By Alex Frazier
National Conference
Meet…Melanie Busch
For the past two years, William Tennent’s Melanie Busch has medaled at states in the backstroke and the 200 individual medley.
She could probably go to states in almost any individual event except the breaststroke as she qualified for districts in all the others.
“Melanie is an extremely talented athlete,” said coach Lisa Forlini. “She is gifted at all the strokes.”
That gave the coaches a lot of flexibility during the season when they were preparing lineups.
The backstroke remains her favorite event, as her top billing at districts would suggest.
“That’s the one I feel good in,” she said. “I work on that in practice, and I can breathe the whole time.”
After placing fourth twice at states in the IM, she is giving that up in favor of the 50 free this year.
“I wanted to do what I liked better, which was the 50 because it was quicker,” she said. “I’m taking a little risk, I guess. I’m nervous but hopefully everything will go OK.”
“It was a combined decision,” said Forlini. “We all sat down and thought about what she wanted to do. We look at what might be good for her. It was a different event, something new. She’s been swimming the IM for a couple of years and she decided she’d like to go out and do the 50.”
Apparently it was a good idea, as she is seeded second for districts in the 50. She will also swim on the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay.
As far as states, she said, “I’m just going to go out there and see what I can do. I don’t really have any expectations.”
Continental Conference
Meet…Riley Weber
Central Bucks East’s Riley Weber is looking forward to swimming the 50 freestyle at states this year.
“I’m pretty excited about that,” he said.
Not that it’s a foregone conclusion he will qualify at districts this weekend, but if he does he will be given the opportunity.
He didn’t get a chance to swim the 50 much this year as coach Ed Walsh used him mostly in the 100 free and all three relays. But when he wasn’t swimming for East, he competed in the 50 on weekends for the Central Bucks Swim Team.
“I did get a little bit of practice in, but I didn’t get as much as I wanted to,” he said.
But the 50 is an event he enjoys about as much as the 100 free.
“They’re totally different races in my mind,” he said. “The 100, I have a lot more room for a little bit of error. But in the 50 it’s so much technique. It’s hard to compare the two. I like them the same because they’re so much fun to swim.”
At leagues, he won the 50 (22.26) and the 100 (48.50). Those times were good enough to get him seeded No.1 in the 50 and No. 4 in the 100 at districts this weekend.
Last year as a freshman, Weber competed at states in the 200 freestyle and the 200 free relay.
“I did all right,” he said. “It was freshman year, so I was trying to go with the flow of things. This year I’m more focused on making times and doing well at states.”
This year, he will also anchor the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay.
“I love relays, especially anchoring, because by the time I’m getting up to swim, my heart is racing,” he said. “I have so much adrenalin pumping through my body. It’s a feeling I love.”
Besides freestyle, Riley is also a respectable breaststroker and IMer.
“He’s extremely mature for his age,” said Walsh. “You can sit down and have an intelligent conversation with him. He’s just a nice young man. He’s the kind of young man that if you had as a son you’d be very happy to have as a son.”
American Conference
Meet…Alex Chialastri
Time’s running out for Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Alex Chialastri.
The junior has yet to qualify for states, and he knows if he wants to become known to college coaches, he’d better do it sooner than later.
“This is a big year,” he said. “They’re all looking at you.”
If his performance at Suburban’s is any indication, he should achieve his goal. He won the 100 backstroke in a record time of 52.94 and also won the 200 individual medley in 1:59.72, nearly six seconds ahead of the next finisher.
Last year he missed qualifying for states in the individual medley because of a false start.
“I kind of twitched and was falling in before he said start,” he said. “If I hadn’t false started, my time would have been good enough to go to states. I watched it on video. It was real close between false starting and an amazing start.”
This year he will be swimming the 200 freestyle instead of the IM. He is seeded third going into districts.
“My coaches were saying that I could do mid-distance freestyle,” said Chialastri. “I can do IM well, but my breaststroke is not that good, so the only other mid-distance thing is freestyle. The first time I did it, I did pretty well so I stuck with it.”
But his favorite event is the backstroke. He broke the school record in the event last year by about one-tenth of a second.
That gave him a little notoriety around school.
“Coach sent out e-mails to all the teachers and everyone said, ‘Oh, I hear you did really good,’” said Chialastri.
Celebrity for a day.
This year he has lowered his own mark on three separate occasions.
He is seeded fourth in backstroke for districts.
“He looks to be in pretty good shape this year,” said coach Taren Igou. “He has a good chance.”
He will also swim the butterfly leg on the 200 medley relay and a leg on the 200 freestyle relay.
He may have a better chance of getting to states in an individual event, but he’s hoping he and his teammates will be able to go on a relay.
“We’re going to have to have real good swims,” he said.
“He’s having a great season,” said Igou. “He’s an all-around good guy. He’s definitely one of the best swimmers I’ve ever had on the team. He makes everybody work harder. He’s definitely a positive influence.”
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