By Alex Frazier
A final tribute to the Suburban One League swimmers who brought home medals from the PIAA State Championships.
Council Rock South junior Kate Dillione finished a very successful junior season at states, collecting her first three medals.
“This year was special because last year we didn’t do our best times,” said Dillione.
Dillione had been to states the past two years in the 200 and 500 freestyles, but didn’t have anything to show for it.
This year she swam in two individual events and two relays.
Instead of freestyle, Dillione switched up her events to the 200 IM and backstroke.
“I wanted to show off my other strokes,” she said, “and I really enjoy the fly.”
She was a bit disappointed by her first event, the 200 individual medley, where she placed 20th with a time of 2:10.47.
“I went up two seconds,” she said.
Although Dillione doesn’t have one event she focuses on, the 200 IM is close.
“I really, really like the IM because it’s a mix of all strokes and it’s a dead sprint,” she said. “You never know your opponent’s weaknesses or their strengths. I definitely want to do it senior year, too, so hopefully I can improve.”
Dillione rallied in her second event the 100 butterfly to place fifth with a time of 56.48.
“I was nervous in the IM,” she said. “It was my first event of the day and I had two events after that. After the IM, I was ready to do my best and prove to myself that I could do better. I was really determined. I’m glad it worked out.”
In her third event of the day, she led off the 200 freestyle relay that placed fifth.
The next day she also led off the fifth-place 400 free relay.
On both relays, she swam with her older sister Maggie, who will be swimming in college next year.
“I love being on the relays with my sister,” she said. “It was fun for my parents and family to watch. We’re all really hard workers and we love the sport. It was exciting for all of us to be working hard together, and we all dropped a lot of time.”
With Maggie gone next year, the Indians will be looking for a replacement.
They may not have to look far because Kate’s younger sister Tommie will be moving into the high school next year.
“She’s just as fast as us,” said Dillione. “Hopefully we’ll do just as well or better.”
•••
Melanie Busch of William Tennent picked up her fifth and sixth medals at the state meet this year.
As a freshman she placed fourth in the 100 backstroke and was fifth in the 200 individual medley. Last year she was fourth in both those events.
This year she opted out of the IM and elected the 50 freestyle instead.
“I was seeded equally in both events and I liked the 50 better,” she said.
The 50 free is a risky event since so much depends on the start and turn.
That proved to be a good move as she finished second in a time of 23.55.
“It’s so close between all the people in the race,” she said, “but I felt real good. I’m happy I placed second.”
Especially considering she was fifth at districts
“It made me a little bit nervous; it made me realize how close everyone was,” she said. “I just tried to stay confident when I was there. I wasn’t fully tapered for districts.”
She also finished third in her favorite event, the backstroke, clocking a 55.58.
“I was pretty happy with it,” she said.
Except for a diver last year and three boys this year, Busch has been the only female Tennent swimmer at the state meet.
But she said she wasn’t lonely.
“I know a lot of people from other teams, so I hang out with them,” she said. “I sat with Council Rock North for pretty much the whole thing. I’m kind of adopted. It’s still fun.”
•••
Freestyle wasn’t working out for Upper Dublin’s David Derr.
So he decided to switch to butterfly and backstroke.
That paid off.
He qualified for states in both events.
“I was always pretty good at them, and I was just not happy with how my freestyle was developing,” he explained. “Before this year, we’ve had other swimmers that could do backstroke, so I would never have to do that. I decided to start swimming stroke in season and I was improving throughout the year, so I decided to stick with it.”
He finished 14th in the fly with a time of 51.46, slightly slower than his district time.
In the 100 backstroke, he earned his first individual medal with an eighth place finish in a personal best time of 50.92.
“This was my first year swimming tapered, and I went significantly faster,” he said.
He also led off the 200 medley relay, which placed fifth.
Coupled with a relay medal as a sophomore, Derr finished his high school swimming career with three state medals.
Until this year, Derr also played football and baseball. Last year he tore his ACL in the first football game but postponed surgery until after swim season. That’s when he decided to focus just on swimming.
“This year I swam in the fall for the first time, so I was in a lot better shape and I was more motivated and ready for the season,” he said.
Next year Derr plans to swim in college and major in accounting. He hasn’t finalized his decision yet, but LaSalle and West Chester are his top two choices.
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