North Penn boys, girls stay perfect with wins over Souderton

TOWAMENCIN — North Penn went into Thursday’s diving portion against rival Souderton Area as a sluggish group clinging to a slim eight-point lead.

The Knights came out of the event a far different team.

“After the diving, we definitely got a lot more momentum going into the second half of the meet,’ NP’s Jonathan Krail said. “(Souderton) put up some good times and we came back with some good ones, which is exactly what we needed.’

“It woke us up a little bit,’ Knights coach Jeff Faikish said. “I would say at the beginning of the meet, there was kind of a shell shock reaction. But after the diving, it definitely did wake us up and our upperclassmen kind of called everybody together and motivated each other to step up and rise to the occasion.’

North Penn took the top three spots up on the board and pulled away in the final seven events of the day, earning a 114-72 win over Big Red in a Suburban One League Continental Conference showdown at a packed Rick Carroll Natatorium.

The Maidens, too, remained perfect and atop the conference, touching first in all but one event in rolling to a 121-63 win over Souderton.

“We got the result we expected — it got a little shaky at times, but so far, undefeated (9-0),’ Krail said. “Hopefully, it stays that way.’

Krail had his fastest 100 breaststroke time of the season, going 1:02.52, and also placed second in the 200 IM to help cement the victory for the Knights.

North Penn piled up the second-, third-, and fourth-place finishes in separating itself from its fiercest rival.

“It was a solid display of depth,’ Faikish said. “Souderton certainly showed up to swim and to race fast. But our team did rally and they were able to step it up at the end, which is awesome to see.’

The Maidens got out to a big lead early and remained in control. North Penn had a trio of double winners, as Kailyn Evans (200 free/100 free), Tara Rogers (200 IM/100 fly) and Olivia DiStefano (50 free/100 back) all touched first in their individual events.

Big Red had a pair of standouts on the guys side, as Kevin Musterait (200 free/100 free) and Triston Loux (200 IM/100 fly) each powered their way to double victories.

Next up for both teams is the Parkland Invitational Saturday.