Northern Highlands girls swimming downs Morris Knolls for eighth straight sectional title
Grace Lee got out of club swimming practice an hour early Thursday.
She had a valid reason, of course. The Northern Highlands dynasty needed its long distance ace.
Lee won the 200 and 500 freestyles on Thursday night to send the Highlanders past Morris Knolls, 108-62, in the North 1, Group B final for their eighth straight sectional title.
The championship win was a bit more decisive than expected and a lot of that had to do with the Highlanders' speed in the freestyle.
Senior Meghan Rourke doubled up on wins in the sprint events, while Lee took care of business in her races by more than three seconds.
"It's a bit of a dynasty," Northern Highlands coach Tom Viscardi said. "My kids keep coming into the system and buying in. My assistant coach Steve Cerelli has been with me for a while and he does a fantastic job. This is probably our largest senior class (with 11 girls) and they had an amazing meet today and got the team fired up."
Lee is one of the cornerstones for Northern Highlands, but came into the championship a little sluggish. The junior trained with her club from 3:50 to 5 p.m., not wanting to skip another session after a recent illness. It was a short turnaround before her team's 7 p.m. meet at Passaic Tech, but Lee was assured that the Highlanders had her back.
"I trust everything that (our coaches) do," Lee said. "They always ask for our advice, which makes me even more confident and comfortable knowing that it's a team thing and we're all in it together."
Staying on top of the section took a collaborative effort between the Highlanders (9-0) and their coaching staff.
Viscardi toyed with the idea of putting Lee and Rourke in the butterfly, but kept them in their primary events while avoiding Morris Knolls star Sophia Yousuf. Rourke led a 1-2-3 finish in the 50 freestyle and dropped an impressive time (23.87) that was only four-hundredths back of the school record.
"They are kids that we can lean on and the best part about them is they can do any race," Viscardi said. "I think that's been the biggest weapon for us. We have the flexibility in the lineup to move around anywhere. They're fantastic competitors across the board."
Morris Knolls hung around for a while behind Yousuf's top times in the butterfly and individual medley, but Northern Highlands turned it on late in a rematch of the 2022 championship.
The Highlanders won five of the last six events and scooped up points in the outside lanes, only getting last in one event. Ella St. Pierre came in first in the breaststroke to clinch the title and send Northern Highlands back to Gloucester County Institute of Technology.
Northern Highlands will head down there on Tuesday to face No. 1 seed Chatham in the Group B semifinals.
"Holding the trophy and getting the job done is definitely a memory that will last a lifetime," Rourke said.
"I'm really proud of our team and I think we all were really hyped going into this meet. We brought all the confidence. We knew what we had to do and we knew we didn't want to lose that eight-peat."
Montclair 100, Ridgewood 70
The top-seeded Mounties rolled to their second straight sectional title, although Ridgewood inched a little bit closer in the rematch of last year's North 1, Group A final.
The Maroons won three races in the cross-county showdown, highlighted by first-place times from Isabel Lee in the 50 freestyle and Josie Marino in the breaststroke. Nichole Koltsov and Jill Grayson teamed up with them for another victory in the 200 free relay for Ridgewood (5-3).
All four will return next year for a Maroons squad that won the Big North Freedom and tied for second at the Bergen County meet.
"The girls were really psyched all week," Ridgewood coach Kyle Schulke said. "They were pumped. They knew it was going to be a competitive meet. It's fun to swim another strong team because it brings the best out of you. I think our girls swam some top times for the season so it's all you can ask for."
Carly Frank and Ela Habjan both produced two individual wins for unbeaten Montclair (11-0).
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Northern Highlands girls swimming wins eighth straight sectional title
