ALEXANDER THE GREAT: Alexander Khot displays his breaststroke form in a meet this summer for the Community Park Bluefish swim team. Khot helped the Bluefish take first in the Princeton-Area Swimming and Diving Association (PASDA) championship meet in late July. Khot finished first in the Boys 12-and-Under 100-yard individual medley and the 50 breaststroke at the PASDA championships. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
As the Community Park Bluefish swim team headed into the Princeton-Area Swimming and Diving Association (PASDA) championships in late July, it was a bit short on meet experience this summer.
“We had really bad luck this year with the dual meets on Thursdays — we faced storms, heat, and smoke,” said Bluefish co-head coach Mike Uchrin. “We had three divisional meets and we won all three. We were supposed to have two additional inter-divisional meets but they ended up getting canceled.”
Despite that lack of action, the Bluefish once again dominated the PASDA meet, placing first of 12 teams with 3,941 points, nearly doubling runner-up West Windsor Hurricanes who totaled 2,073.50.
“We definitely overcame some environmental struggles this season,” said Uchrin, noting that the Bluefish haven’t lost a dual meet in the last 12 years and that the PASDA title was its 11th straight championship. (There was no meet in 2020 due to COVID-19).“We ended having a few less swimmers going to champs this year that last year. Despite that we actually outscored our performance last year which is pretty exciting.”
Bluefish co-head coach Kelsey Schwimmer was thrilled with how the squad performed in the PASDA meet.
“It was incredible to see the team come together when we had our championships,” said Schwimmer of the program that included more than 250 swimmers and 10 teenage coaches this summer. “We were so proud of the team. They really showed up for their friends and themselves. The have been working hard all summer. It is just so wonderful to see them cheering for their friends and getting excited over each other. They were there to do their best and compete.”
As for the squad’s Boys 6 and Under division, Morris Jiang stepped up as he placed third in the 25-yard backstroke and fifth in the 25 freestyle at the championships.
“Morris was full of excitement and personality,” said Schwimmer. “He was really excited to race and do his best.”
Ilex Smith and Eunice Luan led the way for the 6U girls. Smith took sixth in the 25 free and seventh in the 25 back while Luan placed seventh in the 25 free and sixth in the 25 back.
“Ilex was great, she was small but mighty; she did great in free and back,” said Schwimmer. “Her and Eunice were both really working hard.”
The Bluefish got very good work from Zeeon Zang in the 8U boys as he won the 100 individual medley, the 25 free, and the 25 butterfly. He was named the Most Valuable Swimmer (MVS) of the division.
“Zeeon is dedicated to the sport,” said Schwimmer. “He not only got MVS, he tied a PASDA record in the IM (1:18.08) and he set the butterfly record (15.11) in the champs meet. We were very impressed by him. He is just always showing up to do his very best and take down records. He has a goal and then he wants to do it. He is very focused.”
In the 8U girls, Audrey Lee and Rose Goodrich produced some impressive performances. Lee finished third in the 25 free and fifth in the 25 breast while Goodrich took third in the 25 breast and fifth in the 100 IM.
“It is very difficult, especially for the younger kids, to really get all of the stokes down in the IM, and Rose did amazing,” said Schwimmer. “They were both working hard all season and focused towards those goals.”
Alexander Baytin Jr. displayed his focus in the 10U boys, taking first in freestyle and second in both the 25 butterfly and 100 IM.
“Alex was swimming up with the 12Us and competes with the 10s,” said Schwimmer. “He did amazing. You can see how much he loves the sport. He wanted to do his best there, he was really excited to swim.”
Two other 10U boys, Timothy Riley and Ryan Costello, brought excitement to the deck for the Bluefish. Riley finished third in the 25 back and sixth in the 25 free while Costello placed fifth in the 25 free and seventh in the 25 breast.
“Timmy is another great kid, he was showing up and working hard,” said Schwimmer. “He was excited especially to do the relays with his friends. They were really excited to show off what they have been working on together. Ryan is another boy who came to every single practice and was the loudest in support of his teammates. I would say he was one of those who was the heart of Bluefish. He was singlehandedly lifting the rest of the team.”
Alicia Ben and Emma Zhang lifted the 10U girls. Ben finished first in the 25 free, first in 25 fly, and second in the 100 IM while Zhang won both the 25 IM and the 25 breast. They were named as co-MVS honorees.
“Alicia has just been a great part of our team for a couple of years now. She did amazing, She is always very focused and dedicated. We love having her as a part of our group. Emma was actually a newcomer for us this year. She blew it out of the park. Her breaststroke is really phenomenal.”
The 12U boys featured another MVS in Alexander Khot as he placed first in the 100 IM and 50 breast. Tristan Wysocki also starred in that division, coming in third in the 100 IM and fourth in the 50 free.
“Alex was fantastic, he did a great job this season,” said Uchrin. “He bleeds blue and white, he loves the Bluefish. The Wysocki brothers are always a big Bluefish family. The freestyle and medley relays that included both of those boys won by 10 seconds each.”
In Uchrin’s view, that group’s excellence in the relays reflected its talent.
“That collective group of 12U boys is so deep and so fast,” added Uchrin. “They have great coaching under Kentaro Bauer, a former Bluefish who owns our record board. He has a lot of our records and he did a great job leading that group of boys along with Zoe [Bitterman].”
As for the 12U girls, Salina Min was the leading light, winning the 100 IM and the 50 fly and taking third in the 50 free. She was named as the MVS of the division.
While Min was a standout, the 12U girls featured a number of key performers.
“It is one of the deepest, if not the deepest, groups in the team,” said Uchrin. “They were together as 10 unders and they moved up together. They are just so good, between Salina, Carlin Markey, Naledi Eveline Diamini, Ella Riley, and Peyton Shoop — all of them. They set our team record in the relays. Whenever you show that dominance in relays, it really shows your depth. We took four of the five top spots in the backstroke (with Riley placing second, Markey in third, Shoop in fourth, and Claire McBride coming in fifth), which is pretty hard to do. Overall that group is so deep and so fun. They are such good teammates with each other. A lot of them practice together at PTAC (Princeton Tigers Aquatics Club).”
Nathan Ricciardi had a very good meet in the 14U boys’ division, winning the 100 IM and the 50 fly on the way to being named the MVS.
“He absolutely dominated his 100 IM, he had some fantastic swims,” said Uchrin. “That whole group was a really deep group of longtime Bluefish with Huxley Shoop, Dylan Atkins, Vaughan Rodricks, and George Sands. George started off as a little Bluefish and now here he is crushing the breaststroke. That group collectively is fantastic. They had great relay swims.”
As for the 14U girls, Oceana Hsieh overcame adversity to place first in the 100 IM and 50 breast as she won the MVS award for that division.
“She did phenomenal — the thing with Oceana is that she had to work really hard,” said Uchrin, who also got good work from Sophia Huang, the winner of the Girls 14U 50 fly and the third-place finisher in the 50 free. “She had an injury during the school year. She rehabbed, she worked hard and was able to come all the way back which was awesome. Collectively all of those girls were so strong and it shows in the relays. The medley relay won by over eight seconds over the next fastest relay. When you can do that, it shows your depth and that you are pretty united as a group.”
The 18U boys were led by the trio of Natan Wysocki, Shawn Elwood, and Stephen Baytin. Wysocki took third in the 50 breast while Elwood placed sixth in both the 50 free and 50 fly and Baytin finished second in the 50 breast and fourth in the 100 IM.
“All of those guys swam their hearts out,” said Uchrin. Stephen came from Nassau and he is a competitor. They are all competitors. We have a huge group of the PHS boys in that 18U group. They are real committed to each other. They work hard but they play hard. On fun Fridays, they are in there playing water basketball. This sport tends to taper off in participation as they get older and we had the largest group of senior boys of any team. We really love to see kids sticking with the sport all of the way through high school.”
Zoe Bitterman, Caitlin Stubbs, and Samantha Kent starred for the Bluefish 18U girls. Bitterman placed second in both the 50 free and 50 fly while Stubbs came in third in the 50 free and seventh in the 50 fly and Kent finished second in the 50 breast and fourth in the 50 fly.
“Zoe is a lifetime Bluefish and this was her last year,” said Uchrin. “She also coached the 12Us. It was a great swan song for Zoe. She had a fantastic championship to round out a fantastic summer league career. Caitlin was another coach for us. She is primarily a high school swimmer but she came out and had a fantastic season, especially in freestyle.”
While the Bluefish had to deal with some weather issues this season that didn’t prevent the program from enjoying another fantastic campaign.
“This summer was a little bit harder than normal with the weather difficulties,” said Schwimmer. “It speaks to the strengths of our coaches and the team that even with all of this upheaval, we still had so many parents and kids saying what an incredible summer.”
Uchrin, for his part, pointed to the incredible level of community involvement as the key to the ongoing strength of the Bluefish.
“I have to thank our families, we don’t get to 11 straight championships in 12 years without such huge community support,” said Uchrin. “The winning is just a byproduct of the buy-in from the community. It doesn’t matter if you are a club swimmer, a summer league swimmer, or it is your first season, Bluefish is for you and the community has bought into that. It is have fun, eat an ice cream, and go swim as fast as you can.”