Matt not only placed 5th in the state but also lowered his individual medley record from yesterday's prelims with a 1:53.51.  Matt then came back in the 500 free and obliterated Scott Armstrong's 20 year old record with a 4:39.92 - to finish in 10th place.  Sean made it 4 for 4 for Bernards as he closed the day with another all-state (top 16) finish in the breaststroke.

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March 2, 2019

The Bernards swim team had a strong showing at the preliminaries of the NJSIAA Meet of Champions at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology on March 2.  Matt Voight, Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel, and Ross Zazzarino lowered their own school record to a 1:39.33 with an 11th place finish.  In the individual events, Matt also lowered his individual medley record with a 1:54.19, which was good enough to place 5th in tomorrow's "A" finals and he also finished 14th in the 500 free.  Sean Robinson broke the school record in the breaststroke with a 59.46 which landed him in the 10th spot for the finals.  The girls medley relay team of Izzy Piccone, Jessica Snyder, Mallika Negi, and Caroline Casella lowered their own 5th fastest all-time BHS time to a 1:53.71 and finished 30th in the state.

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February 21, 2019

The Bernards girls swimmers closed out their 2019 season with a tough loss in the Group C State Semifinals against a strong Mountain Lakes team 57-113 at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA on February 21.  Caroline Casella (back) and Ali Maffei (fly) each won one individual event and took second in another (50 and 200 respectively).  Also adding silver medals were Maddie Kiel (100) and Jessica Snyder (breast).  Maddie added a bronze in the IM as did Mallika Negi in her two individual events (fly and back).  Mallika, Jessica, Ali, and Caroline took second in the medley relay and Mallika, Maddie,, Cydney McGee, and Caroline did the same in the 200 free relay.  Finishing third in the 400 free relay, to close out the meet were Clare Johnson. Cydney. Nina Marquard, and Kerry Broderick.

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On March 2 and 3, Bernards will be sending 8 swimmers to the Meet of Champions at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Sewell, NJ.  Competing for the girls will be Caroline Casella, Ali Maffei, Mallika Negi, and Jessica Snyder, and the boys team will be represented by Joe Kiel, Sean Robinson, Matt Voight and Ross Zazzarino.

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February 19, 2019

The Bernards swim team bid farewell to 12 graduating seniors as they fell just short against their crosstown rivals, Ridge, in their final meet of their regular season.  Both meets were extremely close as the girls fell 83-87 and the boys, 82-88.  The girls are now 10-2 and the boys concluded their outstanding season at 9-2.  The girls won 9 of the 11 events, but just couldn't match the depth of the Ridge bench.  Winning 2 individual events each were Caroline Casella (50 and 100) and Jessica Snyder (IM and breast), and capturing one event were Izzy Piccone (200) and Ali Maffei (fly).  Bernards grabbed the gold in all 3 relays as Mallika Negi, Jessica, Ali, and Cydney McGee won the medley, Mallika, Izzy, Jessica, and Caroline the 200 free, and Ali, Izzy, Maddie Kiel and Caroline the 400 free.

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The boys also put up a good fight as the scores were never more than 6 points apart - and going in to the final relay, the meet was tied 78-78.  Matt Voight won 2 individual events (IM and 500), led off the winning medley relay team, and then swam a 48.33 closing leg of the 400 free relay to cap out his career with a Bernards team record 904.50 points.  Joining Matt on the winning medley relay were Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel and Ross Zazzarino and on the runner up 400 free relay were Ryan Schuller, Joe, and Matt Sardis.  Joe also took the backstroke and Sean the breaststroke.  Matt Sardis, Noah Youssef, Nicholas Falivene, and Bryce Lukacsko earned the silver in the 200 free relay, just ahead of Ross, Vincent Falivene, Matt Snyder, and Sean, who grabbed the bronze.

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February 15, 2019

The Bernards girls team, who were seeded second, beat the top seed - Caldwell in the finals of the North 2 Group C State Sectional Final at Raritan Bay Area YMCA on February 15.  With a 94-76 win, the girls took the state sectional crown for the 3rd year in a row, and improved their overall record to 10-1.  Bernards pulled off the upset with incredibly fast swimming in all 3 of their lanes - taking 5 individual events, as well as the medley relay and two amazing sweeps in the fly and the the 200 free relay.  Jessica Snyder won the IM and the breast and also swam on the winning medley relay with Mallika Negi, Ali Maffei and Clare Johnson (posting the 6th fastest medley relay time in BHS history!).  Also winning individual events for the champion team were Caroline Casella (50), Ali (fly), and Izzy Piccone (back).  Ali's fly led a stunning 1-2-3 sweep as Maddie Kiel and Mallika took second and third.  The girls followed that with a convincing 1-2 sweep in the 200 free relay as Mallika, Maddie, Zoe Bender, and Izzy touched the wall just 2 seconds ahead of Jessica, Cydney McGee, Marion Doerr, and Caroline Casella to put Bernards up by 24 points with 3 events to go.

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February 14, 2019

The Bernards boys team were handed their first defeat of the season by a strong Summit team in the North 2 Group C State Sectional Final at Raritan Bay Area YMCA on February 14.  The Bernards boys kept the entire meet close by posting 10 best times including lowering their own 200 medley relay record as Matt Voight, Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel and Ross Zazzarino stopped the clock at 1:39.65.  Matt Voight won the IM and the 500 free and also missed the BHS school record in the 100 free by .02 when we led off the 400 free relay in a 48.67.   Joe (fly) and Sean (breast) also took gold in their individual events - Joe lowering his #3 all-time mark to 53.98 and Sean holding on to the #2 all-time spot in his specialty.  Earning silver medals were Ryan Schuller (200), Bryce Lukacsko (50), Joe (back), and the 200 free relay team of Matt Sardis, Ross, Vincent Falivene, and Bryce.

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The Bernards girls swim against Caldwell in the North 2 Group C State Sectional finals on Friday, Feb 15 at the Raritan Bay Area YMCA.

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February 11, 2019

The Bernards girls and boys both came out on top at the North 2 Group C State Sectional semifinal meet held at the Somerset Hills YMCA on February 11.  The boys remain undefeated at 9-0 as they swam past Governor Livingston 102-68 and the girls improved to 9-1 as they took down New Providence 87-83.  The boys faced a strong Governor Livingston squad, splitting the individual event victories and managing to grab 2 of the relays but Bernards was much stronger in collecting those all-important second through fifth places.  Matt Voight won 2 individual events (200 and 500 free) and was also on 2 first place relay teams to put the maximum 16 points on the board for the fifth time this season.  The other two wins were delivered by Matt Sardis in the 50 and Sean Robinson in the 100 breast - where he posted an MOC qualifying 1:00.09 - just 0.4 off the school record.  Matt Voight was joined by Sean, Joe Kiel, and Ross Zazzarino on the winning medley and by Joe, Matt Sardis, and Ryan Schuller on the first place 400 free relay. Bernards showed its depth by securing third place in every relay.  Those relay teams were made up of: Everett Bailey, Noah Youssef, Bryce Lukacsko, and Alex Ruffer (medley), Noah, Vincent Falivene, Matt Snyder, and Alex (200 free), and Vincent, Everett, Matt Snyder, and Nicholas Falivene (400 free).

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The girls only won 5 of the 11 events, but also managed to pull of the win by consistently grabbing more of the runner-up points in a very tight meet. Only 4 girls - 2 from New Providence and 2 from Bernards (Caroline Casella and Ali Maffei) took all the individual events.  Caroline and Ali teamed up with Jessica Snyder and Mallika Negi to win the opening medley relay and the rest was up to all the outside lanes.  Izzy Piccone (200 and back) and Jessica (IM and breast) took 2 silver medals and Cydney McGee (50), Mallika (fly), and Maddie Kiel (100) earned 1 each.  Izzy, Mallika, Jessica and Caroline were just touched out in the 200 free relay and Izzy, Maddie, Cydney, and Ali grabbed the runner up spot in the 400 free relay.  Critical points were added by the bronze medal relay teams of Tara Hartnett, Zoe Bender, Olivia Seker, and Marion Doerr in the medley and Zoe, Maddie, Sarah Celentano, and Cydney in the sprint free relay.

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February 2, 2019

The Bernards girls and boys teams had strong showings at the combined Skyland Conference and Somerset County Championship meet at Montgomery High School on February 2.  The Skyland meet was originally scheduled for January 19, but was canceled due to the weather so one meet was run with all the Skyland teams participating and the scoring was calculated for both the conference and county championships from the one set of meet results.  The boys finished with their highest Skyland Conference finish in Bernards history at 3rd place behind perennial powerhouses Pingry and Bridgewater and ahead of 15 other teams!  When the non-Somerset County teams were removed from the scoring, Bernards finished in 4th place, which is the highest finish since 2011 when they placed 3rd.  Matt Voight was the Somerset County champion in the 500 free, which is the first boys county champion for Bernards since Dorian Delamare brought home the 200 individual medley title in 2001.  Matt also lowered his own school record in the 200 individual medley with his silver medal finish at 1:55.65 and led off the bronze medal winning medley relay with Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel, and Ross Zazzarino, which also set a new BHS record with a very fast 1:39.78.  By the end of the meet, Matt broke Ryan Van Dijk's career point scoring record with 858.5 points over his 4 years with the team.  Also, scoring individual points for Bernards were Sean Robinson (4th in the breast), Joe Kiel (10th in the IM and 9th in the 100 free), Matt Sardis (9th in the 100 fly), Ross Zazzarino (12th in the 100 free), and Bryce Lukacsko (12th in the 100 fly).  The 200 free relay team of Sean, Bryce, Vincent Falivene, and Matt Sardis finished in 4th place as did the 400 free relay team of Joe, Ross, Matt Sardis, and Matt Voight.

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The girls finished in 7th place in the County meet and 9th in the Conference meet and were led by Jessica Snyder, who finished 5th in the 100 breast and 7th in the 200 IM and also swam on the Meet of Champions qualifying, 6th place medley relay with Mallika Negi, Ali Maffei, and Caroline Casella.   Also scoring individual points for Bernards were Ali (6th in the 100 fly and 10th in the 200 free), Caroline (10th in the 100 back), Izzy Piccone (12th in the 200 free), and Maddie Kiel (12th in the 100 free).  The two freestyle relays also finished in 6th place as Jessica, Clare Johnson, Zoe Bender, and Izzy swam the 200 yard distance and Caroline, Izzy, Mallika, and Ali swam the 400.

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Bernards is scheduled to begin its North 2 Group C State Sectional team tournament activity in the semifinal round, having received "byes" for the first 2 rounds by earning a #2 seed for both the girls and the boys, on Monday, February 11 at the Somerset Hills YMCA.  The girls will face #3 seed New Providence and the boys will face #3 seed Governor Livingston.

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January 30, 2019

Both the Bernards girls and boys clinched the Skyland Conference Valley Division championship title with convincing wins over Warren Hills on January 30.  Bernards was 6-0 in Division contests and the boys remain undefeated in overall dual meets at 8-0, while the girls are at 8-1.  The boys have been Conference Division champions for 5 consecutive years while the girls are taking the title for the second time in the last 3 years.  The boys won every event except the 50 free in their 75-17 victory in the 4 lane pool at Centenary College in Hackettstown.  Matt Voight led all point scorers with victories in the 500 free and the 100 back and taking one individual event each were Ross Zazzarino (200), Joe Kiel (IM), Ryan Schuller (fly), Bryce Lukacsko (100), and Matt Snyder (breast).  The 3 winning relays were swum by Alex Ruffer, Sean Robinson, Bryce, and Owen Kelly (medley); Alex, Noah Youssef, Vincent Falivene, and Matt Sardis (200 free); and Everett Bailey, Nicholas Falivene, Bryce, and Sean (400 free).

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The girls had a closer meet (66-28) as they took every event except the 50 free and the 200 free relay.  7 different girls took individual events - Caroline Casella (200), Izzy Piccone (IM), Nina Marquard (fly), Cydney McGee (100), Tara Hartnett (500), Clare Johnson (back), and Sarah Celentano (breast) as Izzy and Clare joined Sophie Ray and Maddie Kiel to take the opening medley relay and Caroline and Nina joined Cassidy Meeks and Mattie Sbaraglio to close out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay.

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January 25, 2019

Bernards had a very successful day at the Cougar Invitational meet at Montgomery High School on January 25.  16 girls and 6 boys all received medals and collectively posted 21 new personal best times.  Included in the overall medal count were 10 golds - 3 relays and 7 individual champions.  Everett Bailey, Ryan Schuller, Bryce Lukacsko, and Vincent Falivene combined to top the podium in both the medley and 200 free relays while Nina Marquard, Cydney McGee, Tara Hartnett, and Clare Johnson won the 400 free relay. Vincent (200 free), Bryce (200 IM) and Ryan (50 free) won their individual events as did Zoe Bender (200 IM), Clare (100 fly), Cydney (100 free), and Maddie Kiel (100 breast).  Also earning individual medals (top 8 finish) were Sophie Ray (200), Molly Lukacsko (200), Owen Kelly (200), Sarah Celentano (IM), Olivia Seker (IM and fly), Alex Ruffer (IM and back), Marion Doerr (50), Kerry Broderick (50), Nina (fly and back), and Grace Villani (500).  Grace joined forces with Keaton Haughan, Bhavya Negi, and Mia Sbaraglio for a 4th place finish in the girls 200 free relay.

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January 24, 2019

The Bernards girls and boys have one meet to go to clinch the Skyland Valley Division championship as they dominated Franklin at the Somerset Hills YMCA on January 24 to both go 5-0 in the conference.  The girls, who are now 7-1 overall, beat Franklin 131-39 while the undefeated boys (7-0) won 107-63.  The girls, who have never lost to Franklin in 12 meetings won every event, sweeping 7 of them led by 8 different individual winners.  Cydney McGee (200), Ali Maffei (IM), Zoe Bender (50), Mallika Negi (fly), Olivia Seker (100), Tara Hartnett (500), Clare Johnson (back) and Maddie Kiel (breast) all raced to the wall first in their events. Tara, Sarah Celentano, Olivia, and Kerry Broderick combined to take the medley relay, Zoe, Cydney, Kerry, and Caroline Casella won the sprint free relay, and Nina Marquard, Cydney, Zoe, and Clare were first in the 400 free relay. Bernards swept all the relays as the following relay teams secured the runner-up positions:  Bhavya Negi, Kaelyn Godbey, Maddie, and Mattie Sbaraglio in the medley;  Mallika, Nina, Sarah and Jessica Snyder in the 200 free; and Gianna Lorenzo, Molly Lukacsko, Marion Doerr, and Sophie Ray in the 400 free,

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Matt Voight won two individual race (IM and 100 free) and swam on two first place relays.  Joining Matt on the medley relay were Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel and Ross Zazzarino and on the 400 free relay were Bryce Lukacsko, Ryan Schuller, and Joe Kiel. Ryan added 2 individual wins of his own in the 200 free and the 100 back.  The other two wins for Bernards were Everett Bailey in the 500 free and Joe in the 100 fly.  Sean, in a second place finish, put up the 5th fastest time in BHS history in the 100 breast with a 1:02.59.

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January 17, 2019

The Bernards girls and boys both beat West Morris-Mendham as the boys kept their unbeaten streak alive (6-0) at the Somerset Hills YMCA on January 17.  The girls fought a tough battle to come out on top 90-80 while the boys cruised to a 111-59 finish.  The girls took 5 events, led by double winner Jessica Snyder (IM and breast) who also took a leg on 2 winning relays.  Jessica was joined by Izzy Piccone, Mallika Negi and Caroline Casella on the medley, who combined to post the 5th fastest girls medley relay in BHS history (1:54.75) and Zoe Bender, Cydney McGee, and Clare Johnson for the sprint free relay win.  Jessica, Zoe and Sarah Celentano put together a 1-2-5 punch in the breaststroke to secure the team victory.  Also touching the wall first in their events were Izzy and Caroline in the 200 and 50 free, respectively and Caroline also posted the 6th fastest BHS time in the 100 back.

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It was another very fast day of swimming for the Bernards boys as 5 boys each took one first and one second place in their individual events (Joe Kiel - IM/fly, Bryce Lukacsko - fly/breast, Ross Zazzarino - 100/50, Matt Voight - 500/200, Sean Robinson - breast/IM) to pave the way to victory for Bernards.  Matt Voight, Ross, and Joe also swam on 2 winning relays.  They were joined by Sean in the medley to tie last year's 5th fastest all-time medley relay in 1:42.00, and they teamed up with Matt Sardis to take the 400 free relay. There were several other "BHS Top 20" all-time swims posted:  Ryan Schuller had 2 (12th in 100 back, 16th in 200 free) as did Matt Snyder (12th in 200 IM, 15th in 100 fly) and Sean (11th in 200 IM) and Bryce (11th in 100 fly) each had one.

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January 14, 2019

The Bernards High School girls faced Mount St. Mary for the first time in its history and lost their first meet of the season by a very slim margin, 83-87.  While the Mount won 9 of the 11 events, the Bernards girls kept the meet very close by taking second and third or second and fourth in all 9 of those events except the 500 free (where they went 3-4-5).  This included all 3 relays where Bernards finished second and third.  In the medley relay, Mallika Negi, Jessica Snyder, Ali Maffei and Caroline Casella were out touched by 0.12 and Tara Hartnett, Zoe Bender, Maddie Kiel and Cydney McGee placed third.  In the 200 free relay, Jessica, Zoe, Cydney, and Clare Johnson placed second followed by Kerry Broderick, Cassidy Meeks, Mattie Sbaraglio, and Marion Doerr.  Bernards showed their strength in the back and breast events where Izzy Piccone, Mallika, and Maddie finished 1-2-5 and Jessica, Zoe, and Sarah Celentano finished 1-3-4 to bring Bernards to within 2 points.  A strong 2-3 finish in the closing relay was just not enough as Ali, Izzy, Mallika and Caroline took the silver while Clare, Maddie, Tara and Nina Marquard brought home the bronze.

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January 9, 2019

The Bernards High School girls and boys teams started off the new year with strong victories over Voorhees to remain undefeated at 5-0 each.  The girls outscored Voorhees 115-55 while the boys had a similar score at 126-44.  Senior co-captain Matt Voight continued his amazing season by scoring 16 points, bringing him within 55 points of breaking Ryan Van Dijk's career scoring record (796.5 points) and posting the 3rd fastest time in Bernards history in the 100 breast with a 1:02.07.  Adding to the boys scoring total with individual wins were Bryce Lukacsko (200), Vincent Falivene (50), Matt Sardis (fly), Ross Zazzarino (100), and Joe Kiel back.  Bernards won all 3 relays and also swept the 400 free relay.  Matt Voight, Sean Robinson, Joe, and Ross took the medley while Joe, Ross, Matt and Vincent won the sprint free relay.  Sweeping the 400 free relay were Matt Sardis, Nicholas Falivene, Everett Bailey, and Sean followed a mere 2 seconds later by Bryce, Noah Youssef, Matt Snyder, and Ryan Schuller.  The Bernards boys are now 10-1 overall against Voorhees.

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The girls took 8 events, sweeping 4 of them as Caroline Casella led 3 of the sweeps.  In the 200 free, Caroline, Izzy Piccone and Marion Doerr finished 1-2-3 as did Caroline, Clare Johnson and Cydney McGee in the 100 free.  Caroline then gave the 400 free relay team (with Izzy, Nina Marquard, and Mallika Negi) a lead which the girls never relinquished and were followed with a second place touch by the team of Cydney, Sophie Ray, Maddie Kiel and Tara Hartnett.  The other sweep was in the 100 fly as Ali Maffei, Mallika, and Olivia Seker out swam all of the Voorhees girls to put 13 points on the scoreboard.  Nina also grabbed the top spot in the IM as did Jessica Snyder in the breast.  Mallika, Jessica, Ali, and Zoe Bender added the other victory for Bernards in the medley relay.  The girls are now 12-2 overall against Voorhees.

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December 20, 2018

The Bernards High School girls and boys teams remain undefeated at 4-0 to close out 2018 with wins over Valley Division opponent Belvidere at the Phillipsburg Elementary School.  The girls won by a score of 103-66 over a rapidly improving Belvidere squad while the boys won easily 134-28 over Belvidere's 8 man roster.

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The girls were led by double winner Caroline Casella (50 free, back). who also swam on the winning medley relay, with Mallika Negi, Jessica Snyder, and Izzy Piccone and 400 free relay, with Mallika, Izzy, and Clare Johnson.  Nina Marquard touched the wall first in the 200 free and Jessica added another individual win in the IM. The 200 free relay team of Jessica, Zoe Bender, Cydney McGee, and Mallika earned the remaining gold medal for Bernards.  Bernards added critical points to the scoreboard as Mallika (fly), Cydney (100), Tara Hartnett (500), Izzy Piccone (back), and Jessica (breast) secured runner up spots in each of their individual swims.

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The boys were mostly competing against themselves as Belvidere could not fill 18 lanes, including leaving the IM and backstroke completely without any competitors.  As a result, Bernards went 1-2 in 2 of the 3 relays, and 1-2-3 in 6 of the 8 individual events which led to the lopsided score.  Seven boys won individual events as Matt Voight took two (IM and back) and Matt Sardis (200), Sean Robinson (50), Joe Kiel (fly), Everett Bailey (100), Ross Zazzarino (500), and Matt Snyder (breast) each won one.  Joe, Matt Voight, Sean, and Ross won the medley relay, Bryce Lukacsko, Vincent Falivene, Noah Youssef and Ross won the shorter free relay and Ross, Vincent, Owen Kelly and Matt Voight closed out the meet with a win in the longer free relay.

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December 19, 2018

The Bernards High School swim team continued their winning ways and extended their record to 3-0 with convincing wins over Valley Division opponent Somerville at the Somerset Hills YMCA.  The girls won 9 of the 11 events including all 3 relays finishing with a score of 119-51.  Izzy Piccone led the way with two individual wins (IM and 500).  Also touching the wall first in each of their events were Kerry Broderick (50), Ali Maffei (fly), Zoe Bender (100), and Clare Johnson (breast).  Bernards opened the meet with a 1-2 sweep in the medley relay as Mallika Negi, Jessica Snyder, Ali, and Caroline Casella were followed closely by Tara Hartnett, Zoe, Sophie Ray, and Alexis Buzby.  Alexis also swam the opening leg of the victorious 200 free relay along with Zoe, Nina Marquard, and Jessica.  Nina, Zoe, Cassidy Meeks, and Mallika joined forces to take the 400 free relay.  The Bernards girls have won 14 of the 16 meetings with Somerville.

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The boys completely dominated their meet (135-34) by sweeping 9 of the events and extending their overall record against Somerville to 13-2.  Matt Voight won the two sprint freestyle events, Matt Sardis won the fly and back, and Sean Robinson won the 500 and the breast to lead the way for the Mountaineers.  Matt Snyder (200) and Ryan Schuller (IM) claimed the other individual events and Vincent Falivene swam on all 3 first place relays.  Joining Vincent on the medley were Matt Voight, Ross Zazzarino, and Bryce Lukacsko; on the 200 free relay were Joe Kiel, Ross, and Matt Voight, and on the 400 free relay were Alex Ruffer, Everett Bailey and Noah Youssef.

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December 13, 2018

The Bernards High School girls and boys swam to two exciting finishes in an extremely close match against Watchung Hills at the Morris Union Jointure,  Both teams are now 2-0 as the girls held on to a slim margin to finish on top 90-80 while the boys, exchanging leads during the meet, emerged with an 86.5 to 82.5 victory over a team that they have only defeated once before - in 2011.

Senior captain Matt Voight stole the show as he not only led off the winning medley relay and cruised to victory in the 500 free, but managed two come-from-behind swims to touch the wall first with a 21.84 split in the 200 free relay and a ridiculously fast 47.31 anchor leg, starting 6 seconds behind and finishing 0.18 seconds ahead! Joining Matt on the 3 victorious relays were Sean Robinson, Joe Kiel, and Ross Zazzarino (medley), Joe, Noah Youssef, and Ross (200 free) and Matt Snyder, Bryce Lukacsko, and Ryan Schuller on the meet clinching 400 free.  Adding individual wins were Ross (IM), Bryce (fly) and Sean (breast).

 

The excitement was not isolated to the boys match up as the girls also exchanged leads with Watchung but managed to win 8 events and hold on to a 10 point lead to close out the meet.  For the second time in two days, Mallika Negi won both the fly and the back and also led off the first place medley relay.  Joining Mallika were Zoe Bender, Caroline Casella and Izzy Piccone.  Also earning individual victories were Nina Marquard (200), Izzy (50), Caroline (100), and Jessica Snyder (breast).  Nina also helped the 200 free relay team (Clare Johnson, Mattie Sbaraglio, and Alexis Buzby) get to the wall first for the remaining gold medal swim of the evening. Clare was part of the only Bernards silver medals of the meet as she was runner up in the IM and part of the second place 400 free relay squad with Nina, Izzy and Mallika.

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December 12, 2018

The Bernards High School girls and boys swim teams posted convincing wins over Rutgers Prep to open their Skyland Conference Valley Division dual meet season at the Somerset Hills YMCA.  The girls won their meet 129-41 by winning every event, led by double event winners Mallika Negi and Nina Marquard.  Mallika took the fly and back events and also led off the medley relay and Nina won the 200 and 500 free and also swam the opening leg of the 400 free relay.  Also taking individual event titles were Zoe Bender (IM), Caroline Casella (50 free), Izzy Piccone (100 free) and Jessica Snyder (breast).  Jessica, Caroline and Izzy joined Mallika in the medley relay and Caroline teamed up with Zoe, Kerry Broderick and Alexis Buzby on the 200 free relay.  Nina was followed by Mattie Sbaraglio, Marion Doerr and Sophie Ray to touch the wall first in the closing 400 free relay. Tara Hartnett took two silvers (IM and back) and Alexis (50), Marion (100), and Zoe (breast) each had one.  Individual bronze finishes were recorded by Cydney McGee (100 and 200 free), Sophie Ray (IM and 500), Clare Johnson (fly), and Bhavya Negi (back).  

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The boys managed a 98-70 victory as Bryce Lukacsko swam to back-to-back gold medals in the 100 and 500 free and Ryan Schuller (200), Vincent Falivene (50), Joe Kiel (fly), and Sean Robinson (breast) each took one individual race.  Bernards also took the opening medley relay with Matt Voight, Sean, Joe and Nicholas Falivene as well as the closing 400 free relay with Matt Snyder, Alex Ruffer, Owen Kelly and Nicholas.  Critical runner up points were recorded by Matt Snyder (IM and fly), Ryan (100), Everett Bailey (back) and Matt Voight (breast) as well as the 200 free relay squad made up of Vincent, Ryan, Noah Youssef and Will Garvin.

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November 26, 2018

The Bernards High School swim team is ready to kick off their 31st season with the largest roster in BHS history!  Both the girls and boys squads expect to continue with very strong showings in the Skyland Conference Valley Division as well as the North 2, Group C State Sectionals.  Senior team captains Zoe Bender, Caroline Casella and Jessica Snyder will lead the girls while Matt Voight and Ross Zazzarino will be at the helm for the boys.