There must be something in the water.
Two swimmers with New Jersey roots have already scored medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, and a third will compete Tuesday as he tries to bring home his own piece of glitter — leaving the Garden State bursting with pride.
“New Jersey has really started to kick it up a notch now,” said Matt Fallon, 21, of Warren — one of the star Olympians — to NorthJersey.com.
Fallon, who will compete in the 200-meter breaststroke Tuesday, is joined on the traditionally powerhouse US team by Nic Fink, 31, a Morristown native, and Jack Alexy, 21, of Mendham.
Fink — a married electrical engineer who works a regular 9-to-5 job when not in the pool — famously tied legendary British swimmer Adam Peaty on Sunday night for the silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.
His feat was the culmination of years of work — and a repudiation of his heartbreaking fifth-place showing at the pandemic-delayed 2021 Tokyo Games.
He was history in the making as both the oldest swimmer on the 2024 US team and the oldest US swimmer since 1904 to earn his first medal.
Alexy — who stands 6 feet, 8 inches tall and hails from a long line of athletes — enjoyed his own shining moment Saturday when he landed gold as part of the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay team.
“We were just overjoyed,” Alexy’s grandmother, Judith Ann Alexy of Pennsylvania, told The Post on Monday. “He was just so good and just did his thing.
“Many times I was called to babysit when he and his siblings were young, and I would always take him to the Y,” the grandma said of the University of California, Berkeley standout. “He was always swimming as far as I can remember.
“He loved to swim, and he would always do his best. … He just kept trying and kept trying.”
But the group of Jersey boys are connected by more than just their home state — they’ve known each other on the swim circuit for years.
At the Olympic trials in June, Alexy watched as Fallon — a University of Pennsylvania student and his longtime teammate at the Somerset Hills YMCA — won the 200-meter breaststroke by “literally two body lengths” to qualify for the USA Swimming team that would eventually head to the Summer Olympics, according to NorthJersey.com.
And while Fink — a soon-to-be dad — is 10 years older than Fallon, both swam for The Pingry School, a tony college prep school in the wealthy town of Basking Ridge.
Timothy Lear, Pingry’s head of school, told The Post on Monday that the school began a social-media campaign after the Olympic trials that’s enthralled hundreds of alumni — all of whom now know the names Nic Fink and Matt Fallon.
“Everyone knew when they were racing,” he said. “I think I could hear the roughly 10,000 alums that we have in the United States cheering during the race, and the text threads were going crazy right after.”
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Fink has said of the link, “That’s small, small world stuff.
“Pingry’s not a big school anyway,” he said on a Zoom call earlier this month, according to the outlet. “The fact that Matt and I are both on this team is a pretty cool little stat
“It’s great to have a big squad from such a little state,” said the University of Georgia grad, whose wife, Melanie Margalis-Fink, won a gold medal with the US women’s 200M freestyle relay in 2016.
Fallon was equally proud of his famously small but fierce state.
“It’s an honor to give back to my state,” he told the outlet. “Everyone in New Jersey swimming kind of knows each other already. It’s kind of nice to be a figure for that community, to inspire other people.”
Lear hailed both men as studious pupils who, despite their watery prowess, were not pigeon-holed by their sport.
Fink “was one of the nicest, smartest student athletes that I’ve ever worked with,” Lear said of the school alum, who graduated in 2011 and has somehow managed to balance a marriage and a full-time engineering job with his more athletic pursuits.
“He seemed to thrive with expectation and pressure, and he just was a really happy, motivated human being,” Lear continued. “He wasn’t one-dimensional. He didn’t sacrifice everything for swimming. He was really well thought of by his friends and teachers. I mean, he was a very outgoing, popular, humble kid.
“Nic the human being has not been on hold for the Olympics, for his swimming career,” Lear added. “Nic the human being has always been there, and the fact that he’s an Olympian is kind of part of who he is. It’s not the only part of who he is, and doesn’t solely define him, which, again, is exceptional.”
Lear described Fallon, who graduated Pingry in 2021, in equally ecstatic terms — calling him an “exceptional student” who was bright and curious, similar to his pool-borne predecessor.
“Like Nic, he wasn’t solely defined by his incredible potential in the pool,” Lear said. “He was someone who took a lot of pride in his academics.”
“We’re in this time when it’s almost like you’ve got to choose and be one or the other: You either have to be a serious student or a committed athlete,” Lear continued. “I think they proved that you can actually do both, and then also … be a really good person.”
“I would imagine Matt’s classmates and teammates say the exact same thing — that he’s there for them, he’s a humble kid, he’s fun to train with. Because he’s not just about beating you, he’s also about making you better.”
And of course, Alexy’s grandma described him the same way.
“He’s such a nice person — he’s very humble, he’s not at all big-headed,” Judith Ann Alexy said of her grandson — whose mother Lynn played basketball for the University of Notre Dame and and grandfather played for the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.
Judith Ann added that her grandson has volunteered to help younger swimmers learn the trade that has treated him so well.
“He just takes it all in stride, and we’re just so very proud of what he’s accomplished, because he’s a good person.”