CR North’s Jimmy Newman, CB South’s Lindsay Schmidt and Upper Dublin’s Carolyn Meier are featured in this week’s notebook.
National Conference
Newman closes career on high note - Jimmy Newman was easy to pick out at last week’s PIAA Class AAA championship meet.
The Council Rock North senior sported the biggest smile on the deck.
Newman competed in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing 24th with a time of 1:45.88.
But he felt lucky to have been in the meet at all.
Newman did not initially have a spot in the 200 freestyle. He did not get an automatic berth and his time of 1:45.61 ranked him 17th among at-large swimmers. The state only takes the first 16 at-large so he’d missed by one spot.
But someone ahead of him scratched from the meet, giving Newman the spot.
“I really wanted to make the most of this opportunity,” he said. “I got here last year so I took it for granted a little, but this year I learned that just getting to the meet is really awesome.
“It was a lot of fun and it meant so much more to me because I almost didn’t get here. This is the best meet I’ve ever gone to and I’m so glad I got this chance.”
Newman also competed in the 500 freestyle at the District One meet, but stopped mid-race due to an asthma attack.
“I’m very happy that wasn’t my last high school swim,” he said. “I got to finish my high school career on a different note, a positive note. I got to complete a race and swim with the fastest people in the state.”
A senior, he will swim at Division III Westminster College, where he plans to major in secondary education.
Westminster is coached by Rob Klamut, who just completed his 27th year at the helm.
“I’m so excited for college now,” Newman said. “I’m going to be swimming for an awesome coach.”
Continental Conference
Schmidt takes silver - What a comeback Lindsay Schmidt made.
The senior diver from Central Bucks South came into the PIAA Class AAA championships off of a disappointing fifth place finish in the District One meet.
Schmidt, the favorite to win the district title, failed a dive in the preliminaries to drop from first place all the way down to 17th place. After the semifinals she had moved all the way up to 10th place.
She clawed her way up to fifth by the end of the 11-dive meet, earning herself a trip to states, as the top seven advanced.
Schmidt made the most of her final state appearance, finishing second with a score of 440.40 points. She moved up a spot from last year’s third place finish.
“I definitely feel good about being able to make it here,” she said. “It showed me how much I can improve and how strong and independent I am. After it happened I worked hard to come back and I couldn’t be more proud of myself for that.”
Schmidt led throughout the competition but was overtaken in the final round by Lauren Lamendola of Pine-Richland, who posted a 447.75.
Lamendola was last year’s silver medalist.
“I did move up one place from last year so I’m very happy,’ Schmidt said. “Everything was very consistent and I couldn’t help but smile as I went through it all. It was a great last meet for high school.”
She will attend West Virginia next year.
“I’m very excited and can’t wait to experience college now,” said Schmidt, who was also the Suburban One League Continental Conference champion. “I couldn’t ask for anything better to end my season. It was great and definitely a meet to remember.”
American Conference
Meier contributes for Cardinals - Carolyn Meier didn’t quite have the state meet she’d envisioned.
Unfortunately for the Upper Dublin senior, she got the flu in the week between districts and states.
“My energy level wasn’t really there,” she said. “I missed five days of practice.
“But I’m pretty happy with the times I had. I was just trying to finish strong and do it for the team and not as an individual thing.”
She finished 21st in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.76 and 27th in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:59.23.
She also anchored the sixth place 400 freestyle relay for Casey O’Neill, Sam Wheatley and Emily Houser. The foursome finished in 3:31.31.
She will continue swimming at Shippensburg next year.
“It’s not like this was my last meet ever,” she said. “I still have college. All I can do is move forward from here and learn from this.”
Upper Dublin finished in a tie for 10th place in team scoring with Mount Lebanon of District Seven with 65 points.
“Our goal as a team was to finish in the top 10 so we did it,” Meier said.
Also for the Cardinals, O’Neill was 20th in the 200 freestyle (1:56.67), Sam Wheatley was 11th in the 200 individual medley (2:07.72), Corey Johnson was fourth in diving (420.85 points), Kelly Toner was 13th in diving (384.00) and Houser took 29th in the 100 backstroke (1:00.77).
Upper Dublin was also 10th in the 200 freestyle relay (1:37.65).
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