Pennsbury boys romp, take first win in four years from Council Rock North

FALLS TWP. — There is joy in Birdland tonight as the Pennsbury boys swim team registered a lopsided win over Council Rock North and the Falcon ladies pulled off a tie with the Indians.

While neither the boys nor the girls have defeated the Rock in years, the Pennsbury boys outpaced CR North 117-69 while the Lady Indians fought back to tie Falcon girls by taking first and third in the 400 free relay.

Holding a 39-23 edge at the break, the Pennsbury boys won all but two events in taking their first win over the Indians in four years. The seniors came through for the Falcons with Nick Jeronis touching back first in two events, the 200 IM (2:05.32) and the 500 free (4:54.71), and Travis Venables taking first in the 100 free (50.02) and making sure his team won the 200 medley relay (1:40.98) when he made up nearly a full second in the four-part race that he anchored.

Classmate Dan Lawton nipped CR North senior Jake Goroshko (54.88) when he touched back first in the 100 back, finishing the heat in 54.81.

“It was a fantastic race,’ said Lawton. “He’s a great competitor. We’ve always had a strong rivalry. Every year, we go up against each other and this was exciting. It came down to point-oh-seven so it was close all the way down to the end.’

Venables (50.02) and Lawton finished one-two in the 100 free and Lawton also teamed up with sophomore Connor Doyle, Jeronis and Venables when they capped off the meet with a win in the 400 free relay (3:22.43).

“It’s fantastic. This has been our goal every year — to beat Council Rock and win the SOL (Suburban One League) and we did it.

“It feels great.’

To many onlookers, the fact that Pennsbury won wasn’t so much a shock as the lopsided score. The Falcons had been knocking on the door, coming within four points of the Indians in last year’s dual meet.

“On paper, we thought it was going to be real close,’ said Lawton. “I thought we had a slight lead but we definitely shocked them.’

Taking one and three in the 200 medley relay got the score headed in the home team’s direction. In the first event for the boys, Lawton teamed up with Venables, Doyle and Colin Hanlon in finishing first in the relay (1:40.98).

A sophomore swimming his first year of varsity competition, Hanlon took first in the 100 fly, touching back in (57.04). From there, Pennsbury seemed to cruise.

For this senior group, it is the first time the Falcons came up with a win versus the Indians.

“Our freshman year, Council Rock won it; it wasn’t close,’ explained Lawton. “The next year, we were pretty hyped up going into it and we thought we had a chance but it was pretty lopsided again. Last year was a heartbreaker; we lost by four points so this year is some good redemption.’

In the diving competition, CR North senior Matt Aronson set a new school record with 320.25 points to win the boys competition. Freshman Angelo Iapalucci took second place for the Rock boys with 246.30.

Pennsbury sophomore diving phenom Nicole Costello registered 286.15 points in taking first place in the diving competition putting the Falcons ladies in front coming out of the break. Finishing second for the lady Indians was Jess Traub with 210.70 points. That’s enough to get both divers into the upcoming District 1 meet.

With the win, Pennsbury (4-0, overall) pushes to 2-0 while North (4-3) falls to 1-1 in the SOL National Conference.