Next Tuesday will mark a first in Hasbrouck Heights High School history as the school’s very first swim team faces off in a meet against Immaculate Conception.

Open to Heights high school students grades 9 to 12 and Heights residents who attend Bergen Tech and Bergen Academies, several students eagerly signed up for the team, Head Coach Tom Romano said, adding that this is the very first opportunity students in Heights have had to swim competitively, aside from private swim clubs.

The coaches say the team is a mix of students who have been swimming most of their lives and others who are somewhat new to the sport. The overall goal for the team in its first year is to build up the team and help each swimmer advance at his or her skill level.

Romano, who has coached other area swim teams and teaches physical education at NJIT and other schools, is joined by Emily Hasse who serves as assistant coach. Hasse was a member of the first swim team at Pascack Hills High School and therefore has first-hand experience with a brand new swim team.

For one hour each weeknight the swimmers head into the pool at the Boys and Girls Club in Lodi to work on their skills, warm up and do drills as they get ready for the season’s meets. Romano says the goal is to compete in the championships. The league the team is in will face against area teams including Garfield, Clifton, Rutherford and Secaucus.

The Boys and Girls Club provides a local place for them to practice, however Romano says the lack of swimming facilities in the area can prove difficult. He would like to see a first class swim facility built in the Meadowlands that could serve the whole county.  

Currently the team is made up of about 16 high school students, 4 boys and 12 girls, and they are open to more swimmers joining up. The team’s captains are both excited about the opportunity to swim for the high school.

 “It’s great to finally have a team for the high school," said boys captain Sean Connell, who attends HHHS and has been swimming for 14 years.

Girls captain Raquel Cannarozzi, who attends Bergen Academies, said she was an avid swimmer for about 10 years but stopped during her freshman year as there was no team at her school and her studies kept her from swimming in a club. Thanks to the formation of the Heights team she was able to come back to the sport.