North Penn boys swim to SOL Continental crown
WARRINGTON >> After a performance like this, things finished up in the proper place for North Penn — in the record book.
“I didn’t realize we broke it until after my teammates started jumping around,” Sean Faikish said of the Knights’ 400-yard freestyle relay. “We weren’t actually looking for the record. We were looking to swim our personal best because we wanted to end the meet strong, go out on top.
“My teammates gave me a good shot to win it. And I went out there and swam my butt off for them.”
Faikish anchored home a record-setting swim for the Knights, joining Aidan Daly, Ryley Fein and Ryan Hartmann to crank out a winning time of 3 minutes, 12.69 seconds, topping the previous record of 3:13.09 set by North Penn in 2013, as the Knights defended their Suburban One League Continental Conference title in commanding fashion Friday night at Central Bucks South.
The 400 free relay brought North Penn’s point total for the evening to 532, with Souderton Area, led by double winner Cristian Musterait (50/100 free), earning runner-up honors with 357 and Central Bucks West placing third with 304.5.
“We were racing a couple really solid teams out there,” Knights coach Jeff Faikish said of the fast 400 free. “Pennridge had a fantastic relay out in lane eight and then with CB West, it was kind of a back and forth battle.
“Ultimately, I felt whoever had the lead on the last 25 coming in on that finish was gonna be the team that not only won but also broke that pool record today.”
The Knights also got a pair of wins from Aidan Daly in the 200 and 500 free, a victory from Noah Jamieson in the 100 fly, the medley relay foursome of Ryan Hartmann, Ryley Fein, Noah Jamieson and Faikish, who also swam to a pair of firsts in the 200 IM and an impressive 100 breast, less than a second off the pool record.
“I wasn’t expecting that time but it was a great race,” Faikish said. “Brad (Johnson of CB West) was really fast. I hadn’t actually raced against him until then. He pushed me. I saw him on the last turn. I came off the turn, was behind him a little bit and I just pushed it as hard as I could to the wall.”
Of having this much success as only a freshman, Faikish said: “It’s good. It’s my first year, a little inexperienced. So I gotta realize that not every swim is gonna be a best time. But I was very happy with my swims this time. These seniors have been amazing this year. They’ve helped me out a lot, guided me through thick and thin. It’s been amazing.”
Another addition this year for the Knights was Jamieson, who blew in from the Windy City and has given the Knights a weapon in the fly.
“Noah had a fantastic meet. Noah came to us from Chicago,” coach Faikish said, “and he’s really starting to come into his own. He had fantastic races today. He’s the type of kid who thrives on the team experience. He really eats that up.”
CB West’s foursome of Evan Washington, Dale Johnson, Peter Baltes and Brad Johnson won the 200 free relay in 1:28.19, Souderton’s Storm Krader won the 100 back in 52.72 and Musterait was impossible to catch in the sprint freestyles.
“Everything’s slowly starting to come together,” Musterait said. “My times are slowly starting to drop and I’ll see what I can do at states.”
Top Photo: North Penn’s Sean Fakish swims breaststroke in the 200 yard individual medley at the Suburban One League Continental Conference Championships on Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
