North Penn races to SOL Continental title

TOWAMENCIN >> It was right before the 200-yard Intermediate Medley on Saturday when North Penn’s Kailyn Evans, Megan Zartman and Ashley Han had a little huddle at the starting blocks.

“The three of us sat here,” Evans said, “and we just talked about how someone needs to go for that record.”
That North Penn school record — a time of 2:07.08 by Julie Krail — had stood for 23 years. Testament to how special this North Penn group is, Evans went for the record, got it, and helped send her team on its way to an overwhelming performance — 615.5 points worth — at the Suburban One League Continental Conference Championships.
“Everybody swam amazing today,” said Evans, who raced her way into the NP record book with a time of 2:06.88. “People who tapered swam amazing — they got the district cuts that they wanted, and people who didn’t taper, they still swam their best times.”
North Penn captured its fourth straight conference crown at the Rick Carroll Natatorium, outscoring second-place Hatboro-Horsham, which battled past record-setting Pennridge 285-284. Grace Riemenschneider’s silver medal in the 100 fly and her third leg on the second-place 200 medley relay helped power the Hatters.
The Lady Knights got going in the very first event, as a team of Zartman, Erin O’Neill, Claudia Thamm and Leah Brown touched first in 1:48.11. The pace had been set.
“It was a total team effort today,” North Penn coach Matt Weiser said.
North Penn had a top-three finish in every event, including a 1-2-3 effort in the 100 back, where Zartman, Maddy Koerper and Katelyn Harkrader — a freshman — earned gold, silver and bronze.
Evans led a trio of NP swimmers in the 200 IM, with Han placing sixth, Zartman earning second, and Evans setting the school record in 2:06.88.
Krail’s previous record of 2:07.08, coming at the 1993 State Finals, had earned her All-American consideration.
The 2016 postseason started off pretty well for NP.
“I’m so happy,” Evans said of the team’s performance. “We came in so determined. We practiced so hard for this.”
The Rams would set six pool records on Saturday, including the 200 (1:34.73) and 400 free relays (3:26.61), as well as Morgan Scott’s 200 free (1:50.48) and 100 free (50.28), along with Brittany Weiss’ 100 fly (55.14) and 100 breast (1:04.24). Hannah Zurmuhl also placed first in the 50 free for Pennridge.
The Lady Knights placed first in the other five events, with Heather Hartmann racing to gold-medal honors in the 500 free.
“Every race, all of our kids were up cheering, thrilled when kids were getting district cuts — even personal-bets times,” Weiser said. “I thought that was really awesome today.”