Villa Maria wins two events on Day 1 of PIAA-AA Girls Swimming and Diving Championships
Villa Maria Academy got off to an impressive start in defending its PIAA Class AA Girls Swimming and Diving Championships at Kinney Nataorium on the campus of Bucknell University on Friday.
The Hurricanes won two events and finished second in another to post a score of 168.5 points. Gwynedd-Mercy is a distant second with 106 points.
“From the entries this morning this morning it looked liked we would score 160 points,” said Villa coach Cathy Hay. “Now, it looks like we will be close to 170, so the girls did a nice job in their finals today.”
Not only is Villa closing in on its sixth state title, Hay described the lofty goal they have for the meet.
“We’re looking to have the highest point total ever in a state meet,” she said. “Right around the 280 mark, which would be great. Everbody moved up a spot from their preliminaries. That’s our goal.”
The night started with Villa getting second in the 200-yard IM behind Gwynedd-Mercy, which posted a meet record time of 1:43.96, besting the mark the Hurricanes et last year. The foursome of Emily Cornell, Katelyn Chick, Olivia Giampietro and Maura McManus also broke the meet record, stopping the clock in 1:45.07.
After a quick turnaround, Cornell returned in the 200 freestyle and easily oudistanced Stephanie Szkely of Gwynedd by a little more than two seconds. Cornell’s winning time was 1:49.56.
“The PIAA gives them 10 minutes in bewtween finals, Hay said. “She’s well conditioned, and her heartrate’s already up. She’s going to South Carolina and she’s going to be a nice addition to that team.”
“I’m definitely not used to it,” the senior said of the quick turnaround. “I tried to mange my time as well as I could. I think I handled it as best as I could.”
Grace Carey finished in 12th for Villa. They didn’t have anyone in the main final of the 200 IM, but Hope Reynolds came in third in the B final in 2:12.72.
In the 50 free, Giampietro was seventh in 24.16, slightly ahead of Nina Smith in eighth. McManus was 10th. Sophomore Kaitlyn Agger recorded a fourth-place finish in the 100 butterfly in 57.59. Junior Mary Katherine Clark was in a dead heat for sixth, and Ashlyn Chermol was 10th.
The Hurricanes brought the evening to a rousing conclusion by setting a record in the 200 free relay final.
The quartet of Giampietro, Cornell, Smith and McManus blazed their way to a time of 1:35.81, bettering the mark of 1:36.39 set by Villa in 2012.
“We did not expect this,” said McManus. “We just try to go out and have fun. This (the record) was kind of a surprise.”
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On the boys side, the Bishop Shanahan 400 free relay team finished seventh.
“In the beginning of year, we were just aiming for states,” said senior Olivier Nguyen. “Nobody was really expecting much from us. So to place second in our heat and leave here with a medal is definitely a big surprise.”
“We’re definitely happy with that,” added sophomore Tom Powell.
Digital First Media’s Thomas Nash contributed to this story.
