Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com will once again recognize a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Jan. 31, 2024)
The senior class of Upper Dublin swimmers knows all about battling adversity. As freshmen, the Cardinals saw their season abbreviated and restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As sophomores, the team was faced with practicing and competing exclusively in unfamiliar pools after a tornado caused extensive damage to the natatorium on the first day of the school year. It was nice to get back to normalcy in their junior season. Then, Districts came. And for Olivia Vitella, so did some unexpected adversity. “The first day of Districts, I ripped two new tech suits,” Vitella said. “It’s a small rip at first, but they’re really super-tight suits and as you try to get it on more, it rips more. It’s hard to go on with a rip like that, that keeps getting bigger. The 200 free is one of the first events. I ended up using one of my teammate’s old tech suits. It was a little worn out, but it was something. But I was freaking out. It took a toll on me mentally, and I didn’t swim well.”
The next day, on the starting blocks of the 500 freestyle, bad luck struck again, as Vitella’s goggles broke. After a scramble to try to fix or replace them, Vitella took her place again on the blocks, and this time delivered a stellar swim, dropping more than 3 seconds off her previous season-best time. “I had a new mindset the second day,” she said. “After I went through it the first time, I knew how to fix it for the next day and swim well. I knew I had to redeem myself a little from the day before.” Her ability to overcome setbacks and stay positive while looking ahead to her next chance in the water serves Vitella well this year as a captain on a Cardinals’ swimming and diving team. Vitella’s versatility and willingness to swim wherever she is needed has also been one of her strengths throughout her time at Upper Dublin and provides the younger swimmers with an excellent role model who embodies the team-first spirit.
And she’s just as important to the team’s success out of the pool as she is in it. Her positive attitude and sunny disposition are counted upon by the coaching staff to help motivate the rest of the team, especially during those dreary early-morning practices. “I’ve really noticed with Olivia this season, she’s trying to be the best captain she can be,” UD girls’ swimming coach Brandon Pierce said. “She finishes dry land workouts before anyone else and is there with a high-five as people come in. She’s the one who will come out to practice early and write a couple words the whiteboard – ‘You got this’ or ‘Let’s have a great Tuesday.’ Somebody might just come in and see that and say ‘OK, I got this.’ That positive vibe is something that us coaches appreciate having on the pool deck. She realized the fun of being a senior leader, and it’s not just her swims, it’s the team success and camaraderie, so she’s trying to do what she can to make sure everyone is feeling good, and everyone is moving in the right direction.”
Vitella also plays lacrosse in the spring and recently completed her senior campaign in field hockey, where she also served as a captain. She primarily played defense but also spent time in the midfield, earning All-League honors for the third straight year. While Vitella has been a part of a few clubs over the years, being a three-sport athlete takes up most of her time outside of the classroom. Additionally, her course load includes several AP and honors-level classes this semester. She’s interested in attending a large college in the south and is looking to major in accounting (following in the footsteps of her mother). She may swim or play field hockey or lacrosse at the club level, but that’s a decision she plans on making once she’s arrived on whichever campus she chooses to attend. And when she’s hung up her goggles for the final time, she will undoubtedly leave a hole that will be difficult for the girls’ swim team to fill. But Pierce prefers to focus not on what the Cardinals will lose, but on what Vitella will leave behind. “I hope our underclassmen have recognized the leader that she is,” Pierce said. “I hope she leaves a legacy people can look back on as being a great captain and a great leader, and that that’s something they can strive to be, too. They can look at her and see she played three sports, she worked hard in the classroom and she worked hard in the pool and the results speak for themselves. She’s leaving that legacy behind for the rest of the team to pick up.”
To read Vitella’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/olivia-vitella-00110916
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Jan. 31, 2024)
The saddest thing in life is wasted talent. That advice, best-known from the movie “A Bronx Tale,” is hard to deny and is certainly applicable. Conversely, making the most of your abilities can be equally gratifying. Such is the case with Council Rock South’s Luke Reitter, a 121-pound grappler with big dreams for his senior season with the Golden Hawks. “My goal is to place in the Top 5 in the state,” said Reitter. “I’m excited for the postseason.” Although he began wrestling at the ripe age of 4 for the CRWA (Council Rock Wrestling Association), it would have been hard to conceive of Reitter being where he is today. “I always joke around with him and his family,” said Council Rock South coach Trey Balasco, who is in his first year as head coach but was a longtime assistant who has known Reitter through the youth program as well. “He is probably one of the most non-athletic kids that I have ever coached. It’s actually been cool to see. You can say this about a lot of kids, but he is truly like that dream kid you would want to have on your team and to represent Council Rock South.”
So how has that been possible? “He is a sheer product of having his nose to the grindstone and doing everything right. He never misses practice,” said Balasco. “He takes care of all his grades and schoolwork. He is always the first person there to help out. He’s not naturally gifted. He had to work hard to get everything to get where he is at. If you put him up against some of our all-time greats, in terms of hard work, he is right up there with them. He is always putting the work in and all about doing things the right way.” In practical terms, what does that look like? It means living and breathing the sport – 24/7, 365 days a year. “He has put in his time,” Bolasco said. “There are very few weekends throughout the year where he is not competing in wrestling. He has definitely taken it very seriously with trying to achieve his goals and working year-round at it, that’s for sure.”
Reitter was able to reach regionals as a freshman and used that as a springboard into his sophomore year, which brought more individual and team success. “I knew I would be varsity all four years, but I didn’t expect to have the career that I have had. Getting a state medal my sophomore year really boosted my confidence,” said Reitter. “I got into CrossFit training. I was at 113 (pounds) for the first half of the year, and I had a decent season. For the postseason, I cut it down to 106 and I placed No. 8 in the state. That was a great feeling. As a team, we were really solid. We won districts. We were one of the top teams in the state.” Reitter was revved up for his junior year, hoping to continue his progression, but the meniscus in his right knee had other ideas. A full tear kept him out from November until mid-January. While he still overcame the injury in a remarkable amount of time and made it to states and even won two matches there, he fell short of medaling. Not the type to make excuses, Reitter could not help but wonder what would have been had it not been for the injury. “I was definitely not the same,” he confessed. “It was hard to come back from that. It was a tough injury. I had to build strength back in my knee. It was uncomfortable. I had to get used to wearing a knee brace. I just had to figure a way around it, and the coaching staff helped me a lot with that.”
That brings us back into the present, where Reitter likes to live. He is up to 121 pounds and ready to chase his dreams before parlaying his 3.8 GPA into a goal of wrestling in college at the Division III level. “Right now, I believe he is sitting in that eighth spot in the state rankings,” said Balasco. “But, between 4-8, they are all one-point matches. His seniority, his worth ethic, his wrestling IQ and awareness put him in a position where he can hang with any of them. He can beat them all. I know his goal is to get as high as he can on the podium at states.”
To read Reitter’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/luke-reitter-00110914
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