North Penn sweeps Upper Dublin in season opener
TOWAMENCIN >> North Penn and Upper Dublin seem to run into each other everywhere: at districts, states, or the Junior Nationals, like last weekend in Atlanta.
Only fitting that the Knights and Cardinals open up the season against one another.
“It’s always a great meet,” North Penn’s Evan Mancini said. “We see each other at a lot of the big meets and we know they have a lot of studs. This is definitely a good way to head into winter break.”
The NP boys earned a 90-77 victory over Upper Dublin and the NP girls came out on top as well, 87-81 over the Cardinals.
The Knights finished up in record-setting fashion, as a foursome of Luke Schwar, Nick Clark, Evan Mancini and Sean Faikish set a pool record in 3 minutes, 5.76 seconds.
“It was really exciting because we knew they were stacking their 200 and 400 free relays, and we knew everybody was tired at that point but we wanted to give it our all,” Mancini said. “We knew we were gonna have a shot at the record so we wanted to make every second of it count.”
Matt Jensen was a record setter for Upper Dublin and came away with wins in the 100 fly and 100 breast and also swam on the winning 200 medley relay.
Wins by Max Bachman (200 free), Sean Faikish (200 IM) and Luke Schwar were key for the Knights.
“I am thoroughly pleased and impressed and really proud of this team – both the boys and girls,” Knights coach Jeff Faikish said. “Upper Dublin is a formidable opponent. They are one of the top slated teams in the state. Our teams know each other so well and they’re such a strong opponent.”
Caroline Dunigan won the 50 free for the North Penn girls and joined Kaelan Daly, Olivia Toussaint and Nicole Chiappa to take the 200 free relay. That helped overcome a tremendous effort by the Cards, who who got double wins from Elle Braun (200 free/500 free), Aly Breslin (200 IM/100 breast) and Meghan DiMartile (100 free/100 back).
The two teams added another fast chapter to their fierce but friendly rivalry.
Said Faikish: “The handshake at the end of the meet took so long because people are hugging.”
Boys Swimming
North Penn 90, Upper Dublin 77
200 medley relay: Upper Dublin (Jake DiMartile, Matt Jensen, Kyle Pro, Nicholas Gewartowski), 1:32.62; 200 free: Max Bachman (NP) 1:43.10; 200 IM: Sean Faikish (NP) 1:50.82; 50 free: Luke Schwar (NP) 21.28; 100 fly: Jensen (UD) 48.80; 100 free: Kyle Pro (UD) 47.21; 500 free: Jake DiMartile (UD) 4:39.04; 200 free relay: North Penn (Ryan Faikish, Max Bachman, Matt Harkrader, Luke Engel), 1:29.28; 100 back: Jake DiMartile (UD) 51.60; 100 breast: Matt Jensen (UD) 55.75; (NP swam as exhibition) 400 free relay: Upper Dublin (Kyle Pro. Jake DiMartile, Nicholas Gewartowski, Matt Jensen), 3:08.11.
Girls Swimming
North Penn 87, Upper Dublin 81
200 medley relay: Upper Dublin (Meghan DiMartile, Aly Breslin, Molly Braun, Laura Pendleton), 1:47.17; 200 free: Elle Braun (UD) 1:54.68; 200 IM: Aly Breslin (UD) 2:06.53; 50 free: Caroline Dunigan (NP) 24.19; 100 fly: Molly Braun (UD) 56.70; 100 free: Meghan DiMartile (UD) 53.49; 500 free: Elle Braun (UD) 5:06.35; 200 free relay: North Penn (Kaelan Daly, Olivia Toussaint, Nicole Chiappa, Caroline Dunigan), 1:37.91; 100 back: Meghan DiMartile (UD) 57.72l 100 breast: Aly Breslin (UD) 1:06.76; (NP swam as exhibition) 400 free relay: Upper Dublin (Molly Braun, Korinna Pesti, Meghan DiMartile, Elle Braun), 3:35.41.
