PIAA Swimming: Gold medals for North Penn’s Faikish and Burrell, Upper Dublin’s Amdor

LEWISBURG >> He earned the silver medal as a freshman, the bronze as a sophomore.

And on Friday night at Bucknell University, North Penn’s Sean Faikish won a tremendous back-and-forth battle with defending champion Richard Mihm of North Allegheny in the 200-yard individual medley to claim his first ever individual state gold.

“I was pretty pumped,” Faikish said of when he looked up to see his winning time of 1 minute, 44.88 seconds. “I’m gonna watch the video when I get back and probably see myself celebrating a little bit. I kept it in all year until this — that was my goal, to win states. I achieved it this year.

“Seeing the way we all came together as a group was awesome. We have a lot of confidence going into Day Two tomorrow. So we’re excited.”

Capped off by a silver medal swim in the 200 free relay (Ryley Fein, Nick Clark, Evan Mancini, Tyler Hall, 1:23.47), the Knights are in contention for their first team title since 2004. North Penn trails North Allegheny in Class 3A, 152-120.

The NP girls lead their competition, following an impressive Day One at Kinney Natatorium.

Faikish was at his best in the final, overcoming one of his closest rivals to reach the mountain top.

“Great competitor,” Faikish said of Mihm. “I’ve been swimming against him for the past two years. Every meet I went to, I’ve either been next to him or in a heat with him. It’s great to see I finished out on top this time.

“I saw him in the backstroke,” Faikish said, “and I thought he was a little bit more ahead of me than I thought. And then I did my turn for back-to-breast, and I saw him out of the corner of my eye. In the breast, I just closed my eyes and went for it. In the freestyle, I saw him the whole way because I was breathing on his side.”

Faikish pushed to the finish and outraced Mihm (1:44.97) for the gold.

North Penn started the evening by placing fourth in the 200 medley relay, a team of Faikish, Nick Clark, Evan Mancini and Tyler Hall touching in 1:31.40.

Ryley Fein emerged with a bronze medal in the 200 free, finishing in 1:38.59, and in addition, Max Bachman added seven points in that event with a 10th-place finish in 1:41.82.

Also in the 200 IM, Eric Degodny and Evan Mancini of North Penn placed 13th (1:53.96) and 14th (1:54.07). Tyler Hall grabbed 11th (21.06) in the 50 free for the Knights.

The North Penn girls are pulling away to their second straight state title and third in the last four years: NP leads Class 3A with 187 points, with Governor Mifflin in second with 91.

Upper Dublin, hit with some misfortune when both its 200 medley and 200 free relays were DQ’d in the morning swims, is eighth with 54.

Diver Paige Burrell won her third straight state gold, with the Knights taking the top four spots.

“It’s crazy. That’s what we wanted to get and I’m just so excited that we all pulled together,” Burrell said. “I’m pretty confident in the team right now.”

Burrell compiled a score of 492.20. It was her fourth state medal, including a silver as a freshman.

“It feels great. I wasn’t expecting this. I never expect it,” she said happily. “Everyone is so great and it’s so competitive. I just gotta stay focused and train hard and have fun.”

The senior finished in style, nailing her front two and a half in the last round of the finals. The fact it was her last dive for North Penn seemed to be bittersweet.

“It was really sad. I actually kinda cried after my last dive,” said Burrell, who is headed to North Carolina next year. “Everyone was waiting for me at the end and giving me hugs so it was really sad — the last one.”

Meghan Wenzel (484.05), Kianna Yancey (458.85) and Madalyn Freece (445.55) placed second, third and fourth for NP, as the Knights piled up 68 points in the event.

North Penn added more points in the evening, with Claudia Thamm earning silver in the 100 fly (54.79) and a fourth in the 200 IM (2:01.21). Caroline Dunigan pushed to a silver in the 50 free (23.44) and she also anchored home the 200 medley relay (1:44.27), joining Kaelan Daly, Julia Davis and Thamm.

The 200 free relay foursome of Dunigan, Parker Schulz, Nicole Chiappa and Daly claimed the silver, clocking a 1:34.32.

Also, Charlotte Thamm was 15th in the 100 fly (57.83) for the Knights.

GOLD FOR AMDOR: Upper Dublin’s Abbie Amdor was three seconds faster than her state time of a year ago, and faster than everyone else in the 200 free.

“I thought the time was false. I didn’t think it was right. I was in shock,” she said of her 1:46.66. “I was really happy with it.

“I knew I had more in me tonight than I did this morning. So I knew something was gonna happen but I didn’t know that was gonna happen.”

Amdor’s closest competition was Lower Merion’s Anna Kalandadze (1:48.34).

Asked what made the difference in her completing the jump from second in 2018 to first this year, Amdor said: “Honestly, just our training. We just trained hard this year. My mind was set to winning this event the whole year. So I was focused.”

Also from the area, Wissahickon’s Carly Zlotnikoff raced to a bronze in the 200 free (1:49.26) and Upper Dublin’s Elle Braun was fourth (1:50.60).

In the 200 IM, Upper Dublin’s Aly Breslin was seventh (2:03.32) and Souderton Area’s Hailey Freed was 16th (2:09.71).

Upper Dublin’s Molly Braun was 10th in the 100 fly (56.96).

Upper Dublin’s 200 medley boys team of Jake DiMartile, Matt Jensen, Kyle Pro and Nicholas Gewartowski was third in 1:31.11.

La Salle was sixth in the race, a foursome of Tim Grossi, Kevin O’Dare, Matt Szekely and Quinn Buck combining to go 1:32.65.

Souderton Area’s team of T.J. Yaglenski, William Leyland, Matt Masciulli and Jake Kramer won the consolation race, going 1:33.77.

The 200 free was loaded with locals, led by La Salle’s Liam Smith (second, 1:38.38) and followed by Abington’s Matt Bonnell (sixth, 1:40.48), Upper Dublin’s Kyle Pro (seventh, 1:40.62), Souderton’s Jake Kramer (eighth, 1:41.10), and La Salle’s Connor Goodyear (15th, 1:43.96).

Jake DiMartile finished sixth in the 200 IM (1:51.49), Matt Szekely of La Salle was ninth (1:51.30), and Paul Brosky of the Explorers was 15th (1:54.55).

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Caleb Kelly was fifth in the 50 free (20.84), Hatboro-Horsham’s Luke Emig was 13th (21.28), and La Salle’s Matt Lewis was 16th (21.70).

Upper Dublin’s Matt Jensen earned silver in the 100 fly (48.10) and Souderton Area’s T.J. Yaglenski grabbed the sixth-place medal (49.82). PW’s Nick Fiddler was eighth (50.37) and La Salle’s Tim Grossi 15th (51.02).