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By Alex Frazier
Got motivation?
You bet.
That’s never a question when two Central Bucks schools go at it.
The biggest question is who’s going to win?
That’s never a given.
“When the CB schools go against each other, it’s definitely a meet to get excited for,” said Central Bucks East’s Katie Dempster. “You want to beat your friends, but at the same time it’s fun to go against somebody you know.”
In Thursday’s meet at Central Bucks East, CB South came in the underdog, but gave the Patriots some stiff competition in both the boys’ and the girls’ meet.
The East girls escaped with a 98-88 win, while the East boys had it a bit easier in a 110-76 victory.
“I knew South was really good and we had to go in pretty strong,” said Dempster, who won the 100 freestyle in a personal best time of 56.32 and was runner-up in the 200 individual medley with the same time she swam at districts last year. “I was really psyched up for the meet.”
“I was pumped all week,” said C.B. East’s Kevin Magee.
He knew he would probably have to swim against his friend Tim Ware from C.B South.
“He does backstroke with me, so I was really pumped for my backstroke,” said Magee. “We always swim our fastest when we swim each other.”
By the time the two did swim against each other, the meet was already decided, but Magee, like his team, won the battle finishing at 55.13 to Ware’s 56.35.
East boys coach Ed Walsh was surprised by the final score.
“I didn’t think we would win as handily as we did,” he said. “We had eight seniors graduate last year, seven of whom scored somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400 points. We have good guys at the top, but we don’t have as much depth.”
Many of the swimmers on both team are friends when they aren’t swimming against each other.
Take Dempster, for example.
In the 500 freestyle one of her best-friend teammates Ellie O’Brien was swimming against another good friend Sam Evangelista from South.
Who does she cheer for?
What made it even harder was when the race came down to the last 25 yards for second place; Evangelista nipped O’Brien by a scant .65 of a second. In a race that long, it was a gripping finish.
“That was pretty interesting,” she said. “They were head and head.”
Although the East girls had it won going into the final 400 freestyle relay, it wasn’t a given earlier in the meet when South tied it up 39-39 after diving and again knotted the score at 63 after the 500 free.
“That psyched us up more,” said Dempster. “We psyched up the freshmen and the sophomores to make sure they were going to come in pretty strong.”
For East it was the first dual meet of the year.
“It was back and forth the whole way,” said East coach Tom Kane. “I knew it would be. They are a very strong team that just keeps getting better every year. I’m proud of how we came back.”
Kane said that the 100 freestyle and the 200 free relay were huge turning points in the meet for the Patriots. Dempster and Sarah Richards went 1-2 in the 100 free and East was 1-3 in the 200 free relay.
“Without that 100 free, we don’t win the meet,” said Kane. “The ultimate key was getting the first place in the 200 free relay. That was real tight the whole way.”
Tight as in .39 of a second.
South coach Kevin Murray was particularly pleased with the outcome.
“Coming in we thought it would be close,” said Murray. “I didn’t think it would be close the whole meet. I’m really proud the way the team swam. It’s never been this close before. We’re closing the gap.”
Murray complimented Melissa Ross (first 200 free and 100 fly), Lauren Ahrens (first 200 IM and 100 backstroke), Evangelista (second fly and 500) and Stephanie Nickerson, who PR’d in the 200 free and the 500 (first).
South boys coach Jeff Lake was also pleased with the progress his team is making.
“We did really well,” he said. “You have to hand it to them. East has an awesome, awesome team.”
South was just coming off a win over Abington on Monday and the Titans kept the momentum going.
Lake credited Ilan Khyat with his wins in the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke, Paul Johnston in the 500 and JJ Picardi.
The Titans have grown from 13 swimmers three years ago to 37 this year, which bodes well for the future.
“We’re really coming along,” said Lake.
Girls
Central Bucks East 98, Central Bucks South 88
200 medley relay—Central Bucks East (MacKenzie Hubing, Kathryn Viola, Nicole Guss, Sarah Richards) 1:57.88; CB South 2:01.56; CB East, 2:04.97
200 freestyle—Melissa Ross (CBS) 2:02.15, Ellie O’Brien (CBE) 2:09.40, Victoria Ryan (CBS) 2:09.64
200 IM—Lauren Ahrens (CBS) 2:13.77, Katie Dempster (CBE) 2:18.73, Hannah Cherry (CBS) 2:24.28
50 free—Kelsey Schmidt (CBS) 26.10, Richards (CBE) 26.68, Guss (CBE) 26.93
Diving—Lyndsay Schmidt (CBS) 219.95, Adele Frey (CBE) 184.80, Caroline Roberts (CBS) 165.15
100 butterfly—Ross (CBS) 1:00.88, Sam Evangelista (CBS) 1:04.43, Kendall Kersteier (CBE) 1:05
100 freestyle—Dempster (CBE) 56.32, Richards (CBE) 58.05, Schmidt (CBS) 58.73
500 freestyle—Stephanie Nickerson (CBS) 5:39.63, Evangelista (CBS) 5:44.14, O’Brien (CBE) 5:44.79
200 freestyle relay—Central Bucks East (Kirsteier, Guss, Richards, Dempster) 1:46.46; CB South, 1:46.85, CB East, 1:54.25
100 backstroke—Ahrens (CBS) 1:03.53, Hubing (CBE) 1:04.57, Deven Iatavola (CBE) 1:08.22
100 breaststroke—Viola (CBE) 1:12.80, Cherry (CBS) 1:15.52, Ally Briegel, 1:17.41
400 freestyle relay—Central Bucks South (Schmidt, Evangelista, Ross, Ahrens) 3:54.76; CB East, 4:00.16; CB East, 4:06.97
Boys
Central Bucks East 110, Central Bucks South 76
200 medley relay—Central Bucks East (Kevin Magee, Kerry Thompson, Mark Dilemmo, Riley Weber) 1:41.89; CB South, 1:51.07; CB South 1:54.06
200 freestyle—Dilemmo (CBE) 1:51.22, Tim Ware (CBS) 1:57.64, Ty Kooser (CBE) 1:59.52
200 IM—Ilan Khyat (CBS) 2:04.19, Sam Rosenthal (CBE) 2:10.10, Thompson (CBE) 2:16.29
50 freestyle—Magee (CBE) 22.73, Mike Cox (CBE) 24.64, Ian Scollion (CBS) 24.93
Diving—John Brice (CBE) 201.90, CJ Gimpel (CBS) 201.05, Matt Nickerson (CBS) 187.65
100 butterfly—Dilemmo (CBE) 54.09, Conor Wattanabe (CBS) 1:01.54, Cox CBE) 1:03
100 freestyle—Weber (CBE) 49.01, Scollion (CBS) 54.68, Chris Carr (CBE) 55.44
500 freestyle—Rosenthal (CBE) 5:17.34, Kooser (CBE) 5:24.36, Paul Johnston (CBS) 5:33.16
200 freestyle relay—Central Bucks East (Magee, Cox, Thompson, Weber) 1:33.67; CB East, 1:41.37; CB South, 1:42.57
100 backstroke—Magee (CBE) 55.13, Ware (CBS) 56.35, Charlie O’Connor (CBE) 1:09
100 breaststroke—Khyat (CBS) 1:03.97, Thompson (CBE) 1:05.97, John Marron (CBS) 1:07.80
400 freestyle relay—Central Bucks East (Dilemmo, Rosenthal, Cox, Weber) 3:31.34; CB South, 3:45.46; CB South, 3:46.23
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