North Penn defends SOL Continental title in commanding fashion

TOWAMENCIN >> In a fast meet, going against some of the finest competition around, North Penn managed to pile up 608 points and capture the Suburban One League Continental Conference Championship in commanding fashion.

Saturday’s meet may have merely served as a teaser trailer to what lie ahead.

Said Knights senior Claudia Thamm: “The amount of people we have this year on our team, let alone the amount of talent we have on our team, it’s just crazy to think that we can score that many points at a conference meet. And to see into the future, what districts and states holds, is beyond my mind.”

The Knights defended their conference crown in style, outdistancing themselves from their closest competition, Central Bucks East (379) and rival Souderton Area (325).

“This meet is always fun, considering some of our team is rested so they’re always really excited,” Thamm said. “And we just feed off of their energy and it just makes it an incredible day, an incredible meet.

“And then we have those incredible races in there too, which ties everything together.”

The North Penn foursome of Kaelan Daly, Haley Muth, Thamm and Caroline Dunigan won the 200 medley relay to get things started.

The Knights swept the relays and won the first five individual events.

“Our girls team has been working harder than ever this season,” North Penn coach Jeff Faikish said. “I was very nervous a couple weeks ago with how they looked. This meet is a fantastic tune-up, getting ready for the district championships and seeing what we’re capable of doing.”

Standing out in particular were Thamm and Nicole Chiappa. Each won four events: Thamm took the 200 IM and 100 fly, Chiappa was first in the 200 free and 100 free, and each were on a winning relay before teaming up on the 400 free relay to cap things off.

“Claudia has been a top-notch athlete for me for years and Nicole is on the rise,” Faikish said. “She’s got tons of potential, she has a lot of energy, and she’s a great kid.”

Chiappa is coming on strong as a junior and Thamm made her final meet at the Rick Carroll Natatorium one to remember.

“It was definitely a nice way to end my senior year,” she said. “I’ve swam those events my entire career. I’ve swam them at every meet. So it was nothing new, but this meet brings something new every year.

“We have so many new people, so many new swimmers and talent, so it’s just a great way to end it all.”

Junior Caroline Dunigan added a win for the Knights, taking first in the 50 free. A hard-driving senior class was further exemplified by Parker Schulz, who swam on both the first-place 200 free and 400 free relays and contributed a bronze in both the 100 and 200 free races.

Also from the area, Souderton Area’s Hailey Freed raced to a second-place finish in the 100 back, touching in 57.60. Big Red also took second in the 200 medley relay, helping to push the Indians to third in the team standings.

Suburban One League Continental Conference Championships
At North Penn
Team Standings: 1. North Penn (NP) 608; 2. Central Bucks East (CBE) 379; 3. Souderton Area (S) 325; 4. Central Bucks South (CBS) 295; 5. Central Bucks West (CBW) 229; 6. Pennridge (P) 91; 7. Quakertown, 80.

200 medley relay: 1. North Penn (Kaelan Daly, Haley Muth, Claudia Thamm, Caroline Dunigan), 1:47.82; 2. Souderton, 1:48.87; 3. CB South, 1:49.94; 4. CB East, 1:52.09; 5. CB West, 1:54.97; 6. Quakertown, 2:07.15.
200 free: 1. Nicole Chiappa (NP) 1:57.49; 2. Olivia Toussaint (NP) 1:57.72; 3. Parker Schulz (NP) 2:00.10; 4. Maggie Young (CBE) 2:00.79; 5. Kaylin Goodling (CBS) 2:00.93; 6. Courtney Sterner (CBE) 2:02.36.
200 IM: 1. Claudia Thamm (NP) 2:07.02; 2. Haley Scholer (CBS) 2:07.91; 3. Hailey Freed (S) 2:10.17; 4. Kaelan Daly (NP) 2:11.34; 5. Lizzy Koerper (NP) 2:13.51; 6. Abby Burns (S) 2:13.64.
50 free: 1. Caroline Dunigan (NP) 24.36; 2. Heidi Scholer (CBS) 24.43; 3. Kayla Pike (S) 24.88; 4. Madeleine Voss (NP) 25.15; 5. Haley Muth (NP) 25.32; 6. Reese Trauger (P) 25.43.
100 fly: 1. Claudia Thamm (NP) 57.97; 2. Sayde Shiroff (CBE) 58.34; 3. Sophie Moyer (CBE) 59.23; 4. Sammie Seiden (CBW) 1:00.09; 5. Maureen Boland Bintner (NP) 1:00.23; 6. Abby Peters (NP) 1:00.35.
200 free relay: 1. North Penn (Olivia Toussaint, Parker Schulz, Caroline Dunigan, Nicole Chiappa), 1:38.16; 2. CB East, 1:41.48; 3. CB South, 1:43.45; 4. CB West, 1:45.08; 5. Souderton, 1:46.27; 6. Pennridge, 1:48.92.
100 free: 1. Nicole Chiappa (NP) 53.46; 2. Caroline Dunigan (NP) 53.59; 3. Parker Schulz (NP) 53.92; 4. Kaylin Goodling (CBS) 54.66; 5. Madeleine Voss (NP) 55.11; 6. Grace Hamilton (CBE) 55.26.
500 free: 1. Maggie Young (CBE) 5:18.93; 2. Abby Kearns (CBE) 5:29.09; 3. Courtney Sterner (CBE) 5:30.85; 4. Luna Hutchinson (NP) 5:31.72; 5. Kelsey Donatelli (S) 5:33.40; 6. Anya Suko (CBE) 5:33.44.
100 back: 1. Haley Scholer (CBS) 56.96; 2. Hailey Freed (S) 57.60; 3. Kaelan Daly (NP) 58.53; 4. Sayde Shiroff (CBE) 58.95; 5. Katelyn Harkrader (NP) 1:00.25; 6. Julia Stephens (NP) 1:00.31.
100 breast: 1. Heidi Scholer (CBS) 1:06.72; 2. Julia Davis (NP) 1:08.39; 3. Jessica Kuo (CBW) 1:08.47; 4. Haley Muth (NP) 1:08.77; 5. Ellie Hiestand (S) 1:08.90; 6. Olivia Toussaint (NP) 1:09.33.
400 free relay: 1. North Penn (Claudia Thamm, Nicole Chiappa, Kaelan Daly, Parker Schulz), 3:33.80; 2. CB South, 3:35.94; 3. Souderton, 3:36.48; 4. CB East, 3:40.59; 5. CB West, 3:46.04; 6. Quakertown, 4:19.10.