District 1 Swimming Championships: North Penn out to defend titles
Day One of the District One Swim Championships at La Salle University will get underway a little later than planned, as the forecast of snow has pushed back the start of the girls session to 12:30 p.m. Friday, with the boys following at 5:30.
The goal remains the same: the North Penn girls are looking to win their seventh consecutive District 1-3A title while the boys have a third straight team title in mind. They could also make it five titles in the past six years.
“Our district is one of the most dominant in the state so the competition there is the best competition you’ll see anywhere,” Knights coach Jeff Faikish said. “It makes it awesome for our kids because they know that if they can compete with the kids in our district meet, they can compete at the state level.”
Day Two of both the Class 2A and Class 3A competitions will take place Saturday: the girls race from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the boys following from 4-7:30 p.m.
The Lower Moreland boys and the Villa Maria girls enter as the defending champs in Class 2A. Last year’s top five in Class 3A boys included Upper Dublin, Conestoga, Hatboro-Horsham and Souderton Area.
The top five girls squads a year ago included Avon Grove, Upper Dublin, Unionville and Downingtown West.
Upper Dublin has multiple top seeds: Matt Jensen in the boys 100 free, and Abbie Amdor in the girls 100 free as well as the Cardinals’ 400 free relay.
North Penn’s Ryley Fein is the top seed in the boys 200 free and Sean Faikish is the top seed in the 200 IM. The Knights’ 200 and 400 free relays are also seeded first.
Claudia Thamm is seeded fourth in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 fly for the NP girls.
“It’s gonna be a fun time,” Faikish said, “and fortunately these kids grew up in our aquatic club programs and our U.S. programs. We swim meets down at La Salle so we have experience in that pool.”
The Knights are coming off an overwhelming performance at the Suburban One League Continental Conference Championships, and both the boys and girls got a head start in the team scoring, thanks to last weekend’s District One Diving Meet.
“A lot more to come hopefully,” said Fein. “We’re working towards the ultimate goal, which is states of course, and I think we’re just gonna keep the momentum riding hopefully.”
From here, it’s the PIAA Championships at Bucknell.
“I’m excited to see what the end of the season holds but I’m also really nervous,” Faikish said. “This is that time of the year where I just wanna make sure that we do things right for the kids so that they can perform to the best of their ability, or exceed their own expectations.
“And that’s ultimately what the goal is: get these kids to believe in themselves, to outperform their own thoughts and expectations of themselves.”
