Pennsbury’s Shannon McHenry, the CB West girls’ team and Thursday’s SOL showdown between perennial powers North Penn and Upper Dublin are featured in this week’s notebook. To view photos of Wednesday's Souderton/CB East meet, please visit the Photo Gallery.
National Conference*
McHenry ready to roll - Pennsbury senior captain Shannon McHenry is hoping this year has a better finish than last year’s did.
“I didn’t take a ton of time off at the end last year and I was expecting to, but I got sick right at the end of the season so all that hard work went for nothing,” she said.
“I’m hoping to do much better this year.”
McHenry isn’t sure what she will be doing at the District One Class AAA meet this year.
“They seem to like to put me in a lot of freestyle events but I do like to be well-rounded, so right now I’m planning to swim the 200 freestyle but I don’t know what other event I’d like to swim,” she said.
“I’ll also be doing two relays but I’m not sure which ones I’ll be swimming on. That will depend on what relays seem to be doing the best.
“So I’ll have a lot of options and that’s nice. I have time to weigh it out and decide what I want to do.”
She was pleasantly surprised by Pennsbury’s depth this year.
“We weren’t expecting that,” she said. “We lost a lot of good people to graduation. The fact that we are where we are is miraculous.”
She credits coach John Wilson’s new workout plan for their early success.
“He’s amped up the program a lot this year and that’s been really important to us and giving us very good motivation to do really well,” she said.
I’m very excited about my senior year. We have a really a great team atmosphere this year. We’re very motivated and driven to do a lot of great things.”
*To read PhillyBurbs.com swimming beat writer Karen Sangillo’s complete story about Tuesday’s Pennsbury/William Tennent meet, please click on the following link: http://www.phillyburbs.com/sports/high_school/courier/pennsbury-slips-past-tennent/article_4df8ab56-efa3-552a-95a9-2f8d4d640b00.html
Continental Conference
West girls hope to leave their mark – Central Bucks West senior Andie Blaser has high hopes for the Bucks this year.
“I think there are good things to come for us,” said Blaser, a senior. “I think the 400 freestyle really should be really good. We have four really good girls which is really exciting because we had so many good seniors from last year’s team graduate.”
The Bucks got an unexpected bonus in a transfer student.
“We actually got a surprise sophomore, Lauren Johnson, who had been in Florida last year,” Blaser said. “She just showed up and she’s great so that’s been a pleasant surprise. She’s just what we needed.”
Quinn MacMillan and Jennifer Strohmeyer round out the relay for CB West.
“I have high expectations for that relay and that’s really exciting,” Blaser said. “West always manages to scrape together a good relay, and I really think this year is no exception.”
West has 23 girls on the team this year.
“That’s smaller than we’ve been in awhile but it’s still a decent number, and we’ll still get those points for the lower finishes,” Blaser said. “We could use a little more depth, but I think just about every team would say that.
“But we have a lot of girls who are definitely getting ready to drop some time, so I think we’ll do all right.”
Blaser respects the level of competition in the Continental.
“There are so many good girls in our conference,” she said. It should be a fast year not just for our team but for our whole league. It’s a lot of good competition and that’s hard, but that’s also what makes it so exciting.
“I think this year’s district meet is going to be really intense but that’s also what makes it so much fun.”
The Bucks enter the holiday break 1-1, with a win over Neshaminy and a loss to William Tennent.
American Conference
UD faces NP in marquee SOL showdown - The Cardinals are poised for a big non-league meet on Thursday, as they travel to North Penn for a double dual meet at 6 p.m. at Rick Carroll Natatorium.
The meet pits the Cardinals, the defending SOL American Conference champions in both genders, against the Knights and Maidens, who each won the Continental team crown last season.
Upper Dublin already defeated the National Conference champions from 2010-11, Council Rock North, on opening day.
North Penn is the 2010-11 District One Class AAA boys team champion, while Upper Dublin was the runner-up.
Upper Dublin girls won the District One Class AAA team title last year, while the Maidens finished fourth.
The Upper Dublin boys team is 2-0 with wins over CR North and Wilson of District Three. The Upper Dublin girls are 1-1, beating CR North but losing to Wilson.
Wilson was the District Three Class AAA runner-up in both genders to Hershey last season. The Bulldogs’ girls team was second at the PIAA championships and the boys placed third.
North Penn boys are 2-0 with wins over Methacton and St. Joe’s Prep while the girls are also 2-0, beating Methacton and Mount St. Joseph.
The Knights and Maidens faced Hatboro-Horsham in an SOL Continental meet on Tuesday.
“We’re hoping to come in strong against North Penn,” Upper Dublin senior captain Eric Luttmann said. “That’s our best competition of the year, and we hope to swim fast right before the holidays.
“We’re both coming into it swimming well, so it should be a really good meet. This is the one we always look forward to.
“Our goal is to win the conference, and I think we have a chance to win districts, too. We’re really strong and we have great relays.
“I think the relays are our strength. The medley relay (Bobby Bantley, Cooper Tollen, Zach Brech, Eric Jensen) is taking it to another level.
“Depth is what wins meets and wins championships and I think we have that. We have fast guys at the top and we have the guys behind them to pick up more points.
“Coming into the North Penn meet, we’re 2-0 and we were very excited about the win over Wilson. Hopefully we’ll keep the win streak going and get a lot of district qualifying times against North Penn.”
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