To view meet action photos, visit the photo gallery and click on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Alex Frazier
Kelly Roedig specializes in the 200 and 500 freestyles.
But Friday in her meet against Norristown, the Abington sophomore swam the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly and the freestyle leg of the 200 medley relay.
Why the changeup?
As Abington coach Joe Lennon said, “It’s a meet we can move some kids around and give them the opportunity to swim some different events. I don’t like the kids to get stale in their main events. It’s always been a philosophy of mine to make them swim some different things and be well-rounded swimmers.”
Another advantage is to be able to rest kids so they can swim faster in their specialty events.
A good example of that was the Ghosts’ 200 medley relay team of Randi Spitko, Rachel Henninger, Becca McCafferty and Roedig, which qualified for districts with a time of 2:01.67.
That set the stage for the Ghosts’ 104-68 win over Norristown in the girls’ meet.
The boys’ meet had a similar result as Abington cruised to a 96-76 win.
Coming in as the underdog, the Eagles were also at a disadvantage because they hadn’t been in a pool for a week. A light bulb burst in their pool, putting it out of commission for as much as three weeks while it’s being drained and cleaned.
Meanwhile, they are swimming at the Upper Merion Middle School.
Still, the Norristown boys came up with a pair of victories.
Diver Danny Staufenberg finished first with a score of 193.35 with teammate John Trea following him in second place (186.20).
Staufenberg also contributed with a second place in the 100 freestyle (57.38) and the 400 freestyle relay.
The Eagles’ other winner was David Grodzik, who won the 100 butterfly in 1:02.93.
“It was my second time swimming it this year, so it was pretty good for not swimming in about a week,” he said.
Grodzik usually swims the 500 freestyle but has recently branched out to the butterfly.
“I wanted to try it,” he said. “I’ve been swimming the 500 since freshman year and figured I’d try something new.”
Grodzik also finished second in the 200 freestyle.
A senior, he has seen a lot of improvement in the Eagles over his four years.
“We’ve gotten a lot better,” he said. “When I was a freshman, we had about seven swimmers. Now we have 27-30.”
Grodzik is hoping to swim for Bloomsburg next year.
Besides allowing swimmers to try different events, Lennon challenged swimmers on his own team. In the final 400 freestyle relay, which was unscored for the Ghosts, he pitted a freshman relay against a group of seniors.
“I was chatting them up, saying the losers had to take out the lane lines for the week,” said Lennon. “They all swam their best times of the season; the seniors hung on and won at the end. The two relays were a second of each other.”
Lennon also entered Maggie Gerrity and Kelsey Crawford in the 500 for the first time. Gerrity ended up finishing third in 6:23.85.
“It was nice to see kids that were a little unsure of things getting the opportunity to get in and get an event they haven’t done before,” said Lennon.
Despite swimming in different events, Roedig turned in a best time in the 100 fly, winning it by three seconds over teammate Rachel Henninger (1:04.90).
“She beat her time by over a second,” said Lennon.
In fact it was a three-second drop from last year.
Roedig is happy with the way her team is performing.
“We’re doing really well this year,” she said. “I thought it was going to be a little rough because I didn’t know how many freshmen we were going to get, but we’re doing really well and I’m really proud of the team.”
Norristown girls coach Beth O’Neil was also pleased with her team despite the lopsided score.
“We beat Bensalem,” she said. “Their times are dropping. I can fill every lane where in years past I was lucky I could put one girl in each event. We’re working hard and making progress.”
O’Neil was pleased with the performance of senior distance swimmer Kaitlyn Brenner (second, 500 free).
“She works hard every day,” she said. “She wanted to make districts. It’s her senior goal.”
O’Neil also praised Natasha Brododoski (100 backstroke) and freshman Colleen Kolb (500 free, 400 free relay).
“She could be our next distance swimmer,” said O’Neil of Kolb. “A lot of these girls today have never swam competitively before. They’re just coming out, staying in shape for another sport or just for something to do. I give them credit.”
Girls
Abington 104, Norristown 68
200 medley relay—Abington (Randi Spitko, Rachel Henninger, Becca McCafferty, Kelly Roedig) 2:01.67, Abington 214.33, Norristown 2:19.29
200 freestyle—Emily Ryan (A) 2:19.37, Kaitlyn Brenner (N) 2:20.46, Maggie Gerrity (A) 2:25.13
200 IM—Roedig (A) 2:26.42, Spitko (A) 2:40.68, Ellen Gilmore (A) 2:44.12
50 freestyle—Henninger (A) 26.86, Ali Bateman (N) 29.72, Castine Allmond (A) 31.17
Diving—Jasmine Teich (A) 161.70, Marissa Gammon (A) 159.45
100 butterfly—Roedig (A) 1:04.90, Henninger (A) 1:07.90, Maddie Perkins (A) 1:16.58
100 freestyle—McCafferty (A) 1:00.909, Gilmore (A) 1:02.00, Jess Sands (A) 1:05.93
500 freestyle—Ryan (A) 6:08.14, Brenner (N) 6:22, Gerrity (A) 6:23.88
200 freestyle relay—Abington (Ryan, Christine Shillington, Gilmore, Spitko) 1:55.77, Norristown 1:58.46, Abington 2:05.25
100 backstroke—Serena Wetherill (N) 1:16, Natasha Brododoski (N) 1:26.02, Tierney Tubbs (N) 1:29.10
100 breaststroke—Tessa Harvey (N) 1:29.22, Beverly Pate (N) 1:34.778, CC Guins (N) 1:58.88
400 freestyle relay—Norristown (Wetherill, Colleen Kolb, Tubbs, Andrea Stickley) 5:18.68, Norristown 6:07.74
Boys
Abington 96, Norristown 76
200 medley relay—Abington (Liam Sweeney, Tim Salley, Paul Tershakovec, Sean Rogers) 1:56.59, Norristown 2:03.55, Abington 2:03.75
200 freestyle—Sean Staerk (A) 1:58.88, David Grodzik (N) 2:03.93, Alexi Dubrunfant (A) 2:08.10
200 IM—Staerk (A) 2:14.33, Dubrunfant (A) 2:28.66, Tom Gerrity (A) 2:28.88
50 freestyle—John Terrizzi (A) 23.94, Evan Wiest (A) 24.86, Jared Brown (A) 24.90
Diving—Danny Staufenberg (N) 193.35, John Trea (N) 186.20, Brian Gorman (A) 144.55
100 butterfly—Grodzik (N) 1:02.93, Rogers (A) 1:04.86, Tershakovec (A) 1:05.08
100 freestyle—Terrizzi (A) 55.70, Staufenberg (N) 57.38, Dubrunfant (A) 57.45
500 freestyle—Gerrity (A) 5:38.89, Dakota Korn (A) 5:55.36, Tom Durante (N) 6:23.56
200 freestyle relay—Abington (Terrizzi, Dubrunfant, Juan Munoz, Wiest) 1:41.67, Abington 1:42.13, Norristown 1:45.15
100 backstroke—M. Boyd (N) 1:15.31, K. Utz (N) 1:23.16
100 breaststroke—J. Naseef (N) 1:20.55, S. Whitely (N) 1:27.57, R. Karpinsky (N) 1:28.61
400 freestyle relay—Norristown (J. Devitis, Boyd, Staufenberg, Durante) 4:20.90, Norristown 4:46.90
- Log in to post comments
0
