Curtiss, Pennington smash county records
PLAINSBORO >> Not only did the Pennington School boys swimming team capture a first Mercer County Tournament title, it did so in record-breaking style.
Led by superstar junior David Curtiss, who broke his own meet records in the 50 and 100 freestyle, the Red Raiders edged host West Windsor-Plainsboro North by three points on Saturday afternoon.
Pennington finished second in each of the last two seasons.
“I hate getting second,” Curtiss said. “It’s my nemesis.”
Curtiss, who coach George Ward called a generational swimmer, clocked 23.27 in the 50 free and 51.04 in the 100 free.
“My accomplishments mean nothing (because) I’m here to score points for Pennington,” said Curtiss, who was named Swimmer of the Meet for a second straight year. “That’s the ultimate goal (to) win. This year, finally, Notre Dame wasn’t in the equation, but West Windsor North gave us a run for our money. Winning by three points is a small margin.”
But to score those points by breaking records?
“It’s nice updating the records I had from last year,” Curtiss said. “It’s an achievement because that’s what I wanted to do. It’s always enjoyable to break records, but breaking those records is all about getting the points for Pennington. That’s what I do.”
He didn’t do it alone, though.
Ben G Eckerson won the 100 backstroke in 56.71. He set the meet record in the event at 55.95 in the prelims. The 200 freestyle relay (1:35.66) and 200 medley relay (1:45.41) also set records.
Curtiss, Eckerson, Oliver Gassmann and Mark Usiskin cranked out the time in the freestyle relay, while Eckerson, Gassmann and Curtiss were joined by Liam Rodgers in the medley.
Pennington’s pool is undergoing a massive renovation, and training time has been reduced with the team having to rent pool time at neighboring Lawrenceville.
“Our training has dropped by 30%, but somehow we got it done today,” Ward said. “We’ve been coming to this meet since 1997 and many alum swimmers are going to be very happy today that after more than 20 years we got it done.”
Pennington finished with 233 points, WW-PN had 230 and WW-PS was third with 183.