Owen J. Roberts sweeps Spring-Ford in home opener
BUCKTOWN >> There is a certain sense of comfort that comes with being at home.
Members of the Owen J. Roberts swim team can attest to it.
“It means everything to us,” said Wildcats senior Alec Schneider. “We know we’ve got to protect our house.”
After every member of both OJR teams slapped a sign reading “Wildcat Territory” above the doorway entering the natatorium, the Wildcat boys and girls teams looked plenty comfortable in their home opener against Spring-Ford. The boys won 100-78 while the girls took a 97-78 victory over the Rams.
In giving the Rams’ boys team its first loss of the season, Owen J. Roberts improves to 3-0 in the Pioneer Athletic Conference and 4-0 overall.
The win moves OJR into a first place tie with Methacton (3-0, 3-3) atop the PAC-10 standings.
Despite the loss, Spring-Ford (2-1, 4-1) head coach Mark Agnew says the boys are making strides as the season progresses.
“Our guys swam well and put up some good times,” said Agnew, “but that’s a really strong Owen J. Roberts team. They’ve become the measuring stick in the PAC-10. They came into this one ready to swim well.”
The Wildcat boys swept through the Rams, posting the top times across all 12 events.
Senior Colin Bauer led the way for OJR, finishing first in the 200 individual medley at 2:05.55 and the 100 butterfly, touching at 54.49. He also swam the third leg in the first-place 200 medley (1:39.17) and led off the 400 free relay (3:25.11).
“It meant a lot for us to get this win,” said Bauer. “As a team, we made a lot of time improvements in this meet, which is really exciting to see — not just for me, but for our whole team. We’ve been seeing a lot of hard work pay off.”
Schneider also turned in a strong performance, finishing first in the 50 free (22.56) while also swimming in the top-finishing 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay (1:32.18).
“Time-wise this is probably the best meet we’ve had all season,” he said. “It means a lot to us to come and get this win. It’s exciting to see our guys step up and swim well. Hopefully we can keep it going and keep improving our times.”
Simon Crew was a part of three top-finishing events. The sophomore finished first in the 100 free (49.80), anchored the 200 medley relay and swam the third leg of the 200 free relay for the Wildcats.
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On the girls side, juniors Morgan Hansen and Laurel Fink each brought home four top times for Owen J. Roberts (2-1, 3-1).
Fink led off the 400 free relay with Hansen anchoring, which finished up at 3:53.03. Individually, Hansen recorded top finishes in the 50 free (26.15) and the 100 back (1:02.80) and also led-off the 200 medley relay (1:59.01). Fink touched first in the 200 IM (2:15.08) and the 100 fly (59.25) and swam the first leg of the 200 free relay.
“We were really looking forward to this one,” said Hansen of facing the Rams (0-3, 0-5). “Their record doesn’t do them justice. They’ve got a lot of really strong swimmers, so we knew we’d need to come out and post good times.”
Coming off a loss to Perkiomen Valley a week prior, Fink and her teammates knew the meet couldn’t be overlooked on Tuesday.
“As a team, we posted a lot of good times and made some good cuts,” said Fink. “We were motivated. I think everyone on our team was ready for this meet, especially after losing to PV. Everyone was motivated coming in, and I think that went a long way.”
Spring-Ford’s Rebecca Cubbler led the way for her team, posting top times in the 200 free (1:59.59) and the 500 free (5:22.39).
Katherine Parker also captured a win for the Rams, capturing the 100 free with a time of 59.12.
“We’re getting better with each meet,” said Agnew. “There’s not much more that we can ask of the girls. Our times have continued to improve. We want to keep going into every meet with a winning attitude.”
Similarly, Fink and her Wildcat teammates have entered each meet with a focus on cutting their own times. Still, she says she and her teammates are far from satisfied.
“Our goal is to swim our best and improve each meet,” said Fink. “Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. All we can worry about is ourselves — it’s just us versus the water and the clock.”
NOTES >> The Wildcats went into time-only following the girls 100 back. … Owen J. Roberts’ Matt Dinnocenti took first in the boys diving, where he posted a 253.75 while Spring-Ford’s Shannon Reape won it on the girls side with a 212.65.
