This week’s notebook features swimmers from CR North, CB East and Springfield. Check back for photos of the North Penn-Upper Dublin meet.
National Conference
Heese looking to contribute - This year looks to be a rebuilding year for the Council Rock North boys team.
Sophomore Brandon Heese looks to be a part of that.
“Our phenoms are gone, but if we keep improving it will still be a good season for us and we’ll get back on track,” Heese said.
“There are some meets we aren’t going to win, but if we swim our best, we’ll improve a lot and challenge ourselves and that will help us down the road.”
The Indians are the defending SOL National champions.
“I’m really excited to start the league season,” Heese said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how things turn out.”
Last year he was new to the program.
“I had a lot to learn but at the end of the season I started getting good times and improving,” he said. “I think this year I’ll have an even better year.”
Heese did not qualify for the District One Class AAA meet last year, so his final meet of the season was the conference championships.
At that meet, he did a personal best in his main event, the 100-yard freestyle.
“I was doing 57s all year and I did a 55 there,” he said. “My goal for this year was to beat that time and I’ve already done it a couple of times, which shocked me. It’s a big goal to go to districts. The consideration time is around a 50 (it’s 50.95) and I’m at a 53 so I’m getting closer.”
He is also working on a second stroke, the breaststroke.
“I didn’t want to just do freestyle,” he said. “I think you have to have another stroke and I’ve been trying to get my time down in that as well.”
Continental Conference
Griffith stepping into leadership role - Lauren Griffith can thank her mother for her swimming career.
“When I was seven, my mom told me I had to swim at least until I was 12 for safety reasons, and I just fell in love with the sport,” the Central Bucks East senior said. “I was swimming at Fanny Chapman and I realized this was the sport for me so I stuck with it.”
She takes being a team captain very seriously.
“It’s my responsibility to be a leader,” she said. “The captains that I swam under in the past have just been awesome and I’m hoping to continue that tradition and keep everyone as excited as I was when I was a freshman.”
The SOL Continental Conference is a tough a league as it gets.
“We lost some really good seniors from last year but we have a couple of freshmen coming in who are ready to go so I’m optimistic for our team,” Griffith said. “Every meet is a fight but I think we have what it takes to come out on top.”
Last year she received an eighth place medal at the PIAA Class AAA meet as a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay.
“I’d love to swim an individual event at states,” she said. “It would be amazing to swim four events. It’s such a great meet.”
She is eying the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke as her individual events.
She has not committed to a college yet but is considering Ursinus and Widener as she waits to hear from other schools. She is hoping to major in biology as a pre-med.
American Conference
Quigg looking to come back strong - Katie Quigg is focused on making this season count.
The Springfield junior is working through a shoulder injury.
“Awhile back I inflamed my rotator cuff and the tissue is stretched out so it’s been very loose,” she said. “I’ve been getting cortisone shots and doing physical therapy to try to keep it going. It’s been hard but I’m more determined than ever to do my best.”
The problem caused her to miss time during the water poloseason and she gave up playing lacrosse.
“This season is really going to test me because I’m trying to come back and I’m not really in the greatest shape,” she said. “I want topush myself to get my butterfly time down as much as possible to help the team.
“My goal for myself is to get that fly time down and tomotivate the other girls to do their best times.”
She feels good about the Spartans this year.
“We’re really young but the girls have really stepped up and we’ve been able to push through some hard times with injuries and such,” she said.“Everyone’s getting their best times and I feel that we’ll be competitive.”
Springfield is Class AA at the district and state level.
“People think that Class AA is easier but what they don’trealize is that there are fewer automatic spots so it’s hard to get to states,”she said. “That would be a real stretch for me but it would be really nice.”
She was 11th in the 100 butterfly and 16th in the 100breaststroke at last year’s district meet.
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