Mendham HS swim team embarks on new journey in the hands of former assistant Halle Music
MENDHAM, N.J. — As the 2021-2022 winter sports season occurs, the Mendham High School swim team is embarking on a new era. It began with the resignation of Nivaldo Carbonell, who had been the swim coach the prior two years. His departure, due to moving to Massachusetts, left the program at a crossroads. Athletic director Ned Panfile was faced with an unexpected decision; look for a new head coach, or promote the recently hired assistant coach.
Ordinarily, handing over the reins of a program to an assistant is a no-brainer. This situation had a slight wrinkle. The new assistant coach, Halle Music, was fresh out of college, having graduated from Scranton University summa cum laude two months prior to being hired.
Yet, based on the strong impression Halle made during her interview, plus her one year as an assistant coach and three years as the head coach of the Saffin Pond Swim Team (in the NJRLL- North Jersey Regional Lake League), Ned was comfortable promoting Halle.
“We are very happy to have Halle as she takes control of a sport that is challenging due to the off-campus facility and the time of practice,” Ned said. “We are confident she will succeed as the head swim coach.”
Halle began swimming competitively at age nine. Her passion for the sport led to the start of her coaching career at Saffin Pond at 16 years old.
“I love swimming,” Halle said, “it has given me so much and taught me a lot. I know how to get results while making it fun.”
At Mendham, Halle is taking over both the boys’ and girls’ JV and Varsity programs.
While she is in charge of all four programs, the breakout between JV and Varsity is not as clear cut as it may appear to be on the surface. JV and Varsity designation is not determined until the end of the season, based on points accumulated during the year.
Points are built up in a number of ways: where a swimmer places at meets, speed, and perfect attendance. Qualifying for the A conference championship is the straightest path, as that earns an automatic varsity letter.
Halle has a talented and determined squad.
“The kids on this team are amazing, really committed to the program,” Halle said. “For starters, pool time is not easy to come by. We practice at Morristown every night from 7:15-9:00. In addition, a number of kids compete on a club team. Two days a week they practice with the club team in the afternoon, then swim with the high school team at night. It is a huge commitment, but it shows how much people love swimming, how they really want to be on a team.”
The boys’ team is stacked. Freshman Raaghav Reddy, along with Sophomores Kenneth Barnicle and Luke Martinez, qualified for nationals with their club teams. Luke Martinez, unfortunately, has a shoulder injury but has been a great asset to Coach Music while on the sideline.
On the girls’ team, Halle has been especially impressed by Junior Emma Prignano and Senior Devin Brennan. Emma is hoping to swim in college.
“I’m helping Emma balance her time between the club team and the high school team. Devin and Emma are great to have at practice, both of them are very positive.”
The swim team expects to get plenty of experience as there are 11 dual meets, a county tournament, a team state tournament, and the individual state tournament to compete in.
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