By Emily Nassi (Freehold Twp.), Student Swimming Correspondent

      Southern was able to take the first place title away from a Toms River team for one year, but that was certainly not the case this year at the Ocean County Boys Swimming Championships, where Toms River South placed first with 388 points, their second title in team history.
     Toms River North took second place with 358 points, while Toms River East came in third with 202 points
     Forty of Tom’s River East’s total points came from Brian Molloy, who won all of his events by considerable margins.  Molloy finished the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:48.54, five seconds in front of second-place finisher Connor Murphy of Jackson. Molloy also had a 20-second margin of victory in the 500 freestyle, in which he swam a 4:50.22, in front of Tom’s River North’s Anthony Porzio.  Molloy was .19 seconds off his brother Mike’s record, set in 2005.
     “I beat his record at a Y meet before, so I was kind of mad about that,” said Molloy of his performance. “I feel satisfied overall, but I think I could have done better. I’m just going to keep trying to do the best I can.”
     Despite his disappointment, Molloy was named Swimmer of the Meet for his accomplishments.
    Meanwhile, Brian Way of Toms River South won both of his events to fuel his team's overall win. Way defended his title in the 200 IM, swimming a 2:03.45 to finish in first.  He also swam the 100 breaststroke, which he said his coach decided to enter him in this year instead of the 100 butterfly. Way won the breaststroke in a time of 1:02.36.  Way said he was more excited for his team than for himself.
    “I felt really excited,” said Way. “I knew we were going to do well, I just didn’t know how good. It was a team effort overall.”
    Toms River South also placed first in the 200 medley relay in 1:45.2 and the 400 freestyle relay in 3:29.42 to touch out second place Toms River North. Toms River South’s point total was also fueled by second-place and third-place finishes in the 100 butterfly by Brian Weiss and Anthony Cusamano, a fourth-place finish in the 50 freestyle by Eric Lupton, and a fourth place finish by John O’Keefe in the 100 freestyle.
    In that 100 butterfly event, Russ Kyff of Pt. Beach took first in a time of 55.02, after falling to Brian Way last year.  Kyff was happy overall with his performance and is already looking ahead to upcoming meets
    “It could have been better, but I can’t say I’m not pleased,” said Kyff.  “Hopefully I’ll make it back to states.  There’s pretty fast kids, so I hope to make it back to finals in the butterfly.”
    Kyff also placed first in the 100 backstroke in a time of 55.89, and helped Pt. Beach to a win in the 200 Freestyle Relay, made up of Alex Kosenski, Kyff, Jimmy Stephens, and Kenny Montalbano.
    Billy DeRouville of Toms River North was the fourth swimmer of the day to win two individual events. DeRouville won the 50 freetyle in 22.65, and the 100 freestyle in 49.52, both two personal best times.  DeRouville felt the nerves going into both of his races.
    “I felt a bit of pressure knowing I was going up against (Central Regional’s Brian) Mahoney,” DeRouville said.  “It made it tough for me, but I was glad to have some good competition.”
    Ocean County’s boys will have another chance to prove themselves among all the competition at the Shore Conference Championships, on February 8th.