New Jersey Men’s High School State Championships

By Brian Savard

SEWELL, New Jersey, April 7. CHRIS Dart from Chatham tore up the competition at the men's New Jersey Championships, winning two events in state-record time.

Dart lowered a 19-year-old 200 IM record when he checked in with a 1:50.43 in finals. Dart's time erased former North Hunterdon swimmer Kent Tschannen's 1989 record of 1:51.17 with the swim. Dart became the first New Jersey high school male to clock a sub-50 100 backstroke at the high school state meet, posting a mark of 49.67 in the championship final heat. Michael Gross of Sparta set the former standard of 51.05 in 1998.

Wang opened up his 100 butterfly with a 22.81 split, and he brought the race home in 25.91 to finish in a record time of 48.72. Wang's swim erased Brian Wilson of Pingry's 2005 mark of 49.38. Wang finished second to Dart in the 100 backstroke with a 51.89. Wang is a Swimming World three-star recruit who's headed to Princeton University in the fall.

Jason Mattingly from Cherry Hill West won both the 50 and 100 freestyle events in times of 21.52 and 46.88, respectively.

St. Augustine Prep bested the competition in two relay events. The 200 medley relay containing Steve Melchiorre, Brendan McHugh, Blake Trabuchi-Downey and Ryan Clark came back on the final 50 to win in a time of 1:36.43. Tomasz Chec, Clark, Trabucki-Downey and McHugh blasted the field in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:11.20 clocking.

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