By Sophia Cui and Alexa Willrich, Staff Reporters
After five days of competing in individual and team swim and dive events, both the girls and boys’ swim teams became Central League champions for the 10th year in a row.
The championships took place from Feb. 4-8 at Ridley High School Natatorium. The teams competed against 11 schools across Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. The boys’ team finished with two gold, three silver and five bronze medals, scoring 567.5 points. For the boys’ team, junior David Ivory won two gold and two silver medals. The girls’ team finished with four gold, two silver and three bronze medals, scoring 425.5 points. For the girls team, junior Olivia Tudge won two gold, one silver and one bronze medal.
Team members worked during club swim trainings and school practices to prepare for the Central League championships. Most swimmers practiced every day, and some also worked out at the gym for additional dryland conditioning.
“Training is always really, really tough. We always have a bunch of hard practices and hard sets,” said sophomore and girls’ swim team member Joyce Chen. “You just have to keep on showing up. You just have to keep on trying your best at practice, and then eventually you’ll see the efforts pay off.”
The teams strengthened their bonds by practicing relays together, participating in spirit days and spending time together outside of school. According to senior and girls swim and dive co-captain Avery Hillier, their close relationships that they have built have contributed to the teams’ success.
“I think that our dedication (sets the team apart). All the girls always work so hard at practice and at meets,” Hillier. “We also just have that factor. We always support each other. We’re always at the end of the lane cheering each other on, and we’re just a really strong and hardworking team.”
Additionally, the boys’ team had an addition to its coaching staff this year, Jared Messics, who brought different ideas and coaching methods to practices. Senior and boys swim co-captain Hutch Wood feels that Messics’ methods contributed to the teams sustained success.
“A big change this year was not having (previous coach Mark) Tirone,” Wood said. “So coaching was a bit different just because Jared used more sets from UMLY, so it was a lot of speed work and just getting used to his coaching style.”
After the districts competition, various swimmers and divers made it to states from both the girls and boys’ teams. Girls’ swim team members seniors Hadar Miller and Hillier, juniors Maddie Fox, Reilly Dolan and Tudge, sophomore Chen and freshman Lauren Goelz advanced to the 2025 PIAA Swimming and Diving State Championships. Boys’ swim team members seniors Wood, Stanley Cui, James Oken and Justin Cuevas, junior Ivory and sophomore Liam Haas also went to states. The competition was held at Bucknell University in Lewisburg from March 12-15.
At the state championship, the girls’ swim team placed 12th out of 58 teams and the boys’ swim team placed 29th out of 55 teams.
Apart from maintaining their undefeated streak in the Central League, Hillier and Wood focused on enjoying their time and building a supportive environment among the boys and girls’ swim teams throughout the season and beyond.
“My goal was really to encourage people to get up and cheer and just bring the energy that we’ve always kept. Keep the same traditions, maybe make some new ones, which I think we did,” Wood said. “Keep up the energy. Keep the win streak, too.”
Sophia Cui can be reached at [email protected].
Alexa Willrich can be reached at [email protected].
