The loss of Olympic time-trial-qualifier Jenna Van Camp, who broke Herndon High’s 100-breast record during states, will no doubt hit the Herndon Hornet varsity swim team hard. And while Coach Kathleen McLaughlin realizes Van Camp is irreplaceable, she hopes to find fresh young talent coming into the school. However, The coach said she has yet to hear of any Blue Chip swimmers entering high school for the 2012-13 season. Then again, Van Camp did not get serious about the sport until the end of her sophomore year.
Herndon finished the season at states this year on fire. Van Camp won the 100-breaststroke competition by the skin of her teeth—1/100th of a second, with a 1:02:09. The boy’s 22nd-seeded 4X100 free relay, which consisted of Jonathan Nguyen, Conor Cudahy, Brett Petty and Chris Fronczak, surprised fans with a 16th-place finish.
“My boys’ relay just qualified for states at the region meet and I didn’t think they’d make it,” said McLaughlin. “I was very impressed with them.”
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Cudahy also eclipsed the school record with his fourth-place finish in the 500-free with a time of 4:36, and came in ninth in the 200-free.
“Conor beat the school record by two seconds in the 500 during the prelims for state and finished with a 4:37 in finals,” McLaughlin said.
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On the girls’ side, the 24th seeded 200-medley relay of Ryan Murphy, Van Camp, Elizabeth McNulty and Karly Giniezki finished 11th and captured its best time ever.
“With districts and regions I was hoping my 200 medley would go faster and they did go faster at states,” the coach said. “I was really please they took time off at states because they really wanted it bad.”
At the winter sports banquet, Coach McLaughlin recently handed out awards to her swimmers and divers. MVP honors went to Van Camp and Cudahy while Brett Petty and Nikki Russell garnered the coveted sportsmanship awards for 2012.
McLaughlin and her staff also took the team out for its annual dinner at the end of the postseason as a ‘thank you’ and time to bond with each other and say goodbye to the seniors.
“We do a traditional dinner with our team and go to Hidden Creek Country Club,” she said. “It’s’ a sit down dinner and they do their will to the team and captains give out plates to the team. We have a slideshow and it’s a real, real nice thing.”
Strategizing for dual meets can be extremely difficult as coaches would like to win but more importantly need to qualify each individual for postseason. McLaughlin said most coaches understand this practice do not concern themselves with dual competition as much as districts, regionals and states. Herndon would only win one dual meet in 2011-12 but McLaughlin and her team did not seem disappointed since the Hornets performed so well in the postseason.
“Most coaches aren’t [as concerned] because we have to get the top four in reach event,” she said. “I went down to my tenth swimmer in one event to get that. If I know Conor Cudahy is going to swim the 200 and 500, I can’t keep putting him in every meet.”
Herndon will lose 17 seniors overall to graduation in June. But McLaughlin feels confident in the youth of the team and said Cudahy should be her “go-to” guy for 2013 and added Nguyen will be right up there with him and Russell shows much promise for 2013 on the girls’ team.
“She went all the way to states and was an alternate in the relay,” McLaughlin said. “Nikki doesn’t swim year round and has a scholarship for lacrosse. She’s always been in the 400 freestyle relay—she is wonderful.”
And there are three other young women in particular who give Coach McLaughlin strong hope for next season.
“Three girls coming up—Ryan Murphy is going to be a junior and she’s a standout,” she said. “Karly Giniezki is young and Elizabeth McNulty is going to be a junior as well.”
The coach added that this year’s Dive team performed with excellence during regionals. And she believes the team can continue to march forward in 2013.
McLaughlin said she realizes gifted swimmers such as Van Camp are rare and she feels the manner in which Jenna completed her high school career will only better her chances in Omaha this summer at the Olympic Team Trials.
“I think ending this on a good note winning districts, regions and states and getting the school record are all pluses,” she said. “And her year round coach (Bruce Andersen) is not resting her. He’s preparing her for the Olympic trials.”
