On Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020, Central Bucks South seniors Julia Riegel and Haley Scholer were recognized for committing to swim at the collegiate level.
Julia Riegel – Bloomsburg University (Swimming)
Major: Health Sciences with a focus on Occupational Therapy
Final list of colleges: Bloomsburg, IUP, Clarion, West Virginia
Reasons for choosing Bloomsburg: “I chose Bloomsburg because when visiting the team atmosphere and the coaching was incredible. It felt like home to me, and I just felt it was the right decision for myself.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in swimming at the collegiate level? “I’ve always been attracted to the water, and it’s always come natural to me. To be honest, I can’t do any other sport – I can’t do anything that involves a ball - throwing, catching, none of that. With my club team, we always used to swim at different college campuses, and I always knew I wanted to swim at the college level.”
Coach Kevin Whelan says: “Julia swam on the team two years, including this year, so her first year was last year as a junior where she immediately made her mark. She qualified for districts in multiple events, which is an extremely hard thing to do. She qualified in the 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, the 100 breaststroke, the 200 IM as well. She is very versatile, she can swim any stroke extremely well as evidenced by her results in the 200 IM. She can do anything from sprint freestyle all the way through to distance freestyle, and I would put her in almost every single event on the dual meet schedule throughout the season. She works so hard. She saw those results in the pool, especially at the end of the season last year, and she was knocking on the door to qualify for that state meet. Hopefully we do get to that point this year because I think she could absolutely qualify. Julia returning is probably the second most versatile athlete that we have on our team and her ability to basically swim anything at an extremely high collegiate level. She’s a very well rounded girl who we’re just very proud to have on our team. She’s a hard worker, someone anyone on the team can look to and see her example in the water as something to follow.”
About Julia:
Favorite food: Friday night pizza
Favorite movie: The Impossible
Favorite artist: Juice Wrld
Haley Scholer – Duquesne University (Swimming)
Major: Marketing
Final list of colleges: Duquesne, University of Richmond, University of New Hampshire
Reasons for choosing Duquesne: “Actually, I got an email from the coach. I had never heard of it before, so I went to visit after one of my swim 
meets up near Pittsburgh. I just loved the campus. I always thought I wanted to be in a huge school, but after going to Duquesne – it’s a much smaller school than most, but it feels a lot bigger because the city is right there. I do like the idea of being in a city so that there’s always something to do. I also loved meeting the girls on the team – I met them three times, and they were all super sweet.”
What was the progression that led you to competing in swimming at the collegiate level? “I always thought I wanted to go to college and swim. It was always something I loved to do. There were times when I was considering maybe going D-3 and focusing more on academics, but ultimately, I feel like at Duquesne I can do both. I can swim at the level I want to swim at, and I can also still focus on my career. “
Coach Kevin Whelan says: “Haley has been a member of CB South swimming for three years. She was on our team sophomore, junior and senior year. She owns the team record in every event except diving, the 50 free and the 100 breast. Those records are held by her older sister Heidi, so every record held for swimming is held by a Scholer sister, including the relay records. They’re both a part of all three relay records, so Haley has a record in the 100 free, the 500 free, the 100 back, the 100 fly and 200 IM. She has quite the accolades. She qualified for states individually in two different events every year she’s been on the team, her sophomore and junior year. I don’t see anything different for her senior year. She got sixth overall at the PIAA state meet in the 200 IM last year, which was her highest finish. She got 13th in the 100 back. She also qualified in two events her sophomore year. Sixth place in the 200 IM is certainly an unbelievable result last year, and she’s looking to build off that this year. She is a phenomenal teammate. She’s a team captain her senior year. She has all of the excitement and energy that you would want a high school athlete to have. She is a phenomenal leader. She makes it fun for everyone involved. She doesn’t stop talking – in a good way – and just works her tail off, and as you can see from her team records, she is so versatile. She’s not specified in one specific stroke, she’s just an unbelievable student and athlete, and we will be very sad to see her leave.”
About Haley:
Favorite food: Mac ‘n Cheese
Favorite TV show: The Office
Favorite music: Pop or Rap
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