Allegations over something being in the water at Moorestown High School may run rampant, as the boys swim team is once again in position to compete for a state title despite graduating 18 seniors from last season’s roster.
“Our strength is the depth of our junior class and our swimmers in the center lanes,” head coach Jeff DeNick said. “I’m confident we have one of the stronger teams in South Jersey when it comes to the quality in the center of our lineup.”
Even with the loss of several contributors to graduation, Moorestown — which claimed the South Public B, Burlington County League, Swim Fast Relays and South Jersey Coaches Invitational Division B crowns a season ago — looks to pick up right where it left off. That would be a 16–2 season ending with an 88–82 loss to Summit High School in the State Public B championship meet.
Those center lane swimmers that DeNick spoke of are arguably the best collection in the state, made up of All-South Jersey selections sophomore Alex Martin and junior Zach Fong, along with juniors JD Schurer, Devin Nielsen, Matt Lubin and sophomore Mike Schaeffer. Fong is coming off a particularly impressive sophomore campaign.
He won the butterfly in 52.09 at the BCSL championships and touched first in 52.18 in Division B of the South Jersey Invitational. He also won the breaststroke at both meets, clocking 1:01.27 in the Invitational and 1:02.33 in the league meet. Fong then finished sixth in two events at the state individual championships, the butterfly in 50.92 and the individual medley in 1:55.00. The time in the fly earned All-America consideration.
DeNick says it is the team’s balance that could help it outlast a few of the other contenders.
“Fong, Martin, Schurer, Schaeffer, Lubin and Nielson are all capable of swimming multiple events with quality times,” DeNick said. “Then you throw in senior Ryan Caffrey, who is returning from an injury, and it’s really a dangerous group. Our depth stretches across the lanes. ”
Being a part of the Burlington County League does Moorestown no favors but not in the way you may think. Every team in the BCL outside of Rancocas Valley is a co-ed team, which means the Quakers will not face many difficult opponents in the regular season. In years past, DeNick has arranged for the Quakers to swim against strong all-boy teams such as St. Augustine Prep to challenge his team more and get it prepared for the state tourney.
Despite the bright outlook for his team, DeNick knows Moorestown is vulnerable in spots, particularly sprints.
“One of our goals is to strengthen our sprint and distance events as the season progresses,” DeNick said. “Although we have a great group returning, we’ll need a few meets to see where we stand as a team and what we can do going forward.”
