Falcons finish second best, but not by much Lose 'close' meet to St. Augustine in state final BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer PHOTOS BY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff The St. Joseph's swim team had another outstanding season in the pool, finishing second in the state to St. Augustine, thanks in large part to the contributions of All-American Scott Marino (above), and Tim Mancuso (below). METUCHEN - The Saint Joseph High School swimming team capped off another successful season with a trip to the state finals, but had to settle for second best behind St. Augustine. The two teams squared off in last year's final with St. Joe's taking the meet 92-78, but 2007 proved to be St. Augustine's year as they bested the Falcons 105-65. "Looking at the score you might say, 'My goodness they got blown away,'" St. Joseph head coach Steve Whittington said. "This was a meet where the score didn't indicate what happened. Sometimes the score does indicate what happened, but it didn't tell the whole story this time." St. Augustine seemed to win all the close races, out-touching the Falcons in fractions of seconds in several races. The Falcon team of Tim Mancuso, David Ford, Phil Luzny, and Scott Marino swam the third fastest time in school history by finishing the 200 medley relay in 1:35.94. The time was good enough to qualify the foursome for All-America status, but was not good enough to beat St. Augustine. "That was the first event and it was a sign of things to come," Whittington said. "We swam well all day, but St. Augustine swam extraordinary." In the 50 freestyle, St. Augustine's Greg Golden took first place in 22.25 followed by St. Joseph's Greg Bellizzi in 22.30. In another close finish, St. Augustine won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:29.63 with the Falcons' Ford, Bellizzi, Marino, and Donald Keenan finishing in 1:29.65. "We just got out touched-out in a handful of races," Whittington said. "If we won those close ones it wouldn't have made a difference in the overall outcome, but the meet would have been a lot closer in points." Mancuso was in another close finish in the 100 freestyle as his 49.32 was bested by St. Augustine's Matt Frailinger's 49.06. "We could have picked up 12 more points in the match if we were able to get those close ones, but we still wouldn't have won," Whittington said. "This was St. Augustine's year. The good news is that their whole lineup is graduating so we'll be ready for them next year." Unfortunately, the Falcons will lose 12 seniors from this year's team. Mark Kenny, Mark Kuhn, George Buono, Michael Jensen, Marcus Fowler, Eric Brozek, Joey LaCava, Joey Costello, Michael Sobocienski, Keith MacDonald, Julian Ramirez, and Ford will all be missed. "This was a well-rounded group of seniors that made amazing contributions to our lineup," Whittington said. "By graduating all of them it leaves a lot of holes in next year's team." In addition to reaching the state finals, the Falcons posted an impressive 14-2 dual meet record this season. The team also won the Pirate Invitational at West Windsor-Plainsboro and their 29th straight Greater Middlesex Conference title. "Even though we will lose 12 guys from this year's team, I know the underclassmen are excited to fill their shoes," Whittington said. "Our freshman team had a great season and we still have a lot of talent returning next year."