Haddonfield's boys are kings of the pool

Six years of frustration ended for the Haddonfield boys' swim team yesterday at the NJSIAA Boys Public Division B Swimming Championships at the College of New Jersey.

Sparked by two individual event wins from Will Manion and gutsy performances up and down the lineup, the Bulldogs upended nemesis Mountain Lakes, 89-81, ending the Lakers' five-year reign as Division B champions. Four of those championships were at the expense of Haddonfield, with the fifth a win over Shawnee.

"Awesome, this is totally awesome," Haddonfield coach Bob Querubin said. "The last two or three years, we've been closing the gap against them. This year, our boys were much more confident from the beginning of the season in approaching meets. It's great to see the reward for all the hard work these kids have put in."

Haddonfield (14-1) served notice from the start of the meet that this year was going to have a different ending.

After winning the 200-yard medley in a school-record time of 1 minute, 38 seconds, the Bulldogs traded the lead with Mountain Lakes until the 100 butterfly.

In the butterfly, Greg Lee, swimming in an outside lane, finished in 51.55 seconds, establishing a school record, and with Tommy Glenn's second-place finish and Drew Proctor's fifth, Haddonfield took a 44-34 lead.

The Lakers (14-1) narrowed the gap to 49-45 following the 100 freestyle, but Haddonfield expanded the lead and took control of the meet with a 1-3-4 finish in the 500 freestyle by Glenn, Ryan Richards and Grant Proctor.

"I told the team we needed to swim with heart and spirit today and that every swimmer counts," said Glenn, Haddonfield's only senior. "My brother was on the last Haddonfield team to win a state title [in 2004], so it's a nice way to end my senior year."

Haddonfield 89,

Mountain Lakes 81

200 medley relay: Haddonfield (Will Manion, Charlie Taffet, Greg Lee, Alex Walter), 1:38.00 (school record, previous 1:39.53, 1998).

200 freestyle: Mike McElduff, ML, 1:43.51.

200 individual medley: Will Manion, H, 1:58.31.

50 freestyle: Jody Stillman, ML, 22.09.

100 butterfly: Greg Lee, H, 51.55 (school record, previous, Ryan Campbell, 51.93, 2001).

100 freestyle: Garrett Pullis, ML, 49.77.

500 freestyle: Tommy Glenn, H, 4:45.15.

200 freestyle relay: Haddonfield (Matt Porter, Will Manion, Greg Lee, Alex Walter), 1:28.64.

100 backstroke: Will Manion, H, 52.62.

100 breaststroke: Matt Ferguson, ML, 1:00.81.

400 freestyle relay: Mountain Lakes, 3:23.31.