Schools
Lemberg Translates Late Start to WHS Swimming Success
A look at the swimming career of Westfield High School captain Suzanne Lemberg
Back in sixth grade, nobody, least of all herself, thought WHS senior Suzanne Lemberg would be a record breaking high school swimmer and team captain. Last month, she broke the school record in the 200 IM—two laps each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle—by over a second, claiming the record which had previously been untouched since 1981.
In elementary school, she had tried playing all kinds of sports: softball, basketball, tennis, and really wanted to play soccer on a town traveling team. "I played everything, and I was absolutely awful at everything."
But when she swam at summer camp between fifth and sixth grade, everything clicked into place. She came home that fall and signed up to swim at the Westfield YMCA.
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"I had a great first season," she said, and by spring of her seventh grade she had qualified for Nationals in a relay. She still swims for the Westfield Y club team in addition to WHS.
According to Lemberg, most swimmers start before they're eight years old, some even start when they're six. Many were surprised by Lemberg's quick success at such an old age; rumors began that she had started swimming at the Scotch Plains JCC when she was six and was recruited over to the Westfield Y.
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"I don't think I would have been any faster than I am now," Lemberg said if she had started swimming at a younger age. "I might have been tired and burnt out."
Lemberg is primarily a sprint freestyler; she usually competes in distances of 50 or 100 yards. However, she also competes in butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke events. Aside from the 200 IM record, Lemberg also holds five other WHS records: the 50 and 100 free as well as three relays.
Next year, Lemberg will be attending Emory University in Atlanta to participate in their Division III swim program.
"I knew I wanted to swim in college and I knew I didn't want to swim Division I," she said, "It's an intense amount of swimming."
Also on the list, she said, was Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
With most of the swim season still to come, college is a long way away. While Lemberg said she doesn't like setting goals, she said, "My goal is always to do better than I have."
