Mo leads Great Neck South to fourth title
Sam Mo doesn't know what it feels like to lose. Sure, he finished second in a few events here and there. But ever since he joined the Great Neck South swimming team four years ago, all the Rebels have been doing is winning.
Mo, a senior, capped a dream high school career by leading Great Neck South to its fourth consecutive Nassau championship as the Rebels finished with a final score of 514. In the past four years, Great Neck South has never lost a regular-season, division, or county meet.
"It's very exciting," Great Neck South coach Andy Berlin said. "The boys were phenomenal today. I'm so proud of them."
Mo was named the meet's most outstanding swimmer after setting records in the 100-yard breaststroke (57.48 seconds) and the 200-yard individual medley (1:51.42). He was also part of the record-setting 200-medley relay that finished in 3:18.99, swimming the third leg with Dan Mo, Ben Ching and Noah Cheng.
"I'm extremely happy with how I did today," Mo said. "But I'm even happier to be able to help my team win another championship."
Mo will be swimming for Army next year.
"He's the best swimmer I've ever coached," Berlin said. "He's a hard-worker and he sets a great example for the younger kids. It's going to be sad to see him go."
Garden City finished second with 343 points and Jericho finished third with 324.
The Rebels came out of the blocks on fire, building a 48- point lead after three events. They refused to cool down, and they never lost the lead.
Great Neck South senior Patrick Yang won the 100 butterfly in 52.12, barely edging Plainview JFK senior Jeremy Gabalski, who finished in 52.13. The team of Yang, Sam Mo, Richard Pak and Marko Miocic won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:29.12. The team of Yang, Dan Mo, Sean Kim and Ben Ching won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:18.99.
After the meet ended, Yang felt a little nostalgic.
"You don't really realize until you look back and think, 'Wow, we never lost a meet,' " he said. "It feels great that we can be together for all four years and win every single meet."
Berlin said even though he is graduating some of his top swimmers, the goals will never change for the Rebels.
"We're losing some really great swimmers, but the county championship will always be our goal," he said. "If you aim for anything other than first place, it's no fun, so we might as well shoot for the stars."
Double Up. Aside from Mo, the other individual double winners were Herricks senior Mike Lennon, who placed first in the 200 freestyle (1:44.17) and 500 freestyle (4:33.86), and Bellmore-Merrick senior Austin Kowalsky, who was first in the 50 freestyle (21.35) and the 100 freestyle (46.77). Kowalsky also set a record with a time of 21.10 in the 50 freestyle in the prelims on Friday night.
