Sean FarrellWAYNE – Rutherford coach Steve Dunn missed the FaceTime, but his team answered the call with a chance at history.
The Bulldogs took home their first sectional title on Wednesday by defeating Mountain Lakes, 95-75, in the North 1C final. The breakthrough came a year after a 38-point loss to the Morris County school in the semifinal round.
This time, the top-seeded Bulldogs flipped the script with Sam Lorenc winning the 50 and 100 freestyles and fellow senior Joey Lu taking the breaststroke.
“Everyone here brought their game tonight and I think that really showed with the result,” Lorenc said. “We were predicted to lose by six and we won by 20. That says it all. I can’t be more proud of every single person on the team for showing up and giving everything they had. The people placing fourth or fifth brought us this meet.”
It was a historic night in more ways than one for the Bulldogs (11-0), who advance to Tuesday’s Group C semifinal to face an opponent to be determined. Rutherford became the first NJIC school and the first from southern Bergen County to lift a sectional title in either boys or girls swimming.
Naturally, the celebration was as unique as their place in history. With Dunn unable to make the final due to a family event, the Bulldogs huddled around assistant Julianne Nuara and tried to loop him in on a video call.
“I know he’s going to more than proud of these kids,” Naura said. “We have kids that come and work their butts off every day in practice. Those kids are the ones we need. That’s one of the reasons why we won. The other team only had 12 kids. We have the depth.”
That depth manifested in the first two relays as the Bulldogs finished 1-3 each time. Sophomore Leonardo Saraceni provided another spark by posting the top time in the 500 freestyle. The final touches came from Lu, who’s taken on an active role in crafting the lineups.
“Before I went up on the block [in the breaststroke], I saw that we were exactly six points away,” Lu said. “That was an amazing way to end it.”
