By Caleigh Sturgeon, Co-Sports Editor
Both swim teams faced their two toughest opponents—Radnor and Strath Haven—in the span of one week, and both teams swam their way to victory twice in a row.
The boys’ swim team was forced to fight to retain their Central League title in the Tuesday, Jan. 5 meet against Radnor. After securing first and third in the 200-yard medley relay, freshman Brendan Burns, junior Brian McKenrick and sophomore Kevin Ryle placed first in the 200-yard freestyle, both the 200-yard Individual Medley and 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle, respectively. However, Radnor countered these points by winning the 50-yard freestyle, placing first and second in the 100-yard freestyle and reeling in second, third and fourth in diving. ’Stoga came back by winning the 200-yard freestyle relay and returning Burns triumphantly in the 100-yard backstroke, only for Radnor to narrow their deficit in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The meet would come down to the last relay—the 400-yard freestyle. Composed of senior Leon Hagenlocher, Ryle, junior Griffin Hamilton and senior Louis Conroy, the relay remained at Radnor’s waist until Hamilton split a 49 seconds, over two seconds faster than his previous personal best, to pull the Pioneers into the lead. Conroy followed with another split of 49 seconds to secure the victory for the relay, and a 96-89 victory for the team.
The girls’ swim team powered through a multitude of close events to defeat Radnor 100-86, and the boys’ swim team did the same to defeat Strath Haven 101-82.
The girls enjoyed their fair share of excitement against Strath Haven on Monday, Jan. 11. They started the meet off by placing first and third in the 200-yard medley relay. After losing the next two events, Caroline Apathy aided the effort by winning the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.56, which set the pool record at Strath Haven. But even Apathy’s performance could not top sophomore Madison Ledwith. Ledwith won the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles, both times out-touching Strath Haven’s Summer Martin by only fractions of a second.
’Stoga grasped the lead by the 200-yard freestyle relay and was prepared to widen the margin, but an unfortunate false start caused the relay to get disqualified, leaving Strath Haven with first and third place, and the last three events to determine the meet’s victor.
In the next event, the 100-yard backstroke, freshman Sophia Poeta and juniors Janashree Jonnalagadda and Courtney Sellig brought in first, second and third respectively for ’Stoga. However, in the 100-yard breaststroke, Strath Haven swam away with first, second and third, re-balancing the score. Much like in the boys’ meet against Radnor, the girls’ winner came down to the 400-yard freestyle relay. Senior Linda Ashmead, Apathy, Poeta and Ledwith each returned for their fourth event of the afternoon and came away with a relay time of 3:39.32 to beat Strath Haven by less than three seconds—less than a second per swimmer. By securing third place as well, the girls ended up beating Strath Haven 99-87.
Caleigh Sturgeon can be reached at [email protected].
