The first swimming notebook of the season features William Tennent, Hatboro-Horsham and Wissahickon. Check back for weekly notebooks.
National Conference
Panthers set sights high - William Tennent is a team with high hopes.
“Our boys’ team has a lot of depth this year,” said junior Dylan Cooper. “Last year we didn’t have that many boys on our team.
“We’d win our share of events, but we weren’t able to get enough points out of each race to win as many meets as we’d have liked to. This year, we’ll get more of those placements. Those 2-3-4 places are what win meets.
“We have people who can back up the guys who win the races for us and that’s what I think we were missing last year.”
Cooper was a district qualifier last season.
“I’d like to get to states, but if I don’t and our team has a good season, then I’ll be happy.”
Senior Bridget Dooling sees more depth on the girls’ side as well.
“Hopefully that will help and we’ll swim well and have fun,” she said. “Depth is what wins swim meets and I think we have it.
“This could definitely be the year where we start to make our move up in the standings. We have a lot of really good freshmen who are already improving despite the fact that they’re not used to the whole high school routine.
“As a senior captain I do feel that it’s my role to help the new swimmers along. They make it easy because they’re all really eager to do their best and they’re working as hard as they can. I honestly don’t really help them. They do it on their own. I just try to be there for them and make sure everyone is doing what they should be doing and staying focused all the time.”
Lisa Forlini, the head coach of both the boys and girls teams, has been battling cancer.
“This is a time when the older kids have to step up and be stabilizing forces for the team,” Cooper said. “I feel as though everyone is helping out every way they can. Whatever we do this season, it will be a team effort.”
Continental Conference
Hatters start strong – The Hatboro-Horsham boys performed well at the 39th annual CB East Relay Carnival, held Friday night at Central Bucks East.
The Hatters’ foursome of Bobby Lenahan, Mike Thomas, Tim Janyszek and Duane Adler won the 400-yard individual medley relay in a meet-record time of 3:53.67, eclipsing the previous mark of 3:53.72 by William Tennent’s Mark Kannengieszer, Ian Stith, Mike Swider and Craig Schmidt set in 1998.
Chris Moore, Thomas, Kyle Finn and Lenahan also won the 200 backstroke relay in another meet record time of 1:43.94. Hatboro’s Chris Moore, Lenahan, Mike Schaeffer and Rick Sutton had the previous record of 1:45.02 and set it last year.
“We were very pleased with the team as a whole,” coach Kip Emig said. “We had some good swims and they continued to work on the small stuff that will make us a better team.”
Central Bucks West, Central Bucks South, William Tennent, Archbishop Wood, Radnor, Lower Moreland and host CB East also participated in the annual season kickoff.
American Conference
Trojans leave their mark - Upper Merion also hosted a relay carnival on Friday night to open the season.
Wissahickon won the girls team competition with 85 points, followed by Springfield (M) with 64 points. Upper Moreland and Upper Merion tied for third with 46, Gwynedd Mercy was fifth (40), Phoenixville took sixth (38) and Norristown was seventh (28).
For the boys, Springfield (M) was the team champion with 77 points, followed by Wissahickon (54), Upper Merion (51), Upper Moreland (48), Phoenixville (41) and Norristown (34).
Wissahickon boys coach John High was happy with his team’s second place finish.
“Some of our upperclassmen were not present for the meet, so I’m extremely happy with our performance,” he said. “They swam amazing and I’m very proud.
“This relay carnival is a really good kickoff for the season for us. It puts into perspective the work they put in at the beginning of the season and shows them that hard work pays off.
“For those who maybe weren’t working as hard as they should be – well, actions speak louder than words. This is an opportunity for those swimmers who are struggling to see that they need to pick it up at practice and set their goals higher.
“I think the relay carnival is one of the best parts of the season and it’s a preview for what you’re going to do that season.”
The Trojans’ freshman Steve McFarland, freshman Danny Knoll, sophomore John Jefferson and sophomore Luke Waechter won the underclassmen 200 freestyle relay.
“That’s extremely exciting because it gave us a look at the future of our team,” High said. “That was the only race we won, but we were extremely competitive.
“We came in second in team scoring and we didn’t swim every event so our younger guys showed they could pull it off, although we did have one senior, Chris Chido Ortiz, who held it together for us.
“I’m very excited for the season after seeing what I saw on Friday.”
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