Great Neck South has undefeated season
Great Neck South's Sean Kim placed third in the 500 freestyle (5:14.11) during the Nassau boys swim meet against Jericho. (Jan. 31, 2012) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In the final regular-season meet of the year, Great Neck South and Jericho were both looking to finish the season without a loss.
But the Rebels took a 10-4 lead after the first event and never looked back, going on to win 122-64 and complete their fourth straight undefeated season. No swimmer on the current roster has lost a meet.
"It feels amazing," senior Sam Mo said. "We've been lucky to have such great depth that we could put together four straight undefeated seasons."
The Rebels (9-0) took first place in 11 out of 12 events and placed three swimmers in the top four in five events.
"That's the best high school team I've ever seen," Jericho coach Richard Stern said. "That's the fastest we've swam all year, so there's nothing we could've done differently."
According to Stern, the Jayhawks (8-1) achieved personal-bests in multiple events.
"When you face a team that's fighting to catch you, you want to get ahead early," South coach Andy Berlin said. "And once we got ahead we didn't coast, we kept building the lead. I couldn't be more thrilled with how we performed."
Mo won the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.35) and the 100-yard butterfly (52.04). He was also part of the winning 200 free relay (1:31.58) and 400 free relay (3:21.70).
Other multiple winners were junior Ben Ching, who won the 200 IM (2:02.49) and the 500 free (4:54.06), and Patrick Yang, who won the 50 free (22.32) and the 100 free (50.35).
The Jayhawks' lone winner was Jasper Du, who won the 100 backstroke in 1:02.03. Stern said Jericho will be looking to be at its best at the county meet.
The Rebels will also be looking to be at their best Feb. 10-11.
"We still have more work to do," Berlin said. "We're hoping to win another county championship and then do well at states."
