ENCORE PERFORMANCE: Princeton High boys’ swim team captains, from left John Wu, Dale Dewey, Andrew Gallagher, and Peter Deardorff together with head coach Greg Hand display the trophy PHS earned for winning the Public B Central Jersey sectional finals last Friday. Top-seeded PHS beat No. 3 Lawrence High 99-71 as it won its second straight sectional title. The Little Tigers were slated to face Haddonfield in the Public B state semis on February 23 with the winner advancing to the state championship meet on February 28 at The College of New Jersey.

With Gallagher Making Multiple Contributions, PHS Boys’ Swimming Wins 2d Straight Sectional

Bill Alden

Although the Princeton High boys’ swimming team beat Lawrence High handily in regular season action, Andrew Gallagher and his teammates weren’t about to take things for granted when they faced the Cardinals last Friday in the Public B Central Jersey sectional finals.

“We were confident but Coach [Greg] Hand told us that the most dangerous thing is to be complacent,” said PHS senior captain Andrew Gallagher. “We were excited and we went all out.”

The top-seeded Little Tigers took care of business in rousing fashion, cruising to a 99-71 victory over No. 3 Lawrence at the North Brunswick High pool as they won their second straight sectional crown.

PHS placed first in all 11 events in the meet with doubles individual winners in junior Peter Deardorff (200 and 500 freestyle races), sophomore Victor Honore (100 butterfly and 100 backstroke), and sophomore Addison Hebert (200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke).

The Little Tigers were slated to face Haddonfield in the Public B state semis on February 23 with the winner advancing to the state championship meet on February 28 at The College of New Jersey.

For Gallagher, contributing a third-place finish in the 100 back in the win over Lawrence was an exciting moment.

“It was fun,” said Gallagher. “I have only been swimming the backstroke for a year; I am not a club swimmer or anything like that. I placed ninth in the counties.”

That finish was the result of a lot of toil on Gallagher’s part. “When I joined the team as a freshman I was not sure I would score points in individual events,” said Gallagher.

“Coach said there was an opening in the backstroke and I decided to go for it. I was always thinking backstroke. When we would do a freestyle drill, I would do the backstroke. All my races were in the backstroke this year.”

As one of the team’s captains along with classmates Dale Dewey and John Wu and junior Peter Deardorff, Gallagher has tried to make a valuable contribution out of the water.

“I try to provide moral support for the team,” said Gallagher. “I lead cheers; I keep the spirit up. I keep the team engaged in multiple ways.”

PHS head coach Hand liked the way his swimmers were engaged as they didn’t let down against Lawrence.

“We have been using the words ‘going to work’ all year,” said Hand, whose team improved to 14-1 with the victory.

“We warmed up well; we made sure we had the mentality to swim it out. I thought we were fine. They enjoyed the experience of being in a final; they weren’t taking that lightly.”

Hand has enjoyed seeing the way his team has competed in the Mercer County meet and sectional tournament.

“I like the overall effort the team has had to make in the whole post-season,” said Hand, pointing to the team’s 87-83 victory over fourth-seeded Ocean in the sectional semis as a highlight.

“They have responded to the challenge of doing something special, finishing highly in the counties (second) and winning another sectional. There is a lot of pride in repeating as sectional champions. When we look at Central B, like in all tournaments, the strength of the other teams varies from year to year.”

In Hand’s view, the Little Tigers have gotten a special contribution from Gallagher and his classmates.

“Andrew has had a terrific post-season; he is two and a half seconds faster in the backstroke,” said Hand.

“It has taken a lot of hard work and focus on technique to make that improvement. Andrew, Doug Dewey, and John Wu have not been major scorers but they have always worked hard. It is great to see them become real leaders and really make big contributions.”

While PHS faces a daunting challenge in Haddonfield in the state semis, Hand knows his team will work hard no matter what the scoreboard says.

“We just need to swim as fast as we can,” said Hand, whose team has a power point ranking of 3,360.5 as opposed to Haddonfield’s total of 4,100.5. “The guys need to shave some every 10th of a second that you can and get as many points as possible.”

Gallagher, for his part, isn’t about to let up. “We can’t be thinking about power points; we have to swim hard,” said Gallagher.

“We always have fun. We are very serious about our races but we try to keep things light-hearted.”

Return to Previous Sports Story | Return to Top | Go to Next Sports Story