Pennridge’s Morgan Scott was golden in the 200 free and her team is in third place in the team standings while North Penn is atop the standings after one day at the PIAA Class AAA championship meet,
Morgan Scott got the Pennridge girls’ swim team off to a fast start at the PIAA Class AAA championship meet on Wednesday in Kinney Natatorium at Bucknell University.
Scott won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:48.87 to capture her first individual gold medal, outdueling her friend, Lauren McGrath of North Allegheny (1:50.27).
“It was an amazing day,” Scott said. “I’m just so happy.”
Last year she was the runner up in this event to Allie Raab of Hershey.
“She’s one of my best friends,” Scott said. “Unfortunately, she moved to Tennessee this year. That would have been a great race for the three of us.”
She also anchored the winning 200 freestyle relay for Hannah Zurmuhl, Anna Beno and Brittany Weiss. The foursome posted a meet record time of 1:32.91, lowering the time of 1:33.48 set in 2013 by Hershey’s ColletteRobinson, Meaghan Raab, Vivi Tafuto and Madelyn Veith.
“I’m so thrilled and so happy for our seniors (Zurmuhl and Weiss),” Scott said. “It’s all for them, really.
“This does give us confidence for the rest of the meet. Hopefully, Pennridge will pull out something really special.”
For the second year in a row, the finish in the girls 100 butterfly was the same. Weiss finished second (53.44) to Maddie Hart of Haverford (53.35).
Zurmuhl was fourth in the 50 freestyle (23.50).
Pennridge is third in team scoring with 92 points.
North Penn is having a big meet. The Maidens started off strong with a win in the 200 medley relay.
Megan Zartman, Erin O’Neill, Claudia Thamm and Leah Brown touched the wall in 1:43.87.
The final heat of the 200 individual medley had a North Penn flair to it as three of the eight finalists were Maidens.
Thamm finished second (2:02.70), Kailyn Evans was third (2:03.02) and Zartman was eighth (2:05.28).
Thamm was also 15th in the 100 butterfly (56.74), giving the freshman three events in a single day.
“It wasn’t a hard decision to swim the IM and the fly,” she said. “I love those two events and I’ve been practicing them all season so I felt ready to do this. I do it almost every meet, swim them back to back. I love it.
“I was really excited to have two of my teammates in the IM final with me. It was a big North Penn event.
“We swam really well and it gives us that extra boost for Thursday. Relays score a lot of points, and if we want to win this meet that’s crucial.”
Evans, O’Neill, Baur and Brown finished second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:34.88).
Also for North Penn, Brown was 13th in the 50 freestyle (24.11), Baur was 20th in the 200 freestyle (1:55.12), O’Neill was 27th in the 50 freestyle (24.66) and Maureen Boland Bintner was 27th in the 100 butterfly(59.18).
North Penn leads the team competition with 124 points.
Upper Dublin’s Jenna Johns was fifth in the 100 butterfly (55.61) while the Cardinals’ 200 medley relay of Johns, Abbie Amdor, Rebecca Pendleton and Megan Paris finished fifth (1:46.48).
Amdor was 19th in the 200 freestyle (2:10.41) and Pendleton was 24th in the 100 butterfly (58.78).
Hatboro-Horsham’s 200 freestyle relay of Barbara Schmele, Katie Moore, Grace Riemenschneider and Colleen Claggett finished 19th (1:49.71).
Schmele was also 18th in the 200 individual medley (2:09.66).
Wissahickon’s 200 freestyle relay of Amanda Zlotnikoff, Liliana Xu, Carly Zlotnikoff and Kelly Wild finished 16th (1:39.12).
Carly Zlotnikoff just missed a spot in the consolation heat of the 200 freestyle, finishing 17th (1:55.01).
Also for the Trojans, Amanda Zlotnikoff was 19th in the 50 freestyle (27.27) and Wild was 27th in the 50 freestyle (24.66)
Central Bucks East’s Kirsten Mortimer was 21st in the 200 freestyle (1:55.17). Erin Lengel, Stephanie Chell, Guiliana Ruscio and Mortimer were 18th in the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.73).
The Class AAA meet concludes on Thursday.
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