Radnor’s El-Deiry adds states berth to breakout year

PHILADELPHIA >> When James El-Deiry says he’s thought about his swim at the District One Championships for eight months, he’s prepared to present evidence.

Last year, El-Deiry finished 32nd out of 34 swimmers in the Class AAA 200 individual medley. The two behind him were a disqualification and a non-starter.

That memory was supplanted by a far happier one Friday afternoon.

El-Deiry finished fifth in the 200 IM, the sophomore’s time of 1 minutes, 58.11 seconds securing the final automatic berth to the PIAA Championships.

The time is 11.6 seconds quicker than last year’s 2:09.71. He traces credit to several factors, including increased offseason training with Suburban Swim Club and growing into his frame. Coach Tom Robinson lauds El-Deiry’s knowledge of the sport and the ease of coaching him on points of technique.

But the increased devotion to the sport stems from four years ago, when El-Deiry was first bit by the swimming bug while watching the London Olympics.

“I saw the Olympic swimmers from the U.S. winning and getting gold, and the look on their face after they won a race, it amazed me and it inspired me to start swimming,” El-Deiry said.

His studious approach eases Robinson’s task in communicating goals. The objective Friday was to lower each of El-Deiry’s splits from his second-place time at Centrals two weeks ago. He succeeded on three of four, the largest a reduction of over a second on his backstroke 50.

Combined with a refined mental approach that warded off momentary mid-race panic, El-Deiry held on to finish second in the next-to-last heat, his time besting half of the final heat to nab fifth.

“During the race, I was kind of freaking out because everyone else was ahead of me in the first 100, then I caught up in the second 100 and got second,” he said. “After backstroke, I was dead last and I caught up and got second.”

El-Deiry’s swim was part of a stellar first day for Radnor, the only Delco school producing swims with realistic chances of breaking into states.

Greg Giannella finished sixth in the 50 freestyle, just outside the auto bids. Though his time of 21.89 seconds is slower than last year’s final states at-large (21.78), he’s in a favorable position to get in.

Radnor’s Greg Giannella (lane 5) goes 21.89. He’s 6th. Souderton’s Cristian Musertait (20.72) wins https://t.co/sfER1LVJ7Z

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) March 4, 2016

Radnor automatically qualified two relays. The 200 medley of Steve Giannella, Steve Chen, Ethan Cai and Patrick Cullen finished fifth in 1:38.34, anchored by Cullen’s anchor split of 21.15.

“I was kind of nervous before because it’s my first districts, so in warmup, I wasn’t really feeling that fast,” the freshman Cullen said. “I think the first few splits our guys had, it made me feel really good, so I was able to get in there and swim really fast.”

The 200 free relay of the Giannellas, Clayton Bowes and Cullen placed fourth in 1:27.28, Greg Giannella adding the emphatic finish with a 20.72-second anchor leg to seal the Raiders’ third straight trip in the event. They won the next-to-last heat, capitalizing on clean water in the middle of the pool.

“We’re always confident in ourselves,” Cullen said. “We know we can do better and push ourselves.”

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Arduous waits are in store for Delco’s other top performances. Penncrest’s Mike Paul (1:44.72) and Daniel Rosenberger (1:44.79) finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in the 200 free. The last at-large cut last year was 1:44.71, complicated by the logjam from District One.

Marple Newtown’s Johnny Truax went 1:58.68 in the 200 IM to take 10th; 1:57.64 was required for states in 2015.