BACK IN FIRST: Princeton High girls’ swimmer Annie Flanagan churning her way to a first place finish in the 100-meter backstroke last Saturday at the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) Swimming Championships at the WW/P-North pool. Senior star Flanagan also placed first in the 100 freestyle, repeating as the CVC champion in both events. Flanagan’s heroics helped PHS finish second in the team standings behind champion Notre Dame. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
As Annie Flanagan looked to repeat as the winner of the 100-meter freestyle and 100 backstroke at the Colonial Valley Conference (CVC) championships last Saturday, she was a little anxious.
“Last year I placed first in both of my races and I was just trying to repeat that,” said Princeton High senior star Flanagan. “I felt a little bit of pressure. There is a lot of new swimmers and a lot of fast swimmers in this meet. I was a little bit nervous.”
Overcoming those nerves in the meet held at the WW/P-North pool, Flanagan achieved her title double for a second straight year, helping PHS place second in the team standings behind champion Notre Dame. The Tigers piled up 198 points while the Irish totaled 264 in taking the win.
“I think I performed really well and I was really happy overall,” said Flanagan. “I had great swims. I swam the 100 free next to (teammate) Jenna Barry, that was so much fun. The 100 back was tough, every race is tough like that. I was just really happy with my swims.”
Flanagan finished her CVC career by swimming the anchor leg as PHS took second in the 400 free relay, the final event of the day.
“It is like a little bittersweet now that it is all over,” said Flanagan, who helped PHS win the meet the last three years. “It is exciting because we were neck and neck with North. I just really wanted to secure that second place. I was a little bit nervous going into the last leg. I was really proud of the other swimmers in the relay, they all swam very well.”
Reflecting on the CVC event, Flanagan was proud of how the Tigers competed collectively.
“We had a great team this year, we had a lot of great new freshmen,” said Flanagan. “I was just so excited. I think the meet went amazing. I am just so proud of everyone.”
For Flanagan, being joined on the PHS team by her younger sister, sophomore Charlie, has been exciting.
“I love swimming with my sister the past few years,” said Flanagan. “It has been great having her on the team.”
Looking back on her four years with the PHS program, Flanagan has loved the experience.
“It is the spirit of the team, all of the swimmers on the team are amazing,” said Flanagan, who will be continuing her swimming career at Carnegie Mellon University. “They are honestly the kindest people I know and they are so hardworking. The coaches, [Patrick] Remboski, Kylie [Frykholm], coach [Chandler] Hubert have been so supportive through this whole thing. All of them are so inspiring. I think the highlight for me was definitely winning states my freshman year, that was unbelievable. Sophomore year we were runner-up. We won CVCs the past three years.”
PHS head coach Remboski credited his girls’ squad with producing a number of highlights at the CVC meet.
“I am super proud of them, we had some best times of the season,” said Remboski. “It was a tough competition out there with Notre Dame, South, North and all of them. I couldn’t be prouder. We gave it our best shot. We had really strong prelims and some great swims today.”
Flanagan, as usual, produced some strong swims. “Annie wanted to win her individual events and she went out there and did that,” said Remboski.
Sophomore Jenna Barry did some good things at the meet, taking second in the 50 free and third in the 100 free.
“Jenna is a great competitor,” said Remboski. “The best part is that Jenna is happy to come in third to Annie. Obviously she wants to come in first.”
Several other swimmers came up big for PHS at the meet. Freshman Lucia Camilli took sixth in both the 100 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley while freshman Aryahi Pimple placed fourth in the 100 breast and eighth in the 400 free, freshman Kailey Yun finish ninth in the 200 and 400 free, sophomore Charlie Flanagan came in seventh in the 200 IM and eighth in the 100 back and senior Emily Walden placed eighth in both the 50 free and the 200 free.
“Everyone had really good swims,” said Remboski. “Lucia made two A finals as a freshman, we are super proud of her. She and Aryahi really stepped up, that is super impressive for freshmen. Emily was a little upset that she missed the A final but she did great taking second in the 50 free B final. Charlie had some nice swims. Kailey, another freshman, had some nice swims. I was really happy with all of them.”
With PHS competing in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North 2, Group B Tournament where it is seeded sixth and will host seventh-seeded Watchung Hills in a first round meet on February 2, Remboski feels his girls’ squad will be up for the challenge.
“It will be interesting to see how we stand out,” said Remboski. “Ever since they switched the sections, it has gotten a lot harder but there is nothing wrong with some competition. After this, we are going to give them a couple of days off and then get back to practice.”
Flanagan, for her part, is confident that PHS will build on its CVC performance as it competes in states.
“We are going to be swimming against really fast teams and there are fast teams here so I think it was great practice,” said Flanagan.