Swimmers from Pennsbury, Souderton & Upper Moreland are featured in this week’s notebook.
SOL National Conference
Liam White, Pennsbury
Liam White has a pretty simple explanation for how he became a swimmer..jpg)
“I was bad at every other sport,” said White, a junior. “Swimming I could do.”
He began his swimming career at age four and has been in the water ever since.
“You jump in that pool and start swimming and every problem goes away,” he said. “There’s nothing like it. This was a great choice for me.”
He is focused on swimming.
“I don’t have any other activities other than trying to keep my grades up,” he said. “I’m a year-round swimmer so this is what I do.”
He would like to swim in college but hasn’t chosen a school yet.
“I want to get a business degree,” he said. “I want to be an accountant so I need to find a school where I can balance both academics and swimming. It will probably be a DII school, but there are some DI schools where I’d be able to do that.”
Pennsbury is the three-time defending SOL National Conference team champion, but the Falcons will have their work cut out for them if they want to make it four in a row. They lost to Council Rock North in the dual meet league finale, taking their record to 5-1.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Right now I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. We have a very close team and I’m excited to see what everyone can do at SOL’s and beyond.”
SOL Continental Conference
Ethan Moyer, Souderton
Ethan Moyer likes swimming the distance freestyle events.
“If you can do the hardest events, then you can do anything,” the Souderton senior said. “I’ve been improving a lot in the 500 but right now I’ve hit a plateau in the 200. I’ll keep working and see what happens.”
In addition to swimming, Moyer is a member of Souderton’s water polo team.
“I’ve been swimming for 10 years and I’ve been playing water polo since eighth grade,” he said. “Most people swim so they can stay in shape for water polo but I play water polo so I can stay in shape for swimming.”
Moyer tried baseball and football when he was younger.
“I had a small injury and that was the end of football for me but it was for the best,” he said. “Swimming is the best for me. I really love it.”
He has two personal goals for this year.
“I want to train as hard as I can to see how much time I can drop and hopefully reach districts and I want to keep up with my school work and get straight A’s,” he said.
“For our team, I’d like to see us grow and have everyone together, which is harder to do with bigger programs.”
He plans to major in computational biology.
“It’s a new field so very few schools offer it,” he said. “MIT is my first choice, but I’m also looking at Princeton and Carnegie-Mellon.”
He is a member of the National Honor Society and Link Crew, a transition program that welcomes freshmen into high school.
SOL American Conference
Colleen Davis, Upper Moreland
Colleen Davis will graduate from Upper Moreland this spring, and she already has big plans for a gap year.
“I’m going on a mission trip for nine months,” she said. “I’ve been on trips that were two weeks long so this is my first really big trip.”
She will go to three different continents, visiting India, Guatemala, Swaziland and Nepal.
“My dream job is to work with orphans internationally,” she said.
To that end, she plans to double major in Christian ministries and elementary education. She has not chosen a school yet but is looking to go to Wheaton College.
Davis is excited for the remainder of her high school swim career.
“I’ve been swimming since I was about six or seven and I love it,” she said. “Our team makes it so worthwhile. I love encouraging people and I believe in staying positive. Everyone gets so excited at meets and it’s really a great atmosphere.”
She would like to medal in an individual event at the District One Class 2A meet this year.
“Our relays have gotten medals and I think we could finish higher,” she said. “For my individual events, I’m thinking the 200 free and 100 fly.”
She is the vice president of the Class of 2018 council, is a member of the Spanish Club, the Key Club, the Drama Company, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National Honor Society. She also sings in the choir and did Mini-Thon this year.
She is a student representative for the school board.
“I like to keep busy,” she said.
- Log in to post comments
