By Alex Frazier
National Conference
With one meet against Bensalem remaining on the season, the William Tennent boys are 4-1 in the league and 8-2 overall.
“We’re doing very well,” said assistant coach Jamie Forlini. “We’re pleased with how they are training and how they’ve jelled as a team. They are willing to do what it takes to be successful as a group.”
The Panthers have a lot of top-notch swimmers and a batch of brand new freshmen that improve their depth.
“They’ve been swimming as age groupers and they’re now stepping up and being able to earn some points,” said Forlini.
One of the biggest highlights of the season was beating Council Rock North for the first time since Council Rock split into two schools.
“It was an exciting meet,” said Forlini. “Both teams raced hard. We were fortunate through our efforts to come out on top. They had a bit more depth than we do. We took some chances with our lineup. We were able to score three divers and everybody contributed that day.”
The Panthers have qualified all three relays to districts as well as the following individuals: Senior Stephen Thomas in the butterfly, backstroke and 50 and 100 freestyles; senior Eric Shassling in the fly, 100 and 200 free, and the 200 IM; senior Zack Bush in the 100 breaststroke and the IM; and sophomore Connor Orlini in every event.
“They have far exceeded what we thought they would do,” said Forlini of his boys’ squad. “They worked together to push each other in practice. We haven’t had a team that’s worked that well together in years.”
The Tennent girls have two league losses to Council Rock North and Pennsbury.
As Forlini described it, those two teams are the cream of the crop while the rest of the league battles for third.
“We’re probably about where we’re going to get with what we have,” said Forlini. “Each year we work hard to do the best we can do within the team ourselves. I’m really pleased with how well we’ve done as a team because we lost eight seniors who were major scoring contributors. This year’s group has really worked together.”
Three of the girls have qualified for districts so far. They include senior Amanda Thomas in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles and the backstroke; sister (and triplet with Stephen) Allison Thomas in the breaststroke; and Melanie Busch in every event.
“Our team is pretty evenly divided as far as numbers per class,” said Forlini. “We have experienced upperclassmen and our underclassmen, like sophomores and freshmen, have been filling in some nice areas in terms of depth.”
Continental Conference
The Souderton boys and girls both have identical league records at 6-1, which in the Continental is almost like winning the conference given the strength of North Penn year in and year out.
The Big Red boys diving team is easily the best in the conference, perhaps the district. The Indians are led by sophomore Ozzie Moyer and followed in no particular order (depends who’s on that day), sophomore Tyler Wenzel, senior Marcus Dare and freshman Matt Evers.
“We have a legitimate four guys that could qualify for states,“ said coach Todd Bauer. Moyer will be returning after medaling last year.
In addition to all four divers qualifying for districts, there will also be nine Souderton swimmers. Heading the list are seniors Chris Hink (50 free), Lee Stiles (100 and 200 free, 200 IM), Michael Trout (100 butterfly), Sean Corcoran (100 breaststroke, 200 IM, 50 free) and Dan Yocum (500 free). They will be joined by underclassmen junior Cody Veit (200 and 500 free), sophomores Michael Hay (100 and 200 free) and Elliott Miller (backstroke, 500 free) and freshman Nick Wieder (500 free).
“The guys are really young,” said Bauer. “We’re coming along. We have a couple of guys shooting for states and other guys that are looking to get experience under their belt.”
The boys finished the season at 9-3, having lost to Lehigh Valley power Parkland as well as Pennsbury and North Penn.
“We call it a rebuilding year, but 9-3 is still pretty good,” said Bauer. “We win the meets we usually win.”
The Souderton girls have some excellent top-tier swimmers and a group of very promising freshmen.
The girls finished their season at 10-2, losing only to Parkland and North Penn.
Senior Missy Doll, a state returner, currently holds the fifth fastest time in the state in the 50 freestyle, eighth fastest in the 100 free and is 12th in the 200 free.
Classmate Mariel Kush has qualified for districts in four events and is state ranked in three of them. They include the 500 freestyle, the 200 IM (33rd), the 200 free (30th) and the 100 butterfly (41st).
Junior Chloe Thomas is ranked 12th in the 50 free, and she has also made the district cut in the 100 free.
“I would expect them to compete at a high level at leagues, districts and states,” said Bauer.
Sarah Kesack is the lone sophomore heading to districts in the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke.
The future of Souderton swimming appears to lie in the freshman class with six of them qualifying for districts.
Erica Witoslawski has made district times in the IM, 200 free and the butterfly; Alyssa Santangelo made the cut in the 50 free and backstroke; Bekah Hershey made it in the breaststroke; Laureanna Zrada qualified in the 200 and 500 free; Megan Fuery is going in the butterfly; and Bronwyn Smith qualified in the 500.
“This year’s freshman class could rival last year’s senior class,” said Bauer. “It remains to be seen how they perform at the end of the year. The veterans I expect to be at their best; the under girls I’m looking for them to get the experience and be a supporting cast for the big guns.”
American Conference
Springfield is looking forward to its last SOL league meet, as the Spartans will move to the Bicentennial League next year, and with just one other school that swims (Lower Moreland), there is no league meet.
Fortunately, neighborhood rivals like Wissahickon and Upper Dublin have agreed to keep Springfield on their non-league schedule next year.
Even though the numbers are down this year, the Springfield girls have lost just one league meet, that to perennial power Upper Dublin.
“They have been absolutely incredible this year,” said coach Bud Reiner, who is in his first year as head coach after 14 as an assistant. “I challenged them at the very beginning of the year that our workouts were going to be different this year and every one of them except two swam four events in every single meet. And they were absolutely incredible.”
In five meets the Spartans swam some events unofficial.
One of the highlights of the season was beating Radnor, a team with whom the Spartans have built a friendly non-league rivalry.
“They were more excited about beating Radnor than anything else,” said Reiner. “They’re a high benchmark.”
Nine of the 15 swimmers have already made districts.
Senior Alexia Tomlinson (three relays, backstroke and 200 free), senior Cara Vogelbacher (all three relays and butterfly) and junior Brigid Clark (all three relays, 50 and 100 free and backstroke) are returning individual state qualifiers.
Senior and assistant captain Kelsey Leis has qualified in the 200 free and backstroke; junior Samantha Chamberlin made the cuts in the 200 and 500 free and the 400 relay; senior Monica DiStefano is going in the breaststroke and 200 IM; junior Jenny Uehling will go in the IM and is just .2 of a second off in the breaststroke; senior Kira Fallon qualified in the 200 relay; and Jeannie Grieve will compete in the IM and backstroke.
The Spartans will lose some good seniors this year but have a promising group of freshmen waiting in the wings.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” said Reiner. “They’ve really stepped up. Their times have been going crazy. I’m excited to see what happens after taper. I think we’re going to do real well at districts. I think I’ll get a lot of individuals to states.”
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