MAKING A SPLASH: Princeton High boys’ swimmer David Xu displays his breaststroke form in a meet earlier this season. Last Saturday, junior star Xu placed first in both the 200-meter individual medley and 100 backstroke to help PHS finish first in the team standings at the Mercer County Swimming Championships. It marked the third straight county crown for the Tigers. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Knowing that it had a target on its back as it went for a third straight title at the Mercer County Swimming Championships last Saturday at the WW/P-North pool, the Princeton High boys’ swim team made a statement in the first final of the meet.

Competing in the 200-meter medley relay, PHS placed first in a time of 1:49.82 with WW/P-North taking second in 1:51.78.

“Everyone is after us, I think going into finals there was about a half second that separated us,” said PHS head coach Carly (Misiewicz) Fackler. “We knew going into it that it was going to be a close race. The guys were ready and very much up for the challenge. Jerry Liu with the freestyle leg in the event had probably the best 50 free I have ever seen him swim.”

The Tigers were clearly up for the challenge of achieving a three-peat, taking first with 247 points, well ahead of runner-up WW/P-North who totaled 169.

The Xu twins, juniors David and Jaiden, provided a highlight early in the meet as they finished one-two in the 200 individual medley.

“David got going there with the 200 IM — he had a great race with Jaiden,” said Fackler of the race which saw David clock a winning time of 2:10.40 with Jaiden just behind in 2:10.72. “Watching the two of them I was like, ‘Jaiden wants this.’ They both swam really well. They wanted it one-two and that is exactly what they did. David won the 100 back and Jaiden won the 400 free, which was also one of the best swims I have ever seen him have. The amount that Jaiden has improved is tremendous across the board. It is remarkable. In the 400, the three of them (Xu, Will Bashore of WW/P-North, and Caleb Collins of Pennington) were really neck and neck, stroke for stroke for the entire race. In that last 25, Jaiden put his head down and won by three 100ths of a second. It was a great race. Jaiden had said going into it, ‘I want to win something this year’ and I was like, ‘Go for it.’”

Another junior star, David Brophy, produced a superb back-to- back effort, winning the 50 free and then coming right back in the 100 butterfly to take second.

“Luckily there is that 15-minute break between the 50 free and the fly,” noted Fackler. “To win the 50 free and come second in the fly to Max Peterson (of Hightstown), who was also an awesome athlete, was huge. David had a great meet as well.”

Others who came up big at the meet for the Tigers included Daniel Guo, Zach Guan, and Henry Xu.

“Daniel had second in the 200 free and the 100 free,” said Fackler. “Zach was third in the 100 fly and third in the 100 backstroke as well. He is another standout performer. Henry was second in the 100 breaststroke — they had a very good race, him and Gavin Bossio of Notre Dame. Henry went for it in the first 50 and Gavin just had just a little more in the end.”

The Tigers ended the day on a high note by taking first in the 400 free relay, coming in at 3:40.15, nearly four seconds ahead of runner-up Pennington.

“It is just one of those races that is the icing on the cake,” said Fackler. “You always love to win the last event.”

Achieving the county title three-peat gives the Tigers, who have a 12-0 dual meet record, confidence as they look to win more races in the upcoming New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) state team tournament.

“It sets the tone for the rest of the postseason, we went through the regular season undefeated which was awesome,” said Fackler, whose boys’ team fell to Chatham in the North 2 Group B sectional final last year. “I say to them all of the time the regular season record is what it is. Yes it is nice to be undefeated absolutely, but when you come to the county meet, it is whole different ball game. Everything is different. This was our first test. You are rested, you are swimming every top swimmer in the county. I think they are excited, they are ready.”