Owen J. Roberts girls defeat PAC-10 champion Methacton
BUCKTOWN — It was a rematch that Owen J. Roberts had been looking forward to for a long time as they hosted the defending PAC-10 champion Methacton girls team along with the boys team on Tuesday afternoon.
Methacton hadn’t lost a girls meet in over two seasons. Their last loss, back in 2012, came against OJR.
With the season getting into full-swing, both Methacton and Owen J. Roberts’ girls teams came in with a record of 2-0.
The Wildcat girls team did it again two years later, defeating the Warriors by a score 115.5-70.5.
The Owen J. Roberts boys also won, 100-85.
“As a coaching staff, we couldn’t be more proud or expect anything more,’ said Owen J. Roberts head coach Kevin Bott. “They swam very well today against a very talented Methacton team.’
Having not lost in nearly two seasons, Methacton girls head coach Ben Yoder knew it was going to be a challenging matchup coming into Owen J. Roberts.
“We expected them to be coming for us, so we did everything we could,’ said Yoder. “Unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Still though, I’m very proud of the girls.’
The Owen J. Roberts girls set two pool-records in both the 200-yard free relay and the 400 free relay. The 200 free was led by Devon Niness, Taylor Davis, Laurel Fink and Gabby Yuhas finishing with a time of 1:40.83. Fink, Julia Farkas, Morgan Hansen and Taylor Davis earned the pool record in the 400-yard free relay with 3:22.44.
Fink, a freshman, led the Owen J. girls with four wins, while Gabby Yuhas had three wins.
Fink won the 200-yard freestyle, the 500 free, the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. Yuhas anchored both the 200-yard medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay and also won the 50 free.
“I’ve been working my butt off and trying to earn great times,’ said Fink. “We knew this meet meant a lot to the seniors and Owen J. overall.’
“She had a great meet today,’ said Bott of Fink. “We couldn’t be more proud of the way she swam along with the rest of our swimmers.’
Kristen Groff won two events while Emily Sykes won one. Groff won the 200 individual medley as well as the 100 free. Sykes won the 100-yard breast.
Although it is the Methacton girls’ first loss in two seasons, Yoder is still proud of the way his girls swam.
“Our girls swam really well,’ he said. “Our divers did really well too, but it just wasn’t enough to bring us back. Congratulations to Owen J.’
Methacton’s main advantage came with diving. Samantha Lavrich finished with 212.2 points along with Lauren Hunt’s 184.4 and 168.3 from Laura Macklen to give the Warriors the edge.
Brothers Dan and Kevin Roy finished with scores of 229.85 and 175.95, respectively, to go along with 164.6 from Vince Wierman.
Sam Feiser led the boys with four wins including a pool record 100-yard free with a time of 47.45. He also anchored both the 200 medley relay and the 400 medley relay. He also won the 50 free.
“I couldn’t have accomplished this without a lot of hard work and everyone pushing me at every practice,’ said Feiser. “I love my team; my coaches and my teammates have always kept me going.’
Basil Mokhallalati and Alex McCullough each won three of their events. Mokhallalati led the 200-yard medley relay and won the 200 individual medley and the 400 freestyle relay. McCullough won the 200-yard freestyle, 500 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay.
Following the loss, Methacton boys head coach John Welsh believes his team will be more prepared moving forward.
“Our guys are all really tired after this meet,’ said Welsh. “We went out and worked real hard, unfortunately we just didn’t come out on top.’
Leon Lin led the Methacton boys with two wins including leading the 200-yard free relay and the 100 backstroke.
“We had a great effort from our boys out there,’ said Welsh. “If we face Owen J. Roberts at districts again, they’re not going to beat us.’
Bott and his team knew how important this meet was at this point in the season since the Methacton girls were the PAC-10 champions just a season ago.
“Both of our teams came out hungry and excited,’ he said. “They came out together as a team and were very motivated throughout the entire meet.’
“Having lost to this team last year, our team was really excited coming into the meet,’ said Fink. “We know what we want to accomplish this season, and there’s no reason we can’t keep winning. It was a great experience for our team.’
“I couldn’t imagine having different teammates and different coaches,’ said Feiser. “I love this team and the way they constantly keep me motivated.’
Although it was a big win for the Wildcats, Bott knows that the team still has a lot left to accomplish this season. Still, he and his team feel good about the future.
“There’s still a lot of work left to do, but we’re excited at the opportunities ahead of us,’ said Bott. “We need to work like we did today during every single meet.’
