After producing a dominant campaign in 2013-14 as it won county and sectional titles and fell just a few points short of a state title and an undefeated season, the Princeton High boys’ swimming team will have a new look this winter.

The program lost such stars as Pete Kalibat, Scott MacKenzie, Matt Purdy, Avery Soong, Will Stange, and Colburn Yu to graduation.

In addition, longtime head coach Greg Hand retired and has been succeeded by Carly Misiewicz.

But as it hosted Hopewell Valley last week in its season opener, things looked familiar as PHS rolled to a 107-62 victory over the Bulldogs.

“I think overall the guys performed great,” said Misiewicz. “You are not sure who the other team has at the beginning of the season. Today’s performance all the way through was great swims.”

Two of PHS’s new faces, freshmen Oliver Hunsbedt and Grant Ding, came up big in their debut as Hunsbedt placed first in both the 100 and 200 freestyle while Ding won the 500 free.

“There were a lot of freshmen who I have seen their times and what they have done in practice but they really surprised me today. Oliver Hunsbedt had a 1:55 in the 200 free and and a 52.1 in the 100 free. Grant Ding had a 5:20 in the 500 free.

The team’s veterans also produced some superb performances as sophomore Gabe Bar-Cohen won the 100 breaststroke  and took second in the 200 individual medley while junior Christian Chiang won the 100 butterfly and took second in the 100 breast. Senior Alex Petruso placed second in the both the 200 free and 100 backstroke with sophomore Will Kinney taking second in the 50 free and senior Take Numata finished second in the 100 free.

“There are definitely some big shoes to fill, I am feeling a lot of it especially from the juniors and the seniors,” said Misiewicz, “We know who graduated last year and they know what shoes they need to fill and where they need to step up.”

Misiewicz has big shoes to fill herself in succeeding Hand, who built the PHS swimming program into a perennial power, guiding the boys’ team to seven county crowns, 12 sectional titles, five appearances in the state finals, and a New Jersey Public B championship in 2012.

“He has been great, if I have any questions, he helps me,” said Misiewicz, a former Rider University swimming star who was an assistant coach for PHS last year.

“He has given me practices that he has done before, saying here is a schedule, do what you want to do but here is this as well if you want it. He gave me all of his resources and he is still such a great mentor. I look up to him so much and I can only hope to be the coach that he is someday.”

With her recent experience of competing at the Division I level, Misiewicz has incorporated some new wrinkles into the PHS training regimen.

“We have changed our dryland a little bit, stepping it up a notch,” said Misiewicz, who started swimming at age 4 and was competing year-round by age 8.

“We are doing medicine balls, we are using the combat ropes, the big, thick ropes. We do abs, weighted lunges, weighted squats for just a half-hour or 45 minutes, before or after practice.”

But despite the input from Hand and her background, Misiewicz still had plenty of butterflies for the opener.

“It was the whole first meet jitters, all day it was all I kept thinking about,” said Misiewicz.

“It was OK, is the lineup ready, is this ready, is that ready so when I came here, everything was already done,” said Misiewicz.

“So then it was thinking are they ready, have we done everything in practice to get them ready to this point, the relay starts, the technique, the turns, and the endurance. A lot of kids really haven’t swam since last February or March.”

The kids have helped Misiewicz keep things on track. “They are taking charge, getting everyone positive and in the right mindset,” said Misiewicz, whose team topped Trenton 129-39 last Thursday and will host WW/P-N on December 16.

“I have been talking with a lot of the club swimmers about this season once the school year started. They had a running joke that we are going to set the practice lineup for the end of the season already and I said you guys don’t even know who we have and who is coming out. We just want to see what holes we have to fill and what we can really do. That was just great.”