When a heavy dose of graduation and departures left the Kearny boys swimming team with just 13 swimmers, head coach Michael Silpoch anticipated that this winter was set to be a rebuilding season for the Kardinals.
What happened instead, was what is believed to be the first ever undefeated season in program history.
Ten dual meets, ten victories and a season no one could have anticipated.
“Honestly, it was just like, look, guys, let’s just try to get through the season. Let’s just try to put some wins together and have a good moment for the seniors that are leaving and then hopefully rebuild for next year,” said Silpoch of a roster that was eight to 10 swimmers less than it has been in recent seasons. “It never really was anything that I legitimately thought, you know what guys? Let’s go 10-0.
“I want to say halfway through the season we got together and we said to each other, Hey, look, we got something here that’s very special and we could do some pretty cool things that have never been done before.”
Leading the way for Kearny was senior Evan Torres, who enjoyed a record breaking season for the Kardinals.
Torres set a new school record in the 50 freestyle when he swam a 23.32 on Jan. 16 against Memorial. It proved to be a short-lived record as Torres broke it again just 12 days later with a time of 22.57 on Senior Night against Bayonne.
“I think he was a voice of reason, especially for the younger kids who were just taking the sport up for the first year and his will to help and he would practice with the boys from 3:30 until 4:30, then he would stick around from about 4:30 until 6:00 and he would give some of the girls some advice and help them out and teach them certain things that they maybe weren’t aware that they were doing to better themselves.” Silpoch said. “From top to bottom, from your very first novice swimmer to your club swimmer, Evan was there to get in everybody’s ear, say, guys, we can do this, we can do this.
“He’s given this team so much that it’s only fitting that on senior night when we say goodbye and he leaves the program, that he takes the record with him. I think everything just fell into place the way it was supposed to be.”
Eight days earlier, on Jan. 20, Torres was part of another historical moment for the program. At the Hudson County Swimming Meet of Champions, the team of Torres, Antonio Velez, John Lydecker and Erik Da Silva took third in the 200 Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:42.49. It was the first time in more than five years that Kearny had a top three finish in any event at the Hudson MOC.
“For us to come in third out of everybody in the counties in that event, I think gave some justification to our guys,” said Silpoch. “This is a team effort and we proved it and we took home a medal for third place.”
Torres, Velez and senior Julian Fernandez served as the captains for Kearny. Fernandez shined in the backstroke, while Velez was best in the breaststroke.
Lydecker was a major contributor in the butterfly while Da Silva and senior Colin Capobianco were key in the 500 freestyle.
Seniors Walter Alejos and Luca Santos, junior Kain Izquierdo, sophomore Josh Magalhaes and freshmen Davinchy Cabral, Xavier Fernandez and Peter Rivera also had key performances throughout the season.
“We kind of did our own thing and we exceeded expectations,” Silpoch said. “You want to be part of a winning team. You want to get that banner up and then back to that gym in 20, 30 years and say I was a part of that.
“I think this season can only help the program get better and get bigger as time goes on.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)