Upper Dublin splashes past Wissahickon

Wissahickon came into its Suburban One American clash with archrival Upper Dublin undefeated at 7-0, but knew it would have its hands full with a deep and talented Cardinals squad. In the end, Upper Dublin made relatively easy work out of a good Trojans team.

The Cardinals got out to a 44-18 lead at the diving break and never looked back, downing Wissahickon 100-78. Led by Mike Jensen, Chris Devlin and Ogden Leyens, Upper Dublin showed that it had strong top guys and a ton of depth. Even when Wissahickon would take second place to an Upper Dublin first, the Cardinals filled the rest of the top six more times than not. It was an impressive victory for the home team, even if the meet appeared closer that it was.

“Wissahickon is a good team, I feel like the past couple years they have become better and better,’ Upper Dublin coach Geoff Scheuer said. “I felt like we got off to a slow start and gained a little traction as the meet went on. I didn’t know we jumped out to the lead we did, but that’s always important.’

Devlin was arguably the Cardinals’ top performer, winning the 50 and 100 freestyle, as well as being the leadoff leg of the winning 200 medley relay squad. Jensen was also crucial to the victory, who took the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke, while Leyens won the 500 freestyle and nabbed second in the 100 backstroke.

“There’s a history between the two schools, of course,’ Scheuer said. “But any win is a good win, and any good performance is good for the team. It was a good win for us, but it’s just another meet and we have your eyes on the championship meets.’

Wissahickon won just four events, but Luke Waechter was responsible half of them. He won the 100 butterfly, took second in the 50 freestyle and was the winning 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams. Jake Berring was the only other Trojan to win an individual event, taking top points in the 100 breaststroke, and he was followed by Christian Rudolph and Jake Pogorzelski. It was the only sweep in an individual event.

“We know that Upper Dublin is one of the top teams around, but we were confident because we were undefeated coming in,’ Wissahickon coach John High said. “We knew this would be a challenge, but they looked at it more as racing against themselves and go for top times.’

Also getting a win for Upper Dublin was Devon Polak, who won the 200 individual medley in 2:09.80, as well as finishing third in the 100 butterfly. While Upper Dublin proved solid in the sprint, middle and long distances, it also took the majority of points in diving. Kevin Toner took first with 252.25 points, followed by Matthew Rosensetin’s 172.15-point performance good enough for second.

“Overall, I think Upper Dublin has everything they need to be a good team and they take advantage of that,’ High said. “This is the strongest team we’ve had since coming to Wissahickon and this result doesn’t change our outlook on the season. We knew what was going to happen today, but it motivates us even more.’

The win was certainly a boost in confidence to a weary, beat up Upper Dublin team.

“I actually think we have been a little lacking in confidence because we have been so tired from racing a lot,’ Scheuer said. “But I hope they will feel good about today’s result and they should. We are focused on the end of the season, so we have to get through this first.’