North Penn boys, girls swim past St. Joseph’s Prep, Mount St. Joseph
TOWAMENCIN >> Opening Day comes as a reward.
“It’s like a cookie,” North Penn coach Jeff Faikish says with a smile. “It’s the prize the kids get for all of the training, all of the hours and hard work they’ve put in the last couple weeks, getting ready for the season.
“And it’s a great way to see where we’re at.”
North Penn is off to a tremendous start, as the boys enjoyed a well-earned 106-71 victory over St. Joe’s Prep and the NP girls — entering the season as defending state champs — raced and dove to a 97-74 win over Mount St. Joe’s.
With the Rick Carroll Natatorium packed with fans, family members and alumni (even Rick Carroll himself was in attendance), the Knights delivered with an entertaining and fast, thrilling start to the season.
“Everybody had a lot of fun. We had a lot of great swims,” said Knights senior, Kailyn Evans, fresh off a strong showing at Junior Nationals at Ohio State. “Dropping times here and there for the first swim meet, I was like ‘wow, this is amazing.’
“We definitely have a target on our back this year,” Evans said of coming into the winter as the Class AAA Champs. “Everybody’s gonna be out to get us. In years past, we were third in the state and we finally got there last year. We’re trying to get back this year, and we’re gonna work really hard to get there.”
Evans came through with first-place finishes in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 100 breast and the senior also swam the second leg of the winning 200 medley relay and anchored down the first-place 400 free relay, which closed things out in commanding fashion.
Claudia Thamm was a double winner in the 50 free and the 100 free while teammate Megan Zartman swam to victories in both the 100 fly and the 500 free.
Sean Faikish — just a freshman — took first in the 200 IM and the 100 breast to help lead the boys, who seem to have a little bit of everything.
“Awesome start,” coach Faikish said of the meet, which included wins by all three relays on the boys and girls side. “The great thing is that this group is a nice mix of newcomers and plenty of veterans.
“For some of the kids, this was their first high school meet. And it can be nerve-racking. But they not only came through but had some phenomenal swims.”
Mount put in some impressive efforts against some of the toughest competition around, as Taylor Dragonosky (200 IM and 100 breast) and Katherine Schaefer (50 free and 100 back) each earned a pair of second-places to lead the visitors.
“Not too bad. There are still some people that are a little rusty and it’s tough when you swim a team like North Penn, but I think it’s a good thing,” coach Janet Tompkins said. “It’s kind of like a good wake-up call. It’s like ‘alright, I’ve got some work to do.’ But there were also some good things.”
Top Photo: North Penn’s Claudia Thamm swims butterfly in the women’s 200-yd medley relay against Mount St. Joseph during their meet on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
