West Chester Rustin girls, West Chester East boys earn bragging rights in the pool
WEST GOSHEN – In local swimming circles, there is nothing a West Chester school enjoys more than topping another from the borough. And on Wednesday, the West Chester East boys and West Chester Rustin girls exited the West Chester Area YMCA with smiles on their respective faces.
In a battle between boys’ squads sitting atop their respective Ches-Mont divisions, the Vikings edged the Golden Knights, 104-82, thanks to superior depth and wins in all three of the relay races.
The Rustin girls’ returned the favor, beating a rebuilding squad at East by the score of 103-78. Sophomore Sofia Piccone led the way for the Knights with two individual wins and had a hand in helping Rustin capture two of the three relays.
“We have three more dual meets, followed by the Ches-Mont Meet and then districts,” said Rustin head coach Mike Monaghan. “All of our kids are seeing, as we go through the season, that they are getting faster, and they push themselves harder.”
J.P. Perucki and A.J. Avagliano were key point-getters for the Vikings boys, who improve to 4-0 overall (3-0 in the Ches-Mont National). A junior, Perucki prevailed in the 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke. Avagliano won the won 200 IM and 100 freestyle — and both were members of the winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
“Henderson and Rustin are our biggest competition,” Perucki said. “It’s really big to beat either of them. It’s a big deal – we’ve talked about it for the past week.
“We know a lot of people on the other side personally, so it makes for more competition when you are racing somebody you know. We push each other to do better.”
The Knights fall to 3-3 overall, but are still in first place in the C-M American at 2-0. A few weeks after shattering the Rustin school record in diving, senior Alec Pirone grabbed first place with a score of 293.05. And in another performance of note, freshman Adam Khatib notched a win in the 500 freestyle, and sliced nearly seven seconds off his previous best time in the process.
“Adam’s really come on strong from his first meet, where he was pretty nervous,” Monaghan said.
Matt Sivo chipped in with a win in the 100 backstroke and contributed to two of the relay victories for East, who face rival West Chester Henderson and the two Downingtown’s next.
“We’ve lost to Henderson in each of my first two years but I think we might be in a good spot this year to be Ches-Mont Champs. If any year is the year, this is it,” Perucki said.
“The next few weeks will be a test for our us,” added Vikings’ head coach Beth Ann Carozza. “This was also a test, and we were fortunate to have the depth to outscore (Rustin). Winning the 200 freestyle relay helped a lot because we were able to win it without necessarily our four strongest sprinters.”
With wins in the 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke and assisting in a couple relays, Piccone helped deliver 28 points to the Knights on the girls’ side. And senior Emily Hahn added a win in the 200 IM and was one two winning relays for Rustin.
“There is a big rivalry between all three West Chester schools. We are all friends because we know each other, so it’s a friendly rivalry,” Piccone said.
“But it’s really competitive because you always want to beat the other West Chester Schools,” Koczur chimed in.
At 3-2 overall (2-0 in the C-M American), Monaghan believes the Rustin girls can contend for the division crown along with Unionville and Kennett.
“A lot of our best swimmers are 10th graders,” he said. “So we should see some good things from them for the next three seasons.”
The East girls (1-2, 1-3) were led by two-time winners Valerie Galitski (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle) and Emily Hahn (500 freestyle, 200 freestyle).
“We are obviously rebuilding, but we are young,” Carozza explained. “We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores who are scoring points, so our future is hopefully going to get bright.”
Boys
West Chester East 104, West Chester Rustin 82
200 medley relay – 1. W.C. East (Sivo, Perucki, Avagliano, Leander) 1:42.68; 200 freestyle – 1. Bussard (WCR) 1:55.87; 200 IM – 1. Avagliano (WCE) 2:08.65; 50 freestyle – 1. Breiner (WCR) 23.11; Diving – 1. Pirone (WCR) 293.05; 100 butterfly – 1. Perucki (WCE) 53.41; 100 freestyle 1. Avagliano (WCE) 48.78; 500 freestyle – 1. Khatib (WCR) 5:16.96; 200 freestyle relay – 1. W.C. East (Sherlock, Usilton, Puchalla, Hickey) 1:40.76; 100 backstroke – 1. Sivo (WCE) 57.97; 100 breaststroke – 1. Perucki (WCE) 1:02.37; 400 freestyle relay – 1. W.C. East (Avagliano, Leander, Sivo, Perucki) 3:29.81.
Girls
West Chester Rustin 103, West Chester East 78
200 medley relay – 1. W.C. Rustin (Harkins, Brosnan, Piccone, Koczur) 1:59.19; 200 freestyle – 1. Hahn (WCE) 2:09.05; 200 IM – 1. Koczur (WCR) 2:20.77; 50 freestyle – 1. Galitski (WCE) 26.54; Diving – 1. Ibach (WCR) 178.85; 100 butterfly – 1. Piccone (WCR) 1:02.20; 100 freestyle 1. Galitski (WCE) 57.61; 500 freestyle – 1. Hahn (WCE) 5:41.97; 200 freestyle relay – 1. W.C. Rustin (Piccone, Lockhart, Brosnan, Koczur) 1:46.98; 100 backstroke – 1. Piccone (WCR) 1:04.74; 100 breaststroke – 1. McNaull (WCE) 1:18.30; 400 freestyle relay – 1. W.C. East (Hahn, Topka, McNaull, Galitski) 4:09.11.
