The Mendham boys swimming team definitely is swimming with something to prove this winter.
Mendham won the North 2, Group C Tournament last year and made the Group 2 final behind two-time NJ.com Swimmer of the Year Kenny Barnicle.
While Mendham certainly enjoyed its time with Barnicle and the history it was able to make, this year's team is out to prove that it can make the same kind of noise with him now graduated.
So far, so good for the Minutemen. After defeating Roxbury in its season-opening meet, Mendham rolled to a 140-21 win over Kinnelon at Morristown High School on Wednesday.
"Hopefully, we can kind of keep that streak going," Mendham senior Dimitri Federov said. "We had a really good run last year. That will be really good to try to get back to that point. We have a lot of good guys that are ready to step up and take control."
"Those are big shoes to fill with Kenny. That's a big one. Hopefully, we can do it without him. He was one of the biggest reasons we got there, but I think we can do it without him. I think we can show that this year."
With Kinnelon missing a ton of key pieces from its lineup, Mendham still used the meet as an opportunity to test their times and where its team stands early in the season.
Many bright spots stood out. Federov has been outstanding in the early going. After not losing a race against Roxbury, he followed that up with a time of 25.06 in the 50 free and 57.53 in the 100 free.
"We were trying to get a baseline for power points and see what we can adjust for the future for the rest of the season," Mendham head coach Brad Klippel said. "I saw a lot more depth this year, which is great. All the boys really brought it. I'm looking forward to really building on that moving through the season."
Kenny's brother, Matthew, won two races against the Colts with a time of 4:23.47 in the 500 free and 2:25.06 in the 200 IM.
Ian Wardle (1.11.46 in the 100 breast), William Parsnick (1:07.13 in the 100 back), William Madinabeitta (1:03.81 in the 100 fly) and Benjamin Blagoev (2:07.32) in the 200 free were also individual winners on the evening for Mendham.
"A lot of kids have stepped up," Klippel said. "We have a couple of freshman club swimmers who have come in and stepping up. They're trying to make a name for themselves on the team. A lot of my seniors are really building upon the season we had last year and taking a leadership role."
Despite how amazing Kenny Barnicle was for Mendham, one swimmer can only impact four events in a swim meet. It is an easier sport to replace one amazing talent as great depth is also another way to win.
"The first two meets everyone looks great," Matthew Barnicle said. "We're all swimming fast. We've had two big wins. We have a big group of non-club swimmers who we're going to try to train hard in practice and see how much we can get from them. We're hoping to get a lot of fourth and fifth place points."
It is something Mendham is certainly looking to show off. Replacing the leadership aspect will be just as important as the talent in the pool. The goals certainly remain the same for the Minutemen.
"I just have to get the boys riled up and everyone ready," Barnicle said. "We just have to make sure we're all hyped up and well hydrated before a meet and ready to win."