SOL Boys/Girls Swimming Notebook (2-22-17)

Swimmers from Council Rock South, Pennridge and Hatboro-Horsham are featured in this week’s notebook.

National Conference

Andy Luzeckyj, Council Rock South
It was a dream come true for Andy Luzeckyj.
The Council Rock South senior captain helped lead his team to a 112-73 win over Council Rock North in the dual meet season finale.
It was the second consecutive win for the CR South boys over their district and league rivals and only the third since the district split into two high schools in the fall of 2002.
“It’s amazing to be a part of that,” he said. “Amazing and extremely exciting. We worked so hard, especially my first two years with the program, to get to this point and we made it.
“We were confident to a degree but not overly so. The worst is going into a meet overconfident because you end up not swimming your best. Definitely there were some nerves but we swam really fast. Everyone did some awesome times and as the meet wore on everyone really got more confidence. We got the momentum and we kept it going.”
Kuzeckyj began swimming as a youngster when his family joined a swim club and he began taking lessons.
“After a couple of years, my swim instructor suggested I try  out for the swim team, so I did,” he said. “I really enjoyed it and I stuck with it, so that was a great suggestion for me.”
He will attend Bloomsburg next year, where he will major in marketing and communications.
“My end goal is to be someone who makes TV commercials,” he said. “Something along those lines.”
He is also involved in the student newspaper at CR South.

Continental Conference

Hayden Sandt, Pennridge
Hayden Sandt isn’t quite sure how his swim career got started.
“I know I started swimming when I was eight but I honestly don’t remember why I did,” the Pennridge senior captain said. “I think my parents influenced me, but whatever the reason, I’m certainly glad for it.”
Sandt was on the Rams’ 200 freestyle relay, which finished third at the conference championships with a District One Class AAA automatic qualifying time of 1:30.16 and third place 400 freestyle relay, which also posted an automatic time of 3:19.75.
“I’m happiest with the 400 free relay because we broke the school record by over a second,” he said. “That was a really exciting thing for us.”
He previously went to the district meet as a sophomore, anchoring the 200 medley relay.
“It’s the icing on the cake of my senior year just to be able to extend my season for another two weeks,” he said. “It’s what I was hoping for.
“The district meet is amazing. It’s very different from all the others. Everyone is very serious; there’s a much more serious vibe in the air. There are so many other fast swimmers around you, you almost feel like it’s not a high school meet anymore.”
Sandt also plays water polo for the Rams. He is a member of the National Honor Society, the Earth Club and the Academic Challenge, which meets on Thursdays to do Jeopardy-style questions in teams.
He has been accepted into the honors program at Delaware and is waiting for responses from several other schools including Rice. He hopes to major in chemical engineering.
“I don’t think I have the times to make it swimming at a Division I school but it’s certainly something I’ll look into if I go Division III,” he said. “If I don’t swim on the team, I think I’ll definitely swim club. It’s hard to give it up.”

American Conference

John Scully, Hatboro-Horsham
The switch to the American Conference from the Continental proved fruitful for the Hatboro-Horsham boys, as they won the conference championship meet, although the Hatters did not score enough points to beat Upper Dublin for the league crown.  
Junior John Scully won the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke and led off both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays, both of which finished second.
“I had some good swims,” Scully said. “I don’t know what happened in the 50 free. My goal was just to break a 22 and I went a 21.6 so I don’t know where that came from but I’m really happy with it. In the backstroke, I didn’t think I’d drop much time, I a 54-low or a 53-high. I did a 53.1 so that was great.
“The best part was that a lot of people on our team were dropping time. We were really excited to win the meet, even though we didn’t beat them for the league. It was a great day for all of us.”
He will compete in the 50 free and 100 back at the upcoming District One Class AAA meet, but is unsure about his role in the relays.
“They’re still up in the air,” he said. “I’m pretty sure our coaches would like to see all three relays get to states so I’ll swim where they need me to in order to achieve that goal for the team.”
He began swimming because his father was a swimmer.
“He got me and my sister into it but he wasn’t hard about it,” Scully said. “He put us in lessons and told us that if we wanted to swim we could. I was back and forth between swimming and soccer. This is the first year I didn’t play soccer and it’s made a big difference in my times so that was a good decision for me.”
In addition to swimming, he is on the student council and is a member of Link Crew, a program that helps freshmen who are entering high school.
He has not chosen a college yet but would like to swim and is eying a major in civil engineering.