Bernards High School Swim Team
Home Page Last revised: October 08, 2008.

Team News & Announcements

• 2008-2009 is the 21st season for BHS Swim Team (70-71-1 Co-Ed Team, 20-22 Boys Team, 65-26-2 Girls Team)

• Girls team named to the NISCA 2004 Academic Team Scholar "Silver" list (the girls were named to the NISCA 2003 Academic Team Scholar "Gold" list)

• Boys are named Skyland Conference - Raritan Division Champions for 2007

• Girls finished 5th at the 2008 Skyland Conference meet; Boys finished 6th

• Girls finished 6th at the 2008 Somerset County meet; Boys finished 6th

• Girls and boys are quarter-finalists in the 2008 North II, Division B State Playoffs

• Mary deMarrais makes All-State at 2008 Meet of Champions!

• Fifth season with both boys and girls teams

Bernards Swim Team Looking Forward to 2008-9 Season

The swim team pre-season meeting will be on Wednesday, October 15, at 2:45pm in the "old" auditorium.  After a short meeting for all sports in the auditorium, we will move to separate classrooms for the individual sport meetings.  The swim team will meet in room B303.  While we will have some big girls shoes to fill with the graduation of Julie Farrell, Jamie Hepburn and Jenna Meyers, the boys did not lose a single swimmer for this season!  Both the boys and girls teams finished second in the Raritan Division of the Skyland Conference and made the quarterfinals of the North II, Group B state playoffs last season.

The swim team will continue their volunteer work with the local Special Olympics team at the Somerset Hills YMCA.

Mary deMarrais Finals in Top 8 at Meet of Champions

Mary deMarrais, Jamie Hepburn, and Mitch Colby qualified for the very competitive Meet of Champions held at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology on March 1 and 2.  Mary finished in the top 8 in both events, bettering her own BHS Top 5 times in the process.  Mary swam a 2:10.98 in the 200 IM and a 5:07.06 in the 500 which placed her 7th and 4th respectively going in to the finals.  She dropped her IM time 0.2 seconds in the finals and finished in her seeded slots (7th and 4th) for both events.  Mary has the second fastest Bernards swim in the IM and the third fastest 500 - only .03 seconds behind Lesley Barnet's time from 1999.  These were Mary's 4th and 5th All-State (Top 16) performances.   Jamie Hepburn and Mitch Colby swam well, finishing 30th and 23rd in New Jersey (all-Groups, all-Sections) in the 500 free.

Bernards Girls Swim to 5th Place; Boys to 6th at Skyland Conference Championships
deMarrais and Colby Conference Champs in the 500 Free

The Bernards girls finished in 5th place in a field of 16 schools at the Skyland Conference Championships on January 30, just ahead of Hunterdon Central and Ridge.  Bernards trailed Hunterdon Central and Ridge until Mary deMarrais and Jamie Hepburn finished first and third in the 500 free.  While that ended the individual scoring for Bernards, Jamie, Mary, and Julie Farrell teamed up with Emily Coyle in the 200 free relay and Jenna Meyers in the 400 free relay to finish one place ahead of Hunterdon Central in each of the events to secure fifth place overall.  Mary also placed second in the IM while Jamie finished in 8th place in the 200 free.  Bernards also received points from a 12th place finish in the 200 medley relay by Emily, Sam Cembrook, Ali Gatzke, and Jenna Meyers.

The boys swam to an impressive 6th place swim against 14 other schools as 4 boys contributed to the individual scoring.  Frosh Mitch Colby won the 500 free, breaking the 5 minute barrier and qualifying for the 2008 Meet of Champions with a 4:57.43.  Mitch swam to victory in the penultimate heat, which he won by 14 seconds!  The final heat, could not match Mitch's final time, even though top seeded Jared Lang from Hunterdon Central swam almost identical splits through the first 450 yards.  Mitch closed the race with a very fast 28.72, while Jared finished with a 29.78 to finish .5 seconds behind Mitch's new BHS #2 Top 5 time.  Mitch is the first Conference Champion since Dorian Delamare won the 200 IM and 100 fly in the Colonial Hills Conference Championship meet in 2001.  Mitch also placed 5th in the 200 free.  John Lawson scored in both the 100 fly (9th) and the 100 back (11th) with both swims in the BHS Top 5 listing.  Sebastien Sicard (10th) and Justin Meyers (12th) both added points in the 200 free.  All three relays medaled as the 200 medley relay of John, Jose Agnese, Brendan McCrossan, and Mitch placed 6th and lowered their own BHS Top 5 time to within .25 seconds of the school record.  The two free relays placed 5th with Brendan, Justin, Robert Crane, and Sebastien in the 200 and John, Sebastien, Justin, and Mitch in the 400.

The entire girls' and boys' conference crowd was treated to a beautiful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner sung by Bernards' own Patty Howell!  Patty was invited to open the Cougar Invitational meet on February 8.

deMarrais Leads Bernards to 6th Place at Somerset County Championships
Boys Also Finish in 6th Place

The Bernards girls finished in 6th place at the Somerset County Championships on Friday, January 25, beating 6 schools including Ridge and Watchung Hills.  The team was led by Mary deMarrais who won the 500 free in a BHS #3 time of 5:10.55 and finished second in the IM with a time (2:11.09) that is second only to Alexis Skoda's school record 2:07.18 from 2001.  Jamie Hepburn was tenth in the 200 free and seventh in the 500 free. Mary and Jamie also scored points on two sixth place free relays with Julie Farrell, Emily Coyle (200), and Jenna Meyers (400).  The medley relay of Danielle Colby, Samantha Cembrook, Ali Gatzke and Emily Coyle finished in 8th place.

On Saturday, January 26, the Bernards boys also finished in 6th place behind Bridgewater, Pingry, Hillsborough, Montgomery, and Ridge.  Frosh Mitch Colby and co-captain Sebastien Sicard scored in both of their individual events, as Mitch finished 11th in the 200 and 7th in the 500, improving his #2 BHS top 5 time to 5:05.85.  Sebastien finished in 12th in both the 200 free and the fly, and also improved on his #5 top 5 time in the 200 free with a 1:56.27.  Justin Meyers completed the individual scoring with a 12th place swim in the 100 free.  The 200 medley relay squad of John Lawson, Jose Agnese, Brendan McCrossan and Mitch placed 6th and lowered their own #3 top 5 time to 1:48.95, which ties the #2 time.  Both free relays finished 5th as the 200 free relay team included Brendan, Justin, Robert Crane, and Sebastien and the 400 free relay was swum by John, Sebastien, Justin, and Mitch.

Bernards Sets 6 New (Unofficial) Records at Cougar Relays

The Bernards swim team, which clearly took the gold medal among the six participating teams for team spirit, rewrote the (unofficial) relay record book on December 7 at Montgomery High School.  Two girls, one boys, and three new coed records were set as Bernards raced against Hillsborough, Montgomery, Warren Hills, Somerville, and Immaculata.

Danielle Colby, Katie Drinkwater, Jenna Meyers and Mary deMarrais broke the 200 back relay, and Mary combined with Yvette Gong, Angela Agnese, and Julie Farrell to set a new 200 breast relay standard.  The boys 200 back relay record also fell to John Lawson, Josh Kostelak, Robert Crane, and Mitch Colby.  Three new coed relay records were also established in the 200 fly, 400 medley, and 4 x 100IM relay events. Sebastien Sicard, Ali Gatzke, Colette Rosenhaus, and Brendan McCrossan swam the 200 fly relay, while Josh, Reid Orza, Colette, and Alexandra Crane swam the 400 medley.  The final record breaking relay of the night belonged to the 4 x 100IM squad of Julie, Robert, Jenna Meyers, and Thomas Kostelak.

Bernards Swim Team to Work With Special Olympics Athletes

The Bernards swim team will be working with the local Special Olympics swim team at the Somerset Hills YMCA throughout the season.  The Bernards swimmers will assist in coaching the swim team, helping them with their stroke technique and participating in fun, yet competitive relay races.  This will be a great opportunity for the Bernards swimmers to serve their community while sharing their talents with a great group of local athletes.

2006-2007 Highlights
Bernards Boys Named Skyland Conference Raritan Division Champions

The Skyland Conference is made up of two divisions - the Delaware and the Raritan.  The members of the Raritan Division are Bernards, Franklin, North Hunterdon, Phillipsburg, Ridge, Somerville, Voorhees (girls team only), and Warren Hills.  The Bernards boys were undefeated in dual meets against all teams in the Raritan Division, so they have been named Conference champions of this division.