This week’s swimming notebook features swimmers from CR South, CB East and Cheltenham
National Conference
Oh captain, my captain - Jane Gringolts takes being a team captain very seriously.
“There’s so much more responsibility,” said the senior on Council Rock South. “I have to make sure I’m setting the example.
“I don’t want people doing things that I do and find that they’re wrong, so I always have to be on top of it and make sure that I’m doing things right so they do it right, too.
“There are things you don’t even think of until you’re a captain and you have to do them.
“I was ordering sweat shirts for the team. I love this team and I’ll do anything for them and I didn’t want to mess up the order so I think I checked it at least 100 times. I can spell the name of every girl on the team because I checked the order so many times just to be sure everything was correct.”
CR South began the season 2-0 but opened 2012 with a loss to William Tennent, 103-82.
“We won our first two meets so we were really excited to go into the holiday break undefeated,” Gringolts said. “But lately, so many girls have been sick including me. They’re pushing through school just to go to practice. They’re exhausted but meets are what is getting them through the week.
“I’ve been sick but I won’t take a day off from school because I know there’s meets. I’m just pushing through with everyone else.
“But everyone won’t be sick the whole year and we have a lot of meets left so we’re definitely expecting a lot of improvement this year.”
Some newcomers are providing points for the Golden Hawks.
“We have a lot of good new people including two freshmen, Faye Melekos and Sydney McNamee,” Gringolts said. They’re really working so hard and they’re really helping out.”
“We got so much more connected just as people this year and we’re really comfortable with each other so that’s helped us too. Everyone’s cheering and we’re really together.
“I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the season. I think we have more good swims in front of us and definitely more district qualifiers.”
Continental Conference
Finishing strong - Kendall Kirsteier’s high school career has been interesting, to say the least.
The Central Bucks East senior had a great freshman year, narrowly missing states.
“That was frustrating but it gave me a lot of hope for the next year,” Kirsteier said.
Her sophomore year was not as fruitful as she envisioned.
“I had some health problems and my head wasn’t in the right place,” she admitted.
By her junior year she was back on track and qualified for states in the 100 butterfly.
But a bout of mononucleosis the week before the meet ruined the season. She had to scratch from the state meet.
“That was really disappointing,” she said. “All that hard work for nothing.”
Last year she finished eighth at the District One Class AAA meet in the fly with her time of 59.50. She was also 18th in the 100 freestyle (54.32).
She is confident this will be her year.
“I’m training really hard and hopefully that will add up to finally getting to states,” she said.
She is also excited about her team.
“Everyone is really swimming well,” she said. “I definitely like our team this year.”
She is the younger sister of former East standout Caitlin Kirsteier, who went on to swim at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
“Caitlin has almost all the school records at East so it’s definitely hard to follow her,” the younger Kirsteier said. “There’s a lot of pressure, especially since we both swim fly, but I don’t think about it.”
Kendall has narrowed down her college choices and is considering her older sister’s alma mater, along with Tampa and Delaware.
She would like to major in kinesiology or exercise science.
In her spare time, she enjoys coaching swimming for the Special Olympics.
“It’s so much fun,” she said. “It’s a different aspect of swimming. They really love it, and they swim with the same passion we do.”
American Conference
Flaks leads Panthers - Ari Flaks is a junior, but he’s one of the veterans on the Cheltenham boys team.
“He’s a team leader,” coach Tony Breuninger said. “He’s at every practice making sure the guys are all doing what they should.
“Grades are very important here and the guys have to give me a report every Thursday. I don’t even have to ask him. He just comes to me every week and says, ‘Coach, here’s my grades.’ He’s that kind of guy.”
Last year he finished ninth in the 100-yard butterfly and 10th in the 200 individual medley at the conference championships, where he was also a member of the fourth place 200 medley relay.
He qualified for the District One Class AAA meet as a member of the medley relay, swimming the butterfly leg along with Zach Martz, Dillon Warr and Kyle Brown. He was the youngest member of the relay.
Matz graduated, and Warr and Brown are now seniors.
--Norristown sophomore Nicole Martorella has added a new school record to her growing collection.
On Thursday, Jan. 5, she broke a 36-year-old school record, setting a new standard of 1:11.70 in the 100-meter backstroke.
The old mark of 1:11.15 had been stood since 1976.
Martorella was already the school record holder in the 100 breaststroke.
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