Gallene’s title brought Freehold recognition

Picking a Freehold Regional High School District male senior Athlete of the Year was not an easy task this year because the 2009-10 scholastic sports seasons produced several worthy candidates.

Freehold High School graduate Joe Gallene won a state swimming title in 2010, becoming the first athlete at his school to achieve that milestone. He is the News Transcript’s Athlete of the Year for 2009-10. JEFF GRANIT staff In the fall, Howell High School quarterback Jimmy Ryan set passing records (2,786 yards and 28 touchdowns) in leading the Rebels to a 9-2 record, the Shore Conference Constitution Division title and a berth in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV state semifinals.

On the soccer pitch sweeper Vito Amato was the heart and soul of Marlboro High School’s record setting team. The Mustangs won the program’s first title — Shore Conference A North Division — but they did not stop there. The Mustangs went on to claim the Shore Conference Tournament championship, toppling Christian Brothers Academy, 2-1, in the final.

During the winter campaign, Howell’s Dave Ramos and Freehold Township High School’s John Talamo excelled while playing ice hockey, the FRHSD’s newest sport. Both seniors were premier players in the Shore Conference.

Ramos led Howell to the C Division title and the Dowd Cup in 2009, the very first year that hockey was a varsity sport in the FRHSD. He was an All-Shore player again in 2010 as Howell advanced to the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA state tournament.

Talamo led the Patriots to the C Division crown in 2010 and was the Division Player of the Year.

Ramos was the division’s Player of the Year in 2009.

Ramos and Talamo were two-sport standouts. This past spring, Ramos was an All-District pitcher for the Howell baseball team that had its finest season since 1994, winning 15 games and advancing to the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional tournament semifinals.

Talamo was a high-scoring attack player on the Patriots’ lacrosse team that repeated as A North Division champions and reached the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals for the first time.

On the hardwood, Freehold High School’s Christian Garcia, a four-yearstarter, led the Colonials back to Shore Conference prominence as the team broke a long title dry spell by winning the Shore Conference B North Division basketball championship. Garcia graduates as the sixth highest scorer in FRHSD history (1,251 points).

It was a year of firsts for Marlboro sports as the volleyball team won its first championship, the Shore ConferenceANorth Division crown. The Shassol twins, Ben and Matt, led the Mustangs. It was their leadership, especially during the off-season when they had the Mustangs playing in tournaments, which led to the team’s success. Marlboro won 22 matches (22-8) and was ranked No. 9 in the state.

But in looking for the Athlete of the Year, one student-athlete stood out and that was Freehold High School swimmer Joe Gallene.

Gallene made history in the winter of 2009-10 by becoming the area’s first state swimming champion. It took him only 21.67 seconds to reach that achievement.

That is how long it took Gallene to win the NJSIAA Individual Swimming Championships 50-yard freestyle crown and with it the title of the state’s fastest swimmer.

Gallene, who will continue his swimming at the University of North Carolina- Wilmington, said the 50 freestyle is a “burst of energy” and he described it as a drag race.

“You let it all go at once,” he said of the sprint. “I like going fast. It’s like a drag race.”

Still, there is enough time for a swimmer to think.

“A lot of things go through your mind in 21 seconds,” he said. “You have a checklist: Is my stroke too long? Am I kicking hard enough? Is my body in the right position?”

The start of the race and the first four or five strokes are critical to success in a short sprint, and so is the turn. The 50 may be brief, but a lot can go wrong.

At the state championships, Gallene wasn’t sure that he had gotten it right.

“Coming off the turn (at 25 yards), I saw how close everyone was,” he said.

That is when he “let it all go.”

“It was a sense of wanting it more than anyone else,” he said. “I just put my head down and pushed hard. I’m a senior and I was going to leave it all in the pool.”

It also helped, Gallene added, to be 6-3 with a long wingspan. That height can come in handy in a race that is decided by hundredths of a second.

When he touched the wall, Gallene still was not sure if he had won the race. Then his name and time flashed on the scoreboard and he knew he had won the state title.

Looking back at that race four months later, Gallene said he was surprised he won and he was thrilled to be the first swimmer in Freehold High School history to achieve that distinction.

“I enjoyed it,” he said.

The state title capped a great season for Gallene. Prior to winning the state championship at Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Sewell, he repeated as the Monmouth County champion and added the Shore Conference title to his résumé. He left no doubt that he was the state’s fastest swimmer.

Three years ago, Gallene would not have thought that was possible. He was inspired to start swimming by his father, Paul, who swam the 50 freestyle for Columbia High School.

It wasn’t until his freshman year that Gallene started swimming seriously. He began to experience his first success during his sophomore year with the YMCA of Western Monmouth County team. It carried over to his high school season and by his junior year he was one of the best swimmers in the state, winning the county championship and finishing fourth at the state championships. He was on his way toward becoming a state champion.

But if you ask Gallene about 2010, the highlight of the season for him was what the Colonials accomplished as a team. They qualified for the state team tournament for the first time and went 9-2 in dual meets.

The Colonials’ turnaround was remarkable because in one season they went from obscurity to the states.

“It was real special for everyone,” said Gallene, who swam the 50 and 100 freestyle events and the relays for the Colonials. “Everyone accomplished it together. To be a part of that myself was great. It was so much fun to be a part of the Freehold High School team. Everyone came together as a family. I’ll always remember that. Everyone got along so well.”

When he won the state championship, Gallene said, it was an accomplishment as much for the school as it was for himself.

“Everyone got to celebrate it,” he said.

Gallene said that at championship meets it would be he and his coach sitting by themselves as everyone else paraded around the pool as a team. Freehold High School did not register on anyone’s radar at these meets until Gallene made them take notice by winning his state championship (that same day, Emily O’Neill won the girls 100- yard backstroke title and Freehold was the only school to have two individual state champions at the meet).

“It (the state titles) put the name of Freehold Borough out there and I hope it grows,” Gallene said.

Making the Colonials matter in the pool was very important to Gallene and it is what his legacy at Freehold will be. He believes the 2009-10 season could be the start of big things for the program. The team expects to have a number of veterans returning next season as well as a number of newcomers, including his brother, Matt, who swims the backstroke.

Gallene has set the bar very high for the swimmers who will follow him at Freehold, but he would welcome company.

“I hope there are more [state champions],” he said.

There may be more champions at Freehold, but Gallene will always be the first, the groundbreaker.

Starting in the fall, Gallene will be swimming for a college program that has an established winning tradition — UNCWilmington has won nine consecutive conference championships — and that will create new challenges.

UNC-Wilmington has a deep and experienced team, and Gallene will have to earn his way into the lineup. He believes that by swimming and working out every day with swimmers who are as good or better than he is can only make him better.

Before he heads down to North Carolina, Gallene will be competing in the upcoming YMCA Long Course (50-yard pool) in Maryland. It will be his final tuneup before college.