This week’s notebook highlights swimmers from Abington, CB East and PW.
National Conference
Ferry moving on up - Mike Ferry is moving up.
After finishing in 10th place at the 2013 conference diving championships, the junior from Abington took fifth this year with a score of 245.95 points over 11 dives.
“It was a great improvement,” Ferry said. “I really liked it and this year I actually had fun. Last year I was just frustrated.”
He was optimistic entering the meet.
“Coming into it, I had high hopes,” he said. I was feeling a lot more comfortable on the board with all the practices I’ve been doing.”
This is his third year of diving.
“When I was a freshman, some friends told me I should come out for diving,” he said. “At first I didn’t think I would do it but then I did, and I really enjoyed it so I stuck with it.”
His goal for his senior year is to make the cut for the District One Class AAA meet.
“That’s something I’d really like to do,” he said.
In addition to diving, Ferry plays soccer, football and volleyball for the Ghosts and club baseball.
He also belongs to H2O for Life, an organization that helps to provide clean water to Third World countries. He puts in about 250 service hours per year.
“It’s a great cause and I have fun doing it,” he said.
Because he is so active in other sports, Ferry is not a year-round diver as many of his competitors are.
“I only dive in season and for school so I feel proud of myself and where I finished,” he said. “I know for a lot of these guys diving is their one and only sport and most of them dive year-round, so considering those were the guys I was diving against, I think I did really well.”
He has narrowed his college choices to Drexel, Widener, California, Miami or possibly North Carolina. He would like to major in mathematics with an eye toward a career in accounting or engineering.
Continental Conference
Jozifiak has eye on states - As the swimmers enter the final week of practice before the District One competition, slated for Friday, Feb. 28, and Saturday, March 1, some of them are still deciding what events they will swim.
Jess Jozifiak is one of them.
The senior captain at Central Bucks East is set to swim her best event, the 100 butterfly, but is still not sure of her second individual event.
“I’m most likely going to swim the 100 freestyle and not the backstroke, but I’m not sure yet,” she said. “But it’s nice to have a choice.
“I’m also not sure about which relays I’ll be on but my coach (Tom Kane) will figure that all out. It’s always best to work it out so that you have one individual event and one relay on each day of the meet and that’s how it will probably work out for me.”
Last year she got to the PIAA meet as a member of two relays.
“That was a great experience and my goal would be to go back again in an individual event,” she said.
Jozifiak is a 12-year veteran of swimming after beginning her athletic career as a gymnast.
“I realized I hated going to practice,” she said. “I was taking swim lessons and they told me I should try the swim team so I did and I’ve been a swimmer ever since and hopefully will be for a few more years.”
She hopes to swim in college and has a long list of potential schools, including Susquehanna, Wagner, High Point and Ithaca. She would like to major in physical therapy.
“If I don’t swim on the varsity I would definitely swim club,” she said. “I can’t imagine not swimming but I want that perfect balance between swimming and education.”
In addition to swimming, she is a member of the Key Club, a community service organization, at CB East.
“It’s a lot of fun and you do feel good helping others,” she said.
American Conference
Pontari on the mend - For Carolyn Pontari, it’s a triumph.
The Plymouth-Whitemarsh senior missed four key weeks of training from mid-December to mid-January when she was nursing a shoulder injury.
She’s back and fine, but the loss of training time took its toll.
“I had so much ground to make up,” she said. “I spent four weeks doing dry land training, and it’s just not the same as being in the water.”
Upon her return, she had to fight for her spots on the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays, earning them back.
“I feel like that was a real victory for me,” she said. “This was not my best high school season but at our championship meet I swam almost as well as I did last year so I’m very happy with that.”
She is now looking forward to the District One meet.
“Our 200 freestyle relay broke the school record at champs and we’re close in the medley,” she said. “If everyone on the medley swims their best we could do it.”
In addition to swimming she is a member of the school’s track and field team, is the treasurer for the National Honor Society and is a trainer for the Anti-Defamation League at PW, an organization dedicated to stopping bullying at the school.
She would like to major in biomedical engineering and go onto either graduate school in that field or dental school.
Her college list includes Drexel, Temple, Pitt, Delaware and Florida.
“I think being on a club team is the best option for me,” she said. “I want to continue swimming but with a major as demanding as the one I’m interested in, I don’t see myself swimming at a Division I program.
“School and grades are really important to me and I want to do well.
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