SPORTS

Morristown breaks records, piles up power points in loss to Seton Hall Prep

Jane Havsy
@dailyrecordspts

MORRISTOWN – After celebrating his school record in the 400-meter freestyle, Morristown senior Jamie Viotto gave a rueful shrug. “I’ll have to apologize later,” Viotto said, with a glance up at the oversized white board that hangs at the far end of the Morristown High School pool.

Viotto took down a pair of distance freestyle records in the Colonials’ 103-67 loss to Seton Hall Prep on Monday. Though Morristown lost its perfect record, another high-powered — and high powerpointed — meet will serve as a building block for the swim team.

Viotto lowered his own 200 free record to 1:57.91, more than a second faster than he’d swum on Friday against Ridge. The 400 free record, now 4:10.22, had belonged to Tyler Poling, part of the ‘09 juggernaut the Colonials are still striving to surpass.

“They set the standard, and we want to be the new standard,” said Viotto, who had been trying to take down Poling’s record for more than a year. “We were really going for powerpoints, and this is a great meet for that. Maybe (the loss) is a good thing for us, because it keeps us hungry, keeps us wanting more.”

Seton Hall Prep emerged from its first significant challenge unscathed, and is now focused on the Essex County meet on Monday. Senior Justin Dunn and sophomore Colby Dixon each won a pair of events for the Pirates, who broke their school’s meter-pool records in the medley relay — which “set the tone” according to Dixon, who swam backstroke — as well as the butterfly and breaststroke. Seton Hall Prep junior Brandon Wang of Montville won the IM.

“It’s the first meet when our team is really put to the test as a whole,” said Dixon, a Madison resident. “It’s a really good way to come together, especially after the holidays. We look forward to it, because it’s good competition. We view it as a challenge.”

Staff Writer Jane Havsy: 973-428-6682; jhavsy@dailyrecord.com; www.dailyrecord.com/writerjane/

Seton Hall Prep 103, Morristown 67

Medley relay: Seton Hall Prep (Colby Dixon, Tavish Boyle, Brandon Wang, Justin Dunn) 1:49.06; 200 freestyle: Jamie Viotto (M) 1:57.91; 200 IM: Boyle (SHP) 2:14.32; 50 freestyle: Dunn (SHP) 24.27; 100 butterfly: Dunn (SHP) 57.65; 100 freestyle: Dixon (SHP) 56.46; 400 freestyle: Ja. Viotto (M) 4:10.22; 200 free relay: Morristown (Ja. Viotto, Derek He, Michael Macchia, Matt Critchley) 1:41.34; 100 backstroke: Dixon (SHP) 1:01.35; 100 breaststroke: Boyle (SHP) 1:07.39; 400 free relay: Seton Hall Prep (Jack Pietrucha, Wang, Dixon, Dunn) 3:43.35.

Site of meet: Morristown High School. Distances in meters. Team records: Seton Hall Prep 5-0, Morristown 11-1.