La Salle, Mount St. Joseph earn wins over Wissahickon
LOWER GWYNEDD >> Pushing deeper into January, La Salle has begun to turn up the tempo.
“It’s that time of the year where you’re starting to finalize different spots for the Catholic League Championships and the kids are recognizing that,” Explorers coach Stephen Duncheskie said. “In early January, everybody’s kind of struggling in the pool and now when we get to the end of January, the kids start to sharpen things up a bit as we head towards Champs in February.
“So we’re at a good point right now.”
The points added up for La Salle on Thursday, as the Explorers swam and dove to a 108-70 win over Wissahickon in a non-league battle at Wiss.
The Mount St. Joseph’s girls were also impressive, pulling away to a 104-80 win over the Trojans in their non-league matchup.
Fast Start
La Salle got going quickly with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, as a foursome of Ryan Ellis, Kevin O’Dare, Liam Smith and Noah Lubinski combined their efforts for a win in 1 minute, 55.99 seconds.
Smith outlasted everybody in the 500 free later in the evening.
“We’re still getting at them pretty good but I kind of told them to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” Duncheskie said of his squad battling through the rough January schedule. “And they are at that point where they recognize that but they also kinda see there’s a light at the end of the tunnel here too.”
The Explorers showed their depth, winning the first nine events. The postseason offers plenty of hope.
“This is a veteran group and I know that they’re gonna perform well,” Duncheskie said. “We’re really just kinda, as a team, setting our sights on (PCL’s), and then we can set our sights on March.”
In the Deep End
Mary Kate Leonard had quite a day for the Mount girls, swimming on the winning 200 medley relay and also finishing first in the 200 IM and 100 breast.
The Magic won nine events.
“It was a very good meet. They had a lot of great swims,” Janet Tompkins said of her squad. “They came out of Christmas a little beat up like they should be but they’re starting to look a little crisper and and it’s starting to pay off and they’re seeing some time drops.
“I think they’re starting to recognize that this is what it’s supposed to feel like.”
Mount padded its lead with wins in both the medley and free relays.
“We’re just really deep,” Tompkins said. “When I was putting together second and third relays, they just keep rolling out. There are just a lot of strong girls on this team.”
Boys Swimming
La Salle 108, Wissahickon 70
200 medley relay: La Salle (Ryan Ellis, Kevin O’Dare, Liam Smith, Noah Lubinski), 1:55.99; 200 free: Kevork Zeibari (L) 1:45.27; 200 IM: Patrick Cunningham (L) 1:58.18; 50 free: Kevin O’Dare (L) 22.77; Diving: Liam Keenan (L) 201.85; 100 fly: Alex Patti (L) 51.95; 100 free: Quinn Buck (L) 48.81; 500 free: Liam Smith (L) 4:39.74; 200 free relay: La Salle (Michael Lee, Kevork Zieberi, Alex Patti, Kevin O’Dare), 1:30.37; (La Salle swam last three as exhibitions) 100 back: Drew Roman (W) 1:07.80; 100 breast: Hudson Bowers (W) 1:09.76; 400 free relay: Wissahickon (Nick Donofrio, Nathan Valentine, Sam Forde, Daniel Crump), 3:49.57.
Girls Swimming
Mount St. Joseph 104, Wissahickon 80
200 medley relay: Mount (Sydney McKernan, Mary Kate Leonard, Kristen O’Connor, Holly Householder), 1:52.10; 200 free: Maggie Mikalic (M) 1:57.65; 200 IM: Mary Kate Leonard (M) 2:11.26; 50 free: Kristen O’Connor (M) 25.17; Diving: Tess Klugherz (W) 266.40; 100 fly: Katie Sapozhnikov (W) 59.19; 100 free: Amanda Conti (M) 54.80; 500 free: Maggie Mikalic (M) 5:13.70; 200 free relay: Mount (Amanda Conti, Holly Householder, Kristen O’Connor, Maggie Mikalic), 1:41.23; 100 back: Sydney McKernan (M) 1:00.91; 100 breast: Mary Kate Leonard (M) 1:09.48; 400 free relay: Wissahickon (Karis Kim, Julia Weiss, Maddie Johnson, Katie Sapozhnikov), 3:44.77.
