Swimmers from CR North and Norristown are featured this week.
National Conference
Newman finishing with flourish- Jimmy Newman finished his final regular season with a flourish.
The Council Rock North senior won the 200-yard individual medley and 500 freestyle and was on the winning 200 medley relay in CR North’s 99-76 victory over host and district rival Council Rock South in the dual meet finale for both teams last week.
“It’s amazing how fast the four years went by,” he said. “I can’t believe this was my last North-South meet. I’m really happy with the way our team swam.
“This was the most fun I ever had at this meet and it’s a great way to go out.”
The Indians, the defending conference champions, finished the regular season 13-1 overall, 6-0 in the National and are favored to repeat.
“Being undefeated in the league gives us a huge advantage going in,” Newman said. “But of course we still have to swim well.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited to see how the whole team is going to do. We do feel the pressure to repeat as champions but I think we can do it.”
Newman has made his college choice, and will swim at Division III Westminster College, north of Pittsburgh.
He also considered Washington & Jefferson, Susquehanna University and the University of Mount Union.
“I liked everything about Westminster,” he said. “The location is awesome. It’s six and a half hours away, but I have family nearby, the scenery is awesome and I really liked the coach (Rob Klamut). He seems like a second father to me. It’s a perfect situation.
“I was their top recruit but they already have a lot of fast people, and they have more coming in so we’re going to be in contention for the conference. I’m really excited and looking forward to it.”
Westminster competes in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.
He plans to major in secondary education.
Newman and his teammates will host the conference championships. The boys swim on Friday night and the girls on Saturday morning.
Continental Conference
Moyer and Schmidt excel- Souderton’s Ozzie Moyer won the conference diving title for the third year in a row on Wednesday night at Central Bucks South.
Moyer, who will attend North Carolina next year, scored 506.10 points to outpace the field and break his own pool record for 11 dives at CB South by 10 points.
A senior, he finished second at this meet his freshman year to North Penn’s Zac Nees, the eventual PIAA Class AAA silver medalist who is now diving at Indiana University.
CB South’s Lindsay Schmidt, a senior, won the girls competition, posting a score of 425.05, repeating as the conference champion.
The competition was originally scheduled to be at North Penn, but was moved at the last minute because the pool had to be partially drained to address problems with the moveable bulkhead.
The swimming portion of the conference championships begin on Friday night at North Penn, with the boys swimming.
The girls will swim on Saturday morning at CB South.
Next up for the divers is the District One championships, which will be hosted by Upper Dublin.
The boys will compete on Friday night, Feb. 24 at 5:30 p.m. and the girls on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 25 at 9 a.m.
The top seven finishers advance to the PIAA Class AAA meet, slated for March 14-15 at Bucknell University.
Moyer has been the District One runner-up three years in a row to three different boys; Zac Nees of North Penn in 2009, T.J. Schenkel of Council Rock South in 2010 and Ian Forlini of William Tennent in 2011.
Last year Schmidt was also the district runner-up.
American Conference
Purcell going the distance- Morgan Purcell is ready to go the distance.
The Norristown sophomore will compete in the longest events, the 200 and 500-yard freestyles, at the conference championships on Saturday at Upper Dublin.
Upper Dublin is also hosting the boys competition on Friday night.
“I’m expecting to do well,” said Purcell, who will also swim the butterfly leg of the 200 medley relay for the Eagles.
“I don’t like to put too much pressure on myself so I don’t have a specific goal in mind. I just want to focus on swimming my best and hopefully getting my personal best times.”
She competed at the championship meet last year in the 100 butterfly.
“Butterfly is my other stroke aside from freestyle, but I don’t get to swim the 100 fly that much because it’s kind of close to the 500,” she said.
“I really love the 500 so that’s my preference. I like the 200, too, but I’m not as passionate about the fly.”
She began swimming the 200 freestyle this year.
“It’s a new experience and I like it a lot,” she said. “I like swimming the longer events.
“Sprints are so quick and so much of it is just your start and your turns. With the 500 I have to focus on swimming and maximizing my strengths.”
She has not qualified for the District One meet.
“That’s a future goal for me,” she said. “I’m certainly working toward that.”
Right now she has her sights on the conference championship meet.
“It was so much fun last year and I’m looking forward to it again,’ she said. “I’m very interested to see how tapering impacts my times.”
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