Cherry Hill East’s girls swim team just took home the trophy in the group IV state championships on Saturday. They won against Westfield with a result of 98-72. Their season has consisted of 12 wins and only 1 loss, and Cherry Hill East girls swim (CHEGS) is ranked number 5 on the NJ.com Top 20, the team is second-seeded. In their final meet against Westfield, they had seven first-place finishes. 

Emily Fekete (‘23) got first place in the 200 freestyle, with a time of 1:53.62 seconds. Fekete is one of the team’s captains, she tells Nj.com that “this is indescribable. I’ve really never felt like this.” She says, “To be able to do this against such a great team with so many great girls and an awesome coach makes it feel amazing to win this one my senior year.” CHEGS currently holds the NJSIAA Public Group A title. Another first-place finish was by team captain Meghan Finnigan (‘23) in the 200 IM. Finnigan swam a 2:05.85. She says that this meet was all about recognizing how they had been at this point before and they knew they had to give it their all. She also says, “I think we all swam our hearts out.” Finnigan had an amazing win in the 500 freestyle, too, swimming a 5:10.25.  

The Cougar girls are famous for their quick relay units. They had two first-place relays, including; 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle. Elizabeth Cohen, Emily Fekete, Alicia Albuquerque, and Emma Dimter swam an impressive 1:36.51 in the 200. This relay team also swam a winning time of 3:39.27 in the 400. Another outstanding first-place finish in the 100 Fly with a 0:56.58 was by Elizabeth Cohen (‘23). Cohen also got third place in the 50 freestyle. The final first-place win at the championship was by Sammy Yerkes (‘24). Yerkes swam the 100 backstroke in 0:57.78 seconds. 

The girls’ team manager, Annabelle Fulginiti (‘23), comments on their meet saying, “there was so much energy behind the blocks. All the swimmers were locked in before their races and performed amazingly.”

Cherry Hill East girls’ swim had an amazing comeback from their loss against Westfield last year. The two teams happened to end up together again this year and CHEGS have redeemed themselves. Everyone is excited to see how well their swim season will be next year!