School Records Fall in the Girls Swimming County Championship

The Ridge girls swimming team was hoping to meet or improve on last year's seventh place finish at the Somerset County Swimming Championships, held at Montgomery High School on Thursday. They met that goal.

Amanda Wachenfeld and Sarah Valente led their team to a sixth place finish at the meet, and broke a few school records along the way.

In the first event of the meet, Valente, Kate Bradley, Wachenfield, and Kristina Cheung set a new Ridge High School record with their time of 2:00.97 in the 200-yard medley relay, two seconds faster than the previous record.

They had been seeded seventh for the event, but with their record-breaking performance they overcame the sixth seed, Watchung Hills, earning 18 points for their team and taking sixth place out of 12.

Kathleen Shim earned three more points for the Red Devils with a 10th place finish out of 28 in the 200-yard freestyle. Cheung earned an additional point by taking 12th place in the event.

Wachenfeld kept breaking records with a third place finish in the 200-yard IM, earning 12 more points for the Red Devils. Her time of 2:14.29 is a new school record, and her third place finish was the highest ever individual placement for a Ridge girl at a county meet. That is, until she later took first in the 500 yard freestyle.

"It was a shock when we found out that we broke a record in the medley…and for the 200 IM, I just really wanted to go out there and swim my hardest, I didn't even know what the record was, I just wanted my personal best time," said Wachenfeld.

"Hopefully we can rewrite the whole school record book," said Valente.

After four events, Ridge had earned 34 points total and was tied for sixth place with Somerville. Watchung Hills trailed them with 15, and Pingry was in fifth with 48. Mount Saint Mary held first with 105, while Bridgewater was in second with 92.

Valente took 10th and Shim took 11th out of 33 in the 100-yard freestyle, earning three and two points respectively and breaking Ridge's tie with Somerville.

Wachenfeld's time of 5:18.95 in the 500-yard freestyle broke another Ridge High School record, and she earned her team 16 points with the first place finish.

"I wanted to go out and stay with the leaders, in hopes of a good time and a good place. But when I started and I was ahead of everybody, I just really wanted to get first place and show what I can do. I'm really proud of myself," said Wachenfeld.

After eight events, the Ridge girls were close to reaching their goal of taking seventh or higher, thanks to the record-breaking performances of Wachenfeld, both individually and with the 200-yard medley team. They were in sixth place with 66 points, only one point ahead of Somerville and trailing fifth-place Hillsborough by 40 points. Watchung Hills was in eighth with 40.5. Bridgewater had overtaken first place with 197 points, while Mount Saint Mary was in second with 191. Three events were left.

Valente took ninth out of a field of 29 in the 100-yard backstroke, earning four more points for Ridge. No one from Somerville placed in the event, so Valente's finish increased Ridge's lead to five.

Then Kate Bradley took 10th out of 31 in the 100-yard breaststroke for Ridge, and again because no one from Somerville placed, the gap between sixth and seventh stood at 8 points with one event left.

The Ridge girls had no problem holding on to sixth place in the final event. Cheung, Shim, Valente, and Wachenfeld took fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay, earning 20 points. Somerville took ninth with 8 points in the event.

Bridgewater-Raritan won the championship with 280 total points. Ridge ended the meet with 93 points, 20 more than Somerville in seventh with 73.

"Seven school records total were broken," said Coach Melanie Dupuis, "I think there were also 15 personal bests. This is one of the best meets ever for the girls….I was very, very happy. Sixth place is awesome."

The next Ridge girls varsity swimming meet will be at Montgomery High School for the Cougar Invitational on Friday, Jan. 29, 4 p.m.