Tied entering final events, Boyertown boys, Spring-Ford girls pull out tight wins
BOYERTOWN >> To no one’s surprise, the outcome of Friday afternoon’s Pioneer Athletic Conference swim meet between Boyertown and Spring-Ford came right down to the wire for both the boys and girls. In fact, both were tied heading into the final event, with the winner of the 400-yard freestyle relay coming out on top for the day.
And the Boyertown boys won the finale by 1.35 seconds for an 86-84 decision in a battle of undefeated teams. The Spring-Ford girls swam to the win by over 13 seconds in the final race for an 88-82 victory, handing the Bears their first loss of the season.
“That’s what we thought. It was going to be very close,” said Boyertown’s Nolan Benner, who won the 100 freestyle, placed second in the 50 freestyle and anchored the Bears (8-0 PAC) to wins in the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. “I feel like we really came together as a family, never giving up. Everyone needed to do the best they could for the team.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Spring-Ford vs. Boyertown
“It was an intense one,” said Justin Morris, who started the Bear win in the 200 medley relay and later placed second in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke. “We’re looking to be PAC champions. We thought we weren’t going to do as well as we have this year.”
Spring-Ford’s Brendan Baganski had quite a day for himself but couldn’t quite pull out the win for his team while swimming the last leg of the final event.
“We were coming back. We were trying our best,” he said. “We knew coming in, Boyertown was going to be hard competition. We figured it would come down to the last race. It was an exciting meet.”
Baganski set pool and school records while winning the 50 freestyle in 21.39 seconds and placed second to Benner (47.37 seconds) in the 100 freestyle with a school record time of 47.63 seconds. He also led off for the Rams (6-1) in a win in the 200 freestyle relay.
“The fact that we are going for best times is exciting,” he said.
Other winners for the boys included Owen Miller in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly and Noah Vivian in the 100 breaststroke for Boyertown. For Spring-Ford, Luke McKenna won the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle and Andrew Cubbler placed first in the 100 backstroke.
Boyertown will try to win its first PAC title in a decade when it hosts once-defeated Owen J. Roberts next Thursday.
“Ever since freshman year, the seniors have been talking about that,” said Morris. “We’re always looking up at the banner, trying to get our name up there.”
In the girls meet, Spring-Ford freshman Ashley Gutshall won both the 50 and 100 freestyle events.
“It was tied going into the last race,” she said. “It came down to everybody because it was so close. Even getting fifth place instead of sixth place was important. We’d never beaten them before. It came down to everybody.”
Both Boyertown (7-1) and Spring-Ford (6-1) trail undefeated Owen J. Roberts, with hopefully long individual post-season runs coming up for many of the Rams and Bears.
“I’m almost there,” said Gutshall. “For districts and states, I definitely want to be at the top of my game.”
Maris Sadowski was also a winner for the Rams in the 100 backstroke.
For Boyertown, Gabby McKee won in the 200 and 500 freestyle, Angie Nelson won the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke and Hannah Shaner won the 100 butterfly. But Spring-Ford pulled out the win thanks to its depth.
“We lost six seniors or more,” said Boyertown’s Madison Tyson. “We’ve really bonded this year. We did our best. We swam our best. I’m really proud of our team.”
“It’s just supporting each other and being there for each other,” added the Bears’ Sabrina Bergey. “I’m proud of what this team has done, especially a group of 12 swimmers.”
