TUDER ERA: Community Park Bluefish swimmer Susannah Tuder displays her breaststroke form in a meet this summer. Last week, Tuder took first in the girls’ 12-and-under 50 breast and third in the 100 individual medley at the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association (PASDA) championship meet. The Bluefish finished first among Division I teams at the competition, which was held at West Windsor Community Park . (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

While Mike Uchrin was excited to to take the helm of the Community Park Bluefish swim team this summer after serving as an assistant coach in the program for the last four years, he felt some pressure in making the move.

“It was daunting at first, I know how deep the Bluefish roots are in the community and how many talented swimmers have been in the program over the years,” said Uchrin, reflecting on becoming the program’s head coach. “It was a big responsibility.”

Uchrin handled that responsibility with aplomb, guiding the Bluefish to a 5-0 record in Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association (PASDA) meets and to a first place finish among the six Division 1 teams at the PASDA championships last week.

“It was an unbelievable year for me in my first year as head coach, to be first in the PASDA meet and go undefeated in dual meets,” said Uchrin, noting that the team brought around 150 swimmers to the championship meet. “Our great strengths were depth and individual effort.”

In the PASDA championship meet, which was held at West Windsor
Community Park, the Bluefish piled up 2,618.50 points to top Flemington-Raritan, which had 2,198, in the Division 1 standings.

The Bluefish boasted two individual standouts in the younger girls’ divisions as Zoe Bitterman was the Most Valuable Swimmer in the girls’ 6-and-under at the PASDA meet while Sabine Ristad took the MVS honor for the girls’ 8-and-under. Bitterman placed first in the 25-meter backstroke and was second in the 25 freestyle. Ristad, for her part, won the 25 butterfly and the 100 individual medley and took second in the 25 breaststroke.

“Zoe coming in as the MVS in the 6-and-under was fantastic,” said Uchrin. “She set a PASDA record in the 25 back. Sabine was in her first year for us and she did really well.

In the girls’ 10-and-under category, Ella Jones piled up points for the Bluefish, winning the 25 fly and the 100 IM and taking second in the 25 breast. “Ella Jones is always strong for us,” added Urchin.

CP’s corps of 12-and-under girls was particularly strong. Susannah Tuder took first in the 50 breast and third in the 100 IM with Ella Caddeau placing second in the 50 back and 50 fly. The Bluefish won the 200 medley relay and took second in the 200 medley relay.

“Susannah Tuder never lost a race this year for us in the breaststroke in the 11-12s,” added Uchrin. “Ella Caddeau had some great swims, we had great depth in that age group.”

In the 14-and-under girls’ group, Morgan Linsley and Emily Becker performed well with Linsley taking seventh in the 50 free and eighth in the 50 fly and Becker placing eighth in the 50 back and ninth in the 50 free. “Emily Becker and Morgan Linsley showed up big,” added Uchrin.

Recent Princeton High grad and swimming star Charlotte Singer showed both leadership and skill as she helped out with the coaching and also starred in the pool. Singer took sixth in the girls’ 18-and-under 50 breast and 14th in the 50 free with fellow PHS star Stephanie Tam placing fourth in the 50 breast and 13th in the 50 free and Maybelle Kusamoto coming in sixth in the 50 back.

“Charlotte Singer started out with the Bluefish when she was six years old; we asked her to coach the 6-and-unders and she did a wonderful job,” said Uchrin, noting that Singer is heading to the Rutgers University honors program this fall.

“She really embraced it and still kept her own swimming at a high level. She joked that she has been with the Bluefish for twice as many years as her swimmers had been alive.”

The Bluefish also got some high-level performances from its boys’ swimmers.

“The 6-and-under boys really showed up and did well,” said Uchrin, who got a big meet from Darren Elwood in that division as he won the 25 back and placed fourth in the 25 free.

It was all hands on deck for the team’s younger male swimmers. “When you look at our boys, it is mostly a team effort,” asserted Uchrin.” We may not have the individual stars but they work as a team. You see that we were good at the relays.”

The Bluefish took second in the boys’ 8-and-under 100 free relay with Brendan Dombrowski standing out in that age level, winning the 25 breast and taking third in the 25 fly.

In the boys’ 10-and-under division, CP was third in both the 100 free and 100 medley relays. Julian Velazquez stood out individually, placing third in the 25 back and seventh in the 25 fly.

As for the older boys, family ties proved key. “Two longtime Bluefish families, the Bar-Cohens and the Kratzers, anchored our 12-and-under and older boys swimmers with Gefen Bar-Cohen and Jason Kratzer in the younger group and Gabriel Bar-Cohen and Stephen Kratzer in the older group,” said Uchrin.

Gefen Bar-Cohen placed second in the boys’ 12-and-under 50 free and third in the 50 breast with Jason Kratzer finishing fourth in the 50 fly and seventh in the 50 free.

In the 18-and-under division, Gabriel Bar-Cohen took first in the 50 breast and third in the 50 fly while Stephen Kratzer finished third in the 100-meter individual medley and sixth in both the 50 free and 50 butterfly. Take Numata placed fourth in both the boys’ 18-and-under 50 free and 50 fly and fifth in the 50 back with Ian Nelson coming in second in the 100 IM, fourth in the 50 back, and seventh in the 50 free. Dylan Torrance was third in the 50 back and Matthew Shanahan came in fourth in the 50 breast.

One of CP’s top swimmers overall was boys’ 14-and-under star Charlie Yandrisevits, who won the 50 free and the 50 back. Eric Liu, for his part, won the 50 breast and took second in the 50 fly with Calvin Ristad taking second in the 50 back and fourth in the 50 free. Philip Lacava was third in the 100 IM and fourth in the 50 fly. The Bluefish also placed first in both the 200 free and 200 medley relays.

“Our 13-14 year old boys were unbeatable, Charlie Yandrisevits was great,” said Uchrin.

“That boys relay of Charlie, Eric Liu, Calvin Ristad, and Philip Lacava didn’t lose at any point, they stuck together the whole season.”

The squad gave graphic evidence of its togetherness and spirit as it edged Lawrenceville in the regular season finale.

“The last meet was a real challenge, we were against Lawrenceville and we only had 60 percent of our swimmers,” said Uchrin.

“A lot of our top swimmers were at the Junior Olympics. We won by a fingernail, that was a phenomenal meet. We showed our depth, we had kids swimming different heats and events than what they had been used to.”

For Uchrin, his first season guiding the Bluefish turned into a phenomenal experience.

“I was really happy with the way they responded, the kids came ready to swim every day,” said Uchrin.

“The message we harped on every day was telling them to do their best but have fun doing it. The kids were really in the driver’s seat and I was along for the ride.”