Native swimmers Shu, Pereira star in NJ Swimming Championships – The Observer On-line

Over the course of her freshmen and sophomore seasons, Harrison’s Scarlett Shu rapidly established herself as some of the completed swimmers at school and up to date Hudson County historical past.

This offseason, Shu proved herself to be one of many higher swimmers within the state.

Shu, a rising junior, took second place within the 400 Meter Individual Medley on the 2026 NJ Swimming LC Gold Championship, which was held July 23-26 at Rutgers University.

The 400 IM, through which she swam a 5:12.61, was the highpoint of a busy few days for Shu, as she additionally took fifth within the 200 Meter Butterfly (2:26.72) and sixth within the 200 Meter Individual Medley. In addition, she competed within the 100 Meter Butterfly, the 200 Meter Breastroke, the 100 Meter Breaststroke and the 400 Meter Freestyle.

Shu was certainly one of two native ladies to star within the occasion, one of many greatest membership meets within the state.

Emma Pereira, a rising sophomore at North Arlington, took second within the the 200 Meter Backstroke (2:26.99), third within the 200 Meter Breaststroke (2:47.30) and fourth in each the 200 Meter Freestyle (2:10.58) and 100 Meter Butterfly (1:04.89). Pereira was additionally part of the Scarlet Aquatics’ third place finishes within the the 400 Meter Freestyle Relay and the 200 Meter Medley Relay.

All of the occasions had been on the Olympic-sized lengthy pool at Rutgers’ Sonny Weblin Recreation Center.

“This meet was one of the most important meets and one that I was looking forward to,” mentioned Shu. “It had all of my best events in it. I was racing all the competitive swimmers from New Jersey so I was really looking forward to the meet and I did pretty good.”

While it was a powerful few days within the pool, Shu did admit to feeling a contact of disappointment within the 400 Individual Medley as she completed simply 0.35 seconds behind the winner, Sofia Kranaugh, a sophomore at Pingry and her teammate with the Scarlet Aquatics membership crew.

“I was kind of disappointed at first, but I was also really happy that I was racing with my friends,” Shu mentioned. “(Sofia) is my friend and I was happy we both dropped (times) from the morning preliminary.”

Back in March, on the NJ Swimming 11 & Over Gold Championships on the brief pool at Rutgers, each Shu and Perreira took gold. Pereira gained particular person titles within the 100 Butterfly (55.24), shattering her private finest, and likewise took first within the 200 Butterfly. She was additionally part of the profitable 200 Medley Relay crew.

Shu took first within the 400 Individual Medley with a time of 4:31.64, which was a private finest and her first profession state title.

“In the prelims, I actually added two seconds, but then in the final, I dropped four seconds (from my previous best), so in total it was six from the preliminary,” mentioned Shu. “I was just really happy.”

After a busy spring and summer season that included a visit to the Speedo Sectionals in Westmont, Ill. for each, Shu is able to take a quick break from the pool earlier than the membership season resumes within the fall. In explicit, she plans to do dryland coaching and energy coaching to get stronger.

“I think the dryland training will help because I know all my friends do dryland lifting weights,” Shu mentioned. “I want to catch up and see where I can be at. I think this will definitely help me.”

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