Special moment for North Penn girls swimmers

The North Penn girls swimming team that rolled into Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium and came away with the Class AAA state title this past week was a unified, smooth-running machine.
“The coolest thing to me is we did this as a team,” coach Matt Weiser said. “We won the meet outright with swimming but we also scored 46 points in the diving. And I just can’t say enough how awesome it is that we can all work together and be able to do that.”
The Lady Knights stood tall atop Class AAA, the only team to crack the 200-point plateau, with a whopping 243.
North Penn scored points in every event but one and sent all of its Day Two competitors to the night swims.
“The one thing that we’ve preached consistently is team, team, team,” Weiser said. “Diving, swimming, boys, girls, coaches…We work together. We’re one group.”
With talented, hard-working kids in the pool and on the boards, all that was needed was direction, and Weiser and NP boys coach Jeff Faikish, working in tandem, have provided that.
“When Jeff came in (four years ago),” said Weiser, now in his eighth year at the helm, “he and I really clicked.”
Five in a row for
La Salle
The La Salle boys were simply overwhelming on Day Two of the Class AAA Championships, earning medals in every event, including a one-two finish in the 500-yard freestyle with state record holder Jake Sannem and Joseph Vizza.
“It’s all kind of settling in,” Explorers coach Stephen Duncheskie said moments after the trophy presentation. “Each championship is kind of unique. And with this group, it was a lot of perseverance, hard training.
“On (Day One), we saw that we were in a fight with the state teams this year and we really came through on that first night. And on the second day, the guys knew that if they placed well and they finished well, which they did, they were gonna wrap up another team title.”
That makes it five straight for the Explorers, who — in the race for the top spot — outscored a couple of tough opponents in Upper Dublin (207) and North Allegheny (205).
Cardinals fly high
Upper Dublin closed out the meet with a state-record swim in the 400 free relay.
“I couldn’t be happier with my teammates,” said senior Wyatt Amdor, who teamed up with Ogden Leyens, Alex Flynn and Michael Jensen to go a blistering 2:59.58.
There were many contributors.
“I wanna thank my parents,” Amdor said, “with everything that they put in. I wanna thank my coaches, teammates, everybody…
“That is one heck of a way to end the year right there.”
Abington’s Henninger shines in big moment
Abington freshman diver Sam Henninger was new to states, but performed like he’s gonna be making some return trips.
“I was coming for experience,” he said. “I wasn’t really expecting anything.”
The Ghost was on, racking up a score of 487.85 to earn himself a bronze medal in Class AAA.
“I was very calm throughout the whole thing,” he said. “I was happy with my back and a half and my reverse and a half — I always mess those up. But they pulled through in the meet so I was excited about that.”