Hamilton’s effort seals Conestoga’s sweep

RADNOR >> The arithmetic was simple for the Radnor boys Tuesday.

Going into the culminating 400 freestyle relay, the Raiders needed to finish first and third to seal a come-from-behind win over rival Conestoga. Put simpler, their ‘A’ team had to beat Conestoga’s “A,” and their “B,” Conestoga’s “B.”

Griffin Hamilton and company had other ideas, though.

Hamilton split a career-best 49.97 seconds to peg back an early lead, handing off to Louis Conroy to hold off the advance of Radnor’s Steve Chen on the anchor by 12 one-hundredths of a second and lead Conestoga to a 96-89 win.

The girls meet also came down to the final relay, though with slightly less drama in a 100-86 Conestoga victory, both squads avenging last year’s loss at home that marked a historic sweep for Radnor en route to Central League titles.

This time, Conestoga responded in kind. At the halfway mark of the final boys relay, Radnor sat first and third, the “A” squad’s lead fostered by Clayton Bowes and James El-Deiry. But then came Hamilton, a self-proclaimed “mediocre swimmer” whose usual 100 splits resided in the 51- to 52-second range.

With the meet’s result hinging on his swim, he uncorked a 49.97 leg to chase down Radnor’s Steve Giannella, then handed off for Conroy to split 49.68, barely out-touching Chen (49.40).

“I didn’t know if I could keep up with (Giannella),” Hamilton said. “Something on that last 50 just kicked in and I was able to keep up. … On the third flip turn, I realized I had to catch up so I was like, ‘let’s leave this all out here.’ I gave it all I had.”

“I saw coming in that when Griff was finishing his last 25, this was a really close race,” Conroy said. “He’s got me in the lead, there’s no way I can lose this. I was just going that whole race and I was looking at (Chen) the whole time. I was checking him off every wall, and I was like, ‘I can’t fall behind in this race,’ and I had to dig deep and pull it out.”

The final relay was a microcosm for the back-and-forth that ensued throughout. Conestoga opened a seven-point lead at 81-74 after Brendan Burns followed a leg in the winning 200 free relay by claiming the 100 backstroke, aided by Brian McKenrick’s two dominant wins.

But Radnor hit back as it had all meet. When Conestoga opened up as seven-point lead after diving, Greg Giannella hoisted Radnor into contention, teaming with Patrick Cullen for a 1-2 in the 100 free.

In the 100 breaststroke, it fell to Chen, who got to the wall first in 1:01.23. Ethan Cai was third, setting up the first-and-third opportunity on the final relay.

“Really the only thing going through my mind was to swim my heart out,” El-Deiry said. “I think I went a best time. We all had great swims, but you can’t really control how other people swim.”

The girls’ meet also came down to a relay, but it pivoted much earlier. The sides entered diving tied thanks to Madison Ledwith’s 50 free win (to which she’d pair a 100 free triumph). But a surprise 1-2 by Julia Semmer and Leah Bernstein in an area not traditionally regarded as a strength shifted the pendulum in Conestoga’s favor.

Those points left Radnor to play catchup. Julia Cullen provided the first installment by winning the 100 fly, then later the 100 back. The Raiders surged in the back half as expected, Julia Condran and Grace Wakiyama going 1-2 in the 100 breast and Sasha Smolyansky nudging Linda Ashmead in the 500.

“I knew I was going to have to win all of them to give us a chance,” Cullen said. “We were not expecting that. We were tied at diving; we hoped we’d be a little ahead. And then we knew we had to make it up a lot.”

That made Ashmead’s performance more vital. The senior had orchestrated a 1-2 in the 200 free with Caroline Apathy, but she entered the 200 free relay seething from Smolyansky edging her by .08 seconds.

So when Ashmead, a distance swimmer by trade, dove in for the anchor leg against the sprinter Cullen, she used every bit of the 1.20-second cushion, fighting a leg cramp from her distance exertion.

“The 50 free is one of the weaker events, so knowing that she was on the end is super scary because I know that she’s way faster than me,” said Ashmead, who split a 25.01 to Cullen’s 23.93. “So I figured I’m just going to wing my arms.”

Despite a 23.93 from Julia Cullen (near), Conestoga’s Linda Ashmead holds on by .12 in 200 free relay. https://t.co/sd0nYAZAmU

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) January 5, 2016

Conestoga’s victories were payback for last year’s result, the first time Radnor had swept since 1990. In the neighborhood feud, avenging that loss was a potent motivator.

“We know basically everyone on the Radnor team,” Ashmead said. “Outside of the pool, we joke about it a lot. After last year, they kind of got the bragging rights, and now that we’ve got them back.”

“When (Conroy) gets his hand to the wall first, you feel on top of the world,” Hamilton said. “Last year, Radnor beat us right at the last relay. So this is great revenge.”