SOL Boys/Girls Swimming Notebook (3-17-17)

Swimmers from CR North, CB West & Wissahickon are recognized in this week’s notebook.

National Conference

Kevin Brandbergh, Council Rock North

Kevin Brandbergh has been swimming since he was six years old.
But it took the Council Rock North senior a long time to realize that swimming was his main sport.
“I played baseball and football too,” he said. “I stopped playing baseball my freshman year but I continued with football.”
In the preseason of his senior year of football, he won the starting job as quarterback, but disaster struck.
“I broke my hand in practice and had to have surgery so I missed all of football,” he said. “I got the cast off just in time for swimming.
“But my junior year was really my breakout year in swimming. I had a really good season and that’s when I realized that swimming was going to be my main sport.”
He competed at the District One Class AAA meet in the 200-yard freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay.
“I’m very happy with what I did as an individual and with what we did as a team,” he said. “We accomplished most of the goals we set at the beginning of the year.”
He will continue his swim career at Fairfield, where he plans to major in business administration.
“I committed in November so it was a big relief to not have the stress of trying to figure out where I was going to school,” he said.
Swimming and football are very time consuming, but Branbergh did find time to host a talent show at CR North with his friends.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “The winners were a violinist and cellist and they were incredible.”

Continental Conference

Evan Washington, Central Bucks West
Evan Washington swam in his final District One Class 3A meet, and the Central Bucks West senior wasn’t as happy as he could have been.
“I’m a little disappointed, especially in my relay split,” he said. “I think I could have gone a little faster.”
He competed as an individual in the 100-yard freestyle and as a member of both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
Both relays reached the podium. The 200 free relay was fifth and got an automatic berth to states while the 400 free relay took eighth and earned an at-large spot at states.
Entering the state meet, the 200 free relay is seeded 14^th and the 400 free relay is seeded 22nd. Dale Johnson, Peter Baltes and Brad Johnson round out the relays for the Bucks.
He hasn’t chosen a college yet.
“I’m still waiting to hear back from a bunch that I applied to,” he said.
Pre-med is his planned major and he would like to continue swimming in college.
“I know it’s going to be hard at a DI school to swim and juggle academics but hopefully I’ll go to a school where I’m able to do that,” he said. “It’s getting to the point where high school is taking a long time. I want to get out there and see how I can progress.”
He began swimming at age 10.
“My brother was swimming I just followed him,” he said. “It seemed like the thing to do.”
In addition to swimming, Washington is on the spring track team and plays the cello.

American Conference

Katie Sapozhnikov, Wissahickon

Katie Sapozhnikov really enjoyed her first year of high school swimming.
The Wissahickon freshman capped off the year by swimming in four events at the District One Class AAA competition.
She was a member of the 400 freestyle relay for the Trojans along with Kelly Wild, Karis Kim and Carly Zlotnikoff. The foursome finished seventh with their time of 3:34.78.
She was 19th in the 100 butterfly (58.86), 20th in the 500 freestyle (5:19.15) and swam on the 200 freestyle relay with Zlotnikoff, Kim and Wild, finishing 17th (1:39.80).
“It’s a lot different from club swimming,” she said. “It’s a lot more fun and team focused.
“The district meet was really fun. I swim club with and against a lot of these girls so I saw all of my friends. Everyone cheered everyone else on, even though we’re all on different high school teams. Everyone just wants everyone else to swim well.”
She has been swimming since she was four years old.
“It was the only thing I was good at,” she said. “Also, I like that it is both an individual and a team sport. That’s what makes it really fun. I’ve made so many friendships through swimming.”
 She hasn’t chosen a college yet but would like to swim and is considering engineering as a major.
“I have time to think about that,” she said. “For now, I’m just really looking forward to next year. I’m hoping to do better and build on what I accomplished this year.”