This week’s notebook highlights a swimmer from Neshaminy as well as the performances of North Penn and Upper Dublin at recent invitationals.
National Conference
A happy birthday for Shirkness - Emily Shirkness got a pretty nice birthday present.
The senior captain at Neshaminy and her teammates defeated William Tennent for the first time in her career.
“It was a nice treat for my 18th birthday,” she said. “What really helped us was the team support. We were all cheering for each other and supporting each other.
“Also we’ve learned to not pay attention to our competitors and what they are doing and to just focus on our own lineup and swimming as fast as we can. That really helped us too because we were concerned with what we had to do and we didn’t worry about what they were doing.
“It was amazing for us.”
Being a captain is a big responsibility.
“It’s worth it,” she said. “It’s an honor and it’s a nice reward for everything I’ve done and worked for.”
Swimming was a new avenue for Shirkness.
“I always wanted to be active but I hated running so I decided to try a new approach and I hopped in the water,” she said. “I’ve been a fish ever since and I’ve loved it.”
She began swimming around age eight and began her competitive career in sixth grade.
“I just knew it was for me right away,” she said.
She would like to equal or better her times from last season.
“I definitely want to do a 2:08 or faster in the 200 free and a 59 in the backstroke,” she said. “I don’t see myself swimming competitively in college so this is the end for me and I want it to be good.”
She has been accepted to Shippensburg and is waiting to hear back from her first choice, Penn State. She plans to become an interpreter and minor in international business. She knows Spanish and French and would like to pursue Chinese or Arabic.
“I think communication is the key to everything,” she said.
Continental Conference
North Penn excels at Wilson Relays - North Penn cleaned up at the competitive Wilson Relays, held Jan. 11 at Wilson.
The girls team scored 242 points to finish second to Hershey (310) while the boys were also second (207) to La Salle (296).
The girls won the 200-yard backstroke relay in 1:51.02.Olivia DeStefano, Kailyn Evans, Kat Perkins and Tara Rogers were the first place foursome.
Evans, Erin O’Neill, Rogers and DeStefano were second in the 200 medley relay (1:50.32), DeStefano, O’Neill, Leah Brown and Rogers took second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.42) and Evans, DeStefano, O’Neill and Rogers were second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:39.19).
Evans, Julie Krout, Heather Hartmann and Zoe Koenig were third in the 400 individual medley relay (4:21.81).
Aimee Baur, Shannon Quinn, Zimmy Tran and Brown took second in the ninth and 10th grade 200 medley relay (1:57.58) and Brown, Tran, Quinnand Baur were second in the ninth and 10th grade 200 freestyle relay (1:44.65) for the Maidens.
For the boys, Thanas Kountroubis, Greg Neidlinger, Brett Else and Liam Kelly placed third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.54).
Corey Smith, Harrison Friel, Nico Kountroubis and David Grove were third in the ninth and 10th grade 200 medley relay (1:43.84).
American Conference
Cardinals take flight - Upper Dublin also participated in the Wilson Relays, with both genders taking sixth place in team scoring (girls 182 points, boys 152 points).
For the girls, Sam Wheatley, Corey Johnson, Samie Hubbard and Casey O’Neill finished second in the 400 individual medley relay (4:21.52) and Wheatley, O’Neill, Johnson and Jenna Johns took the silver in the 200 butterfly relay (1:50.81).
Johns, O’Neill, Sammi Starosta and Wheatley took third in the 200 backstroke relay (1:54.93), Wheatley, Johns, Hubbard and O’Neill were third in the 800 freestyle relay (8:14.08) and Lina Brouse, Caroline Simon, Johnson and Gina Casale were third in the 200 breaststroke relay (2:16.46).
Chris Devlin, Michael Jensen, Devon Polak and Cooper Tollen were third in the 400 individual medley relay (3:42.44) for the boys.
The Cardinals also competed in the first annual Parkland New Year’s Invitational on Jan. 4, hosted by Parkland.
The boys finished second in team scoring with 466 points to Emmaus (582) and the girls were fifth (229). Hershey won the girls team title (587).
Jensen was a double winner for Upper Dublin, taking first in the 200 freestyle (1:46.98) and 100 butterfly (50.92) while Devlin picked up a victory in the 500 freestyle (4:43.73) and took second in the 200 individual medley (1:58.28).
Tollen took third in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.75).
The foursome of Stephen Williamson, Scott Luttmann, Tollen and Jensen won the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.90) while Devlin, Ogden Leyens, Luttmann and Jensen took second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:18.07).
For the girls, Johns won the 100 butterfly (59.09). O’Neill was second in both the 200 freestyle (1:57.70) and 500 freestyle (5:16.73) and Wheatley took third in both the 200 individual medley (2:11.06) and 100 freestyle (54.40).
Wheatley, Megan Paris, O’Neill and Johns were second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:42.67) and Wheatley, O’Neill, Paris and Johns took second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:38.84).
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