Introduction:

On January 6th, 2024, at the Monmouth County Tournament [MCT], the Monmouth Regional High School Girls Swim Team broke four records (two relay and two individual ones)! Some weeks later, on February 3rd, 2024, the girls also became victorious at the state-wide Shore Conference Tournament [SCT].

Below, are the places that the four girls landed in the two tournaments, and highlighted in yellow are the records that were broken for MRHS. Every numerical measure is in yards.

Individual Records:

• Ellison/Ellie Barrows (Sophomore)

  • 15th place for the 200 Individual Medley at the MCT

  • 9th place for the 100 backstroke at the MCT

  • 13th place for the 200 Individual Medley at the SCT

  •  6th place for the 100 backstroke at the SCT

Coach Shadlun acts as a manager, by making sure that the club team swimmers, such as the four girls mentioned, are hitting their goal times. She said that she felt really excited about their success, claiming that “[...] some of [the records] are really difficult to break.” However, what would have helped them prepare for the meet- tapering- was not done for Nickerson, Vassor, and Weiss, as they usually save this resting practice for larger, end of season, championship meets. 

Club Teams:

Outside of MRHS, the swimmers swim for club teams, which are private organizations where they train throughout the year and attend competitions (e.g., the Central Jersey Aquatic Club, Monmouth Barracudas, and Greater Monmouth). In these club teams, the swimmers travel across the U.S. and get looked at/scouted by colleges (all of the swimmers’ times are on a universal database). Some clubs teams train through working out or spin classes and some train just by swimming. They practice about five to six times a week, for around two hours, outside of MRHS.

• Barrows - Greater Monmouth YMCA

• Nickerson - CJAC

• Vassor - CJAC

• Weiss - Monmouth Barracudas

Types of Medleys and Relays:

• Individual Medley [IM] = butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle in equal distances by one person

• Medley Relay = backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, and butterfly

• 400 Freestyle Relay = each person (four total) swims 100 yards, which is four laps, making it 16 laps in total

****”IM” defined by Swimming Terminology - Booker T. Washington Hornets Swimming (swimtopia.com)

Swimmers’ Goals:

• Barrows- “My goals for [the] rest of the club season are to drop time in my main events. 100 back[stroke], 200 back[stroke], and 400 IM.”

• Nickerson-  “I would like to break a minute in my 100 [butter]fly. This means getting a 59 [seconds] or lower.” 

• Vassor- “My goal for the rest of my high school/club season is to continue dropping time in my events.” 

• Weiss- “I want to go under 2 minutes in my 200Y freestyle, drop to a 1:05 in 100Y backstroke, and go a 0:54 in the 100Y freestyle.” 

Coach’s Goals:

• Making sure that all of the swimmers keep a positive mindset

• Seeing that the team works on their times and does the best that they can do

Who to Keep an Eye Out For the Future:

• Barrows- Ellie’s sisters, who will be an incoming freshmen next year (2024-2025)

• Nickerson- Ellie and Alexa next year and Jordan Hom for the boys team

• Vassor - Jordan Hom for the boys team

• Weiss - Ellie (she “[...] will probably break the 500Y freestyle record [...]”)