SOUDERTON – Paige Whitmire and Angela Severn – 48 hours removed from their unforgettable showing at the PIAA Class AAAA state championship meet – are seated by Souderton’s pool looking relaxed and carefree.
Souderton’s very own ‘golden girls’ have vastly different explanations for their unparalleled success at last weekend’s state meet.
Whitmire points to endless hours of practice.
“You practice to be perfect,” the Souderton senior said. “That’s the point of practice, and when it counts, the true athlete knows how to do it perfect.
“Mentally you know that’s the race you need to do perfectly, and you are ready.”
Severn credits the competition.
“For me, it’s all about the competition,” she said. “When I had all those competitors out there, it made me go faster. Yes, practice makes perfect, but I think I needed the competition.”
Whether it was the competition or practice, the bottom line is both Souderton seniors turned in dazzling performances.
Both swam in four events, both captured four medals with Whitmire earning four gold medals and Severn walking away with three golds and one silver.
Whitmire won individual gold medals in the 50 free and 100 backstroke, setting a new state record in the 100 back (54.45)
Severn captured gold in the 500 free and silver in the 200 individual medley and established a new state mark in the 500 (4:48.13)
Both also were members of the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams that broke state records en route to gold medals.
“It really has hit me yet,” Whitmire said. “I woke up this morning, and I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I won some stuff.’”
In a meet that features just 11 events, the Indians - who finished an impressive second in the team standings behind only defending state champion Emmaus - struck gold in five.
“I’ve never seen it happen before,” Souderton coach Todd Bauer said of his team’s gold medal performances. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I have never seen a team win five races and break four state records.”
Bauer admits he went into the meet with decidedly modest expectations.
“I did go in with the mentality if we can get one gold medal, it will be a successful weekend,” he said.
Whitmire, for one, had a feeling it was going to be a great weekend before she even stepped into the pool.
“My sister wasn’t supposed to make any of the races, and all of a sudden her schedule opened up, and she was coming,” she said of older sister Bryn, who plays softball for Susquehanna. “I was like, ‘Wow, things are working out perfectly.’”
And when did her teammates realize things might be going their way?
“The first swim,” senior Katie Curzon said of the meet’s first event – the 200 individual medley relay.
Souderton’s medley relay team finished eighth in an event that Bauer had all but conceded by taking his top swimmers – Whitmire and Severn - out of the race.
“I decided – we’re seeded sixth in that race, and we were third and fourth in the other two, so we were going to go for the other two and try and win them,” the Indians’ coach said. “I pretty much conceded that we might not make it back in the medley relay.
“Not only did we get top 16, but we got top eight. Getting top eight with neither of our best two kids was just phenomenal. Normally, you spread your best two kids out. If you have one of them in there, you’re good enough for fourth or fifth. I took them both out and just said, ‘Oh well, there goes the medley relay.’ That’s just a testament to the supporting cast. Paige and Angela were phenomenal, but everyone else swam great too. Those four girls just swam great.”
‘Those four girls’ were Ashley Kichline, Lauren Peachey, Katie Curzon and Mariel Kush – sophomore Chloe Thomas, who swam in the qualifying heat in the morning, did not swim at night.
“No one expected us to do well,” Curzon said. “Todd was like, ‘Come back, get in the (consolation) heat.’ We made it in the final eight.
“After that it was – ‘Alright, let’s keep it going.’ It’s a lot of adrenaline. You just feel so good, and it’s contagious.”
“Once one person swam well, it bounced off everyone,” Kichline said. “No one ever thought we would come back for the finals. No one thought we would finish top 16.”
Inspired by that medal performance, the Indians were off and running.
Junior Missy Doll finished in a tie for sixth in the 50 free and captured a seventh place medal in the 100 free.
“It was just looking to medal, definitely in the 50, but in the 100, I wasn’t sure how I would do,” she said. “I was seeded 12th, so it could go either way.
“It was a lot of fun, really exciting. It was the best season I have had with one of my favorite sports teams ever.”
Thomas joined Doll, Severn and Whitmire on both the 200 and 400 free relay teams. The 200 free finished in a state record time of 1:34.16 while the 400 touched the wall in a state best time of 3:25.30.
“It was amazing just being a sophomore and being part of a relay that’s so fast,” Thomas said. “It’s just an amazing feeling to win gold as a sophomore because I don’t think we’ll be able to do that in the relays in the upcoming years.”
Playing a supporting role in those relay wins were Kichline and Curzon, who swam the morning qualifying heats while Whitmire and Severn were rested.
“That was so important,” Severn said. “It made them feel good, and it made us feel good knowing if they could do it, we could do it.”
“It also just let them know they were part of the team,” Whitmire said. “It wasn’t just us.”
Mariel Kush earned points for the Indians with her 10th place finish in the 500 free, and it all added up to an extraordinary day for the Indians.
“I never thought (second) was possible,” Kichline said. “Our hard work finally paid off.”
Setting this Indian squad apart from the rest – in addition to its gold collection – was the approach of its swimmers. While their opponents were zoned out and in a silent world of their own psyching themselves up for a big race, the Indians were doing basketball tricks with – of all things – an imaginary ball.
The imaginary ball game was the brainchild of Bauer, and based on his team’s performance, it apparently was a stroke of genius.
“I really tried to change my approach this year,” he said. “That’s just a way to keep the girls loose and laughing. Teenage girls tend to psyche themselves out. It’s such a mental thing. They get so nervous and so tight, and they’re scared to lose instead of excited to win.
“This weekend, we were about to go for four state titles, and the girls are playing with an imaginary ball 10 minutes before the swim.”
Last year, Bauer was nervous, and he believes it rubbed off on his swimmers.
“This year, even though I was equally nervous, I tried not to show it,” he said. “It worked.”
And it’s clear – all eyes are on the coach. Consider only the comments of Severn and Whitmire as they recount their gold medal winning performances.
“When they said I won, I looked at Todd, and everyone was jumping up and down and screaming,” Severn said. “It was incredible.”
“When it happened, the first thing I could do was just look at Todd, and I got chills,” Whitmire said. “I was so happy. I couldn’t stop smiling. It’s just the best feeling.
“You expect it to be the best feeling in the world, but it’s 10 times better when it actually happens.”
Bauer will vouch for that, and he’s not quite sure what he can do for an encore as a coach.
“I said to Nicole, ‘I feel a little down and depressed,’” the Indians’ coach said of his dinner conversation with his wife on Monday night. “I feel like I reached the maximum potential I’ll ever be able to reach as a coach, and it’s my third year.
“I don’t know how I could ever top five state champions at one meet.”
It might not happen again, but in one memorable state meet, the Indians attained perfection. Or something very close to it.
“It started off great and just went from there,” Severn said. “Everything climaxed. It was the best way to end our senior year.”
Or any year, for that matter.
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