SPORTS
FRIENDLY COMPETITION (Left to right) Ridgewood High School swimmers, sisters Ashleigh, Jordan and Sarah Afromsky compete against each other
but also join together on the same relay team for their high school.
the splash sisters
he blank stare told Kim
Schmidt all she needed
to know.
After the coach passed
by one of her swimmers
in a school hallway, she
soon realized that she made the all-too-
common mistake.
“Hi Sarah,” Schmidt called out.
“I’m Jordan,” the girl replied.
Sarah and Jordan Afromsky, born
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JUNE/JULY 2017 | (201) FAMILY
just two minutes apart, are easy to
confuse in the hall and in the pool.
Ridgewood’s freshmen are fast and
fearless in the water. They swim many
of the same freestyle events. And they
share many of the same mannerisms,
from their muted reaction to winning a
race to how they carry their gym bags.
“It happens a lot,” says Sarah, on
getting mixed up. “I just respond to
both names now.”
When Schmidt was asked how she
tells them apart, she simply replies, “I
don’t.” At least, not without her lineup
card in hand.
At times, she will just call out their
last name and hope for the best.
“They swim identical and look identi-
cal,” Ridgewood’s second-year coach
says. “I just get a kick out of them. They
look alike. They have the same stroke.
They have the same smile. And all three
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COMPETITION BRINGS OUT THE BEST FOR RIDGEWOOD SIBLINGS