North Penn wins SOL Continental title

WARRINGTON >> Bell bottoms and platform shoes were in style, 8-track players were the thing, and the North Penn boys swim team was cranking out conference swim titles.

After 40-plus years, one of those things hasn’t changed.

This North Penn squad put on an impressive performance at Central Bucks South Friday night, amassing 476 points to capture the Suburban One League Continental Conference crown, adding to its string of conference titles dating back to 1973.

“Our district team just got a lot bigger,” Knights senior Corey Smith said of NP adding multiple qualifiers. “We had a lot of great swims, a lot of people getting district cuts — it’s exciting. It was a good meet.”

Smith got things started for the Knights, leading off the winning 200 medley relay, joining Harrison Friel, Aaron Jordan and Ryan Yocum for a first-place time of 1:39.32.

Smith would go on to place second in the 200 IM and then win gold in the 100 back.

“I came in with a goal (in the back) and I reached it,” Smith said of his 52.77. “For where we are in the season, I’m pretty happy with my time in the IM (with a 1:58.68).”

It was also a tremendous meet for Knights sophomore Aidan Daly, who won gold in the 500 free and a bronze in the 200 free. North Penn also won bronze in both the 200 free and 400 free relays to overcome some terrific performances throughout the conference.

Souderton Area’s Cristian Musterait raced to two gold medals, touching first in the 50 and 100 free, teammate Spencer Nice — a sophomore — was a winner in the 100 fly to help Big Red earn runner-up honors with 386 points, and Hatboro-Horsham’s Andy Thomas — another 10th grader — was the 200 freestyle champion.

“It’s a very tough field this year. There are a lot of teams that have been building their programs up, and you could see it today,” Knights coach Jeff Faikish said. “There are a lot of teams out there that are winning these races.

“It’s a testament to how deep our team is, winning the conference title, and we’ll see what happens in a couple weeks at districts.”