For the second straight year, the Cougars defeated Egg Harbor Township High School to win the sectional championship.
Nothing seems to rattle the Cherry Hill High School East girls swimming team’s youngest swimmers.
The Cougars feature a core group of freshmen and sophomores. Those underclassmen came through in a big way last Thursday in the South Jersey Public Group A championship meet. Cherry Hill East defeated Egg Harbor Township High School, 98–72, for the program’s second consecutive sectional title.
“We do have a very young team,” head coach Anita Bowser said. “But these girls, they were ready for it. In school, they were ready for it. They were pumped. They were a little upset we lost the (South Jersey Interscholastic Swimming Association Coaches’ Invitational), so they were ready for that.”
A number of Cherry Hill East’s swimmers put up their best times of the season in the meet. Sophomore Grace Yoon, the defending state champion in the 100-yard breaststroke, put up a season-best time of 1:02.86 in winning the event. Annie Behm, one of the top freshman swimmers in South Jersey, took first place in the 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and helped two of Cherry Hill East’s relay teams to first-place finishes. Sophomore Brianna DiSanti put up Meet of Champions qualifying times in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events. Senior Carissa Campbell also qualified for Meet of Champions last Thursday in the 500-yard freestyle.
Senior captains Erin Quay and Katie Suarez have both played integral roles on the team. With the Cougars featuring an influx of club swimmers, Quay and Suarez are tasked with building team unity and pride among the swimmers.
“It’s been really important to get the freshmen and underclassmen out of their shells and really into the team,” Suarez said.
“That’s why we have so much team bonding outside of school,” Suarez added. “With club swimmers, we don’t see each other all the time.”
Cherry Hill East was able to jump out in front early thanks to strong performances in the first three events, the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley. Bowser made some changes to the regular lineup and put Cherry Hill East’s top swimmers in the 200-yard IM to try to grab some extra points early in the meet.
“It totally set a mindset for the team and for the rest of the meet,” Suarez said about the early lead. “It was really good because people were hyped right from the beginning, full of energy right from the start.”
Entering the meet as the defending sectional champions, the Cougars came in with a ton of confidence. Bowser said her team has swum in plenty of big meets before, so the team didn’t waver when it came to defending its sectional title.
“They’ve got a good head on their shoulders,” Bowser said. “They know competition. They’re competing in big meets all the time. They handle the pressure very well.”
Quay believes the Cougars will be more competitive this year in states after the girls competed at that level for the first time last season. In 2017, Cherry Hill East lost in the Public Group A semifinals to Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
“It should make us stronger,” Quay said. “Some of the sophomores, they’ve experienced it, so they should know what they are looking for now.”
Cherry Hill East was scheduled to compete in the Public Group A state semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 20. Visit www.cherryhillsun.com to see the results of the meet.
