While wrapping up the regular season, OP Swim competed in the Union County Championship. A large majority of the swimmers qualified for this meet, which helped lead to the team’s success of 3rd place. Last year, the team finished with a place of 4th, in a close loss to Scotch Plains Fanwood, but that wasn’t the case this year. The team broke a total of 4 records while competing at this meet. The first one was in the 200-yard freestyle by Henry Crowther, who had broken the record last year and extended it at this meet, with a time of 1:46.04 placing 3rd. Then, Paul Knecht broke the 100-yard butterfly by a whole second with a time of 52.35. The team of Jonathan Peterson, Charlie Kline, Paul Knecht, and Henry Crowther, then, went a school record of 1:30.29 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, breaking their own time from last year. Lastly, the same relay team swam in the 400-yard freestyle relay and got the school record with a blazing 3:18.73. All of these swims qualified for the Meet of Champions, along with Henry Crowther’s 100-yard freestyle, with a time of 48.58 that placed 5th. Some other highlights from the meet include 6th and 8th in the 200 freestyle by Jonathan Peterson and Charlie Kline respectively, Ian Kehoe’s 8th place in the 200 IM, Luke Gardner’s 7th place in 50 freestyle, 8th and 9th place in 100 freestyle by Peterson and Gardner, 6th, 10th, and 14th in the 500 freestyle by Charlie Kline, Cathal Hislop, and Ben Fenandoe, 3rd place from Paul Knecht in 100 backstroke, and top 12 in 100 breaststroke from Shalen Sternberg and Ronan Hamon.
The team then competed in the Boys 2025 NJSIAA Swimming Championships at Lawrenceville, also known as Preps. The team of Paul Knecht, Charlie Kline, Henry Crowther, and Jonathan Peterson went a time of 1:39.74 for a school record and 3rd place. In 200-yard freestyle, Jonathan Peterson and Charlie Kline got 4th and 5th and in 200 IM, Cathal Hislop and Shalen Sternberg placed 5th and 8th, respectively. Henry Crowther got 2nd place in 50 free with a PR of 21.97 and Luke Gardner got 9th. OP Swim’s exhibition swimmers swam massive PR’s including Max Feischer, with a time of 25.42, Dylan Guilcapi, with a time of 25.61, and Daniel Cashin, with a time of 25.86. All these swimmers placed top 5 in the exhibition heat. Paul Knecht placed 3rd in the A Division with a time of 52.53 and Henry Crowther swam 100 freestyle got 2nd with a 47.88 in the A Division and 3rd overall, while Jonathan got 7th with a time of 50.12. Ian Kehoe, Cathal Hislop, and Ben Fenandoe got 4th, 5th, 6th respectively in 500 freestyle. The same relay team as 200 Medley Relay broke the school record again with a time of 1:29.68. Paul Knecht and Charlie Kline placed 4th and 5th in 100 backstroke and Shalen Sternberg and Ronan Hamon placed 8th and 9th in the A Division for 100 breaststroke. The relay of Luke Gardner, Ian Kehoe, Cathal Hislop, and Shalen Sternberg placed 3rd in the A division in 400 freestyle. This meet finished off the great season with a 8-3 regular season record, many school records, and 3rd place in both the Union County Championships and NJSIAA Swimming Championships.
