Swimmers from CR North, North Penn and PW are featured in this week’s notebook. Visit the Photo Gallery to view photos of some of the SOL Championships.
National Conference
Palau leads Indians to successful season - Noah Palau and his Council Rock South teammates are still on cloud nine.
The Golden Hawks defeated district rival Council Rock North in a boys’ dual meet for just the second time 
since the district split in the fall of 2002. The triumph was in the Suburban One League National Conference finale and with the win CR South boys finished the dual meet season 10-1,losing only to Pennsbury.
“It’s so exciting,” said Palau, a senior captain. “There are no words for it, and it came on the tenth anniversary of the last time we beat them, which I think is really cool. Also that this is my senior year just makes it all the better.
“We’re really happy with how well we swam the dual meet season. We only had that one loss to Pennsbury, and we were close for most of the meet so we’re happy with how we swam.”
Palau is very busy at CR South. His other activities include the Spanish Club, the International Cuisine Club, and he is one of the founding members of the Ham Radio Club.
He is undecided about a college but plans to major in civil engineering.
“I applied to Northwestern, which is my top choice, and I’ve already been accepted to Penn State,” he said.
Both colleges compete in the Big Ten.
“I’m a good swimmer but I’m not quite that good so I know I wouldn’t be able to swim at those schools,” he said. “This is my last year of swimming so there is a sense of urgency for me that this is the end and I really want to finish strong.”
Continental Conference
Brown a positive leader of young Maidens - The North Penn girls’ team doesn’t have very many seniors.
Leah Brown is one of them and she takes her responsibilities as a senior captain seriously.
“I feel as a senior I have to be a leader because we have so few leaders,” she said. “Being a captain means I have to set a good example for the others. I need to step up and make the freshmen want to be here because it’s hard to be here. It’s hard to swim.
“I want them to know that when they get to that last meet they’re going to be so happy with their times and this was all worth it.
“We have a young team, but we feel so good about the people we have. Our incoming freshmen and our sophomores really rose to the occasion so many times. It’s good to have them here.
“This is an exciting time of year. Districts are around the corner so everything is going to happen very quickly but I think we’ll be ready.”
Brown – a key contributor in the Maidens’ run for a conference championship - has been swimming since she was five years old.
“I started in the summer at a club and I just fell in love with it,” she said. “I got serious when I joined NPAC as a 12-and-under and I began the night practices.
“I started seeing the seniors come to our meets and that really got me into it.”
She also plays water polo for the Maidens and is a member of the Key Club at North Penn.
She hasn’t chosen a college yet but plans to major in communications with an eye on a career in public relations.
American Conference
Sellers looking to close out year strong - Ray Sellers likes variety.
The senior at Plymouth-Whitemarsh has been swimming since age six, but he also played basketball until fifth grade, soccer until eighth grade and ran track until middle school.
“I really liked doing a lot of different sports but I knew eventually I’d have to make a choice so swimming’s been my main sport since ninth grade,” he said.
He is the president of the National Honor Society at PW and plays the bass in the concert and jazz bands and the orchestra. He also sings bass in the chorus.
He is considering the University of Chicago, Pitt and Fordham and is not sure what he’ll be studying but likes the idea of having a double major. He is considering biological sciences, zoology, ecology, English, Latin and linguistics and would like to go to graduate school.
“I think I’ll take some different subjects and see what clicks,” he said.
He is hoping to atone for last year’s performance at the District One Class AAA meet.
“I got sick a day before districts last year so I didn’t swim well,” he said. “I really want to have a good meet this year and hopefully get to states.”
He went to the state meet as a freshman on the 200-yard freestyle relay.
“We didn’t make it back at night so I went out there and swam one 50,” he said. “But it was still a great experience and I’d love to get back there one more time.”
His main event is the 200 individual medley.
“That’s the event I’m targeting,” he said. “I’m still up in the air about my other event.”
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