SOL Continental Diving: North Penn’s Freece, Souderton’s Flandro capture gold
TOWAMENCIN >> A whole lot of guts and determination along with a whopping score of 524.80 brought North Penn’s Maddie Freece the Suburban One League Continental Conference Girls Diving Title Wednesday evening.
“It feels really good because this year, I had a concussion, so it’s just really nice to come back from that,” said Freece, who overcame a tough field of competitors to win by an impressive margin of 68 points. “And it feels good to win my senior year.”
Paxton Flandro was the man in the boys competition, as Souderton Area went 1-2-3-4, with Flandro leading the way with a winning score of 471.65.
For Freece and Flandro, it was just the kind of start to the postseason they were looking for.
“I was out for about a month and I had to do physical therapy for six weeks,” Freece said of her recovery time.
She brought her best to the Rick Carroll Natatorium.
“There was a little anxiety that comes along with (coming back from the injury) but now it’s about being in form and putting her in the spot where she wants to be,” Knights diving coach Bill Hence said. “She’s been on the big stage before and there’s a lot of good divers in the state.
“This meet was about building confidence against some really good kids and I think she dove well. Diving in front of a crowd like that is really good. And I’m proud of her.”
Central Bucks South’s Alexandra Charlton captured the silver with a 456.0 and CB East’s Jillian Troth was the bronze-medal winner with a 397.55.
Freece didn’t know just how high a score she had until meet’s end.
“That’s the highest score of my career,” she said. “It puts me in a good mindset going into districts and hopefully states. I’m just gonna be working really hard with my coach and my teammates.”
Not only did Flandro have the rest of the Continental to contend with, but three other strong divers on his team alone.
“I didn’t know I got first until I got off the podium,” he said. “It was a tough win. Kyle (Creachen) is a really good diver and I didn’t know I was gonna have it until the last dive. So it kept me on my toes. It was a good meet.”
Flandro was at his best, scoring an impressive 471.65, with Creachen, Alex Martin and Nick Newberry – all from Souderton – rounding out the top four.
“We’ve been working hard,” Flandro said. “We have five divers qualified for districts and we can only dive four. So it was kind of a head-to-head meet to see who goes to districts.”
The swim portion of the SOL Continentals will be held Friday at Central Bucks South and Saturday back at North Penn.
Boys Diving
Suburban One League Continental Championships
Top 8-1. Paxton Flandro (S) 471.65; 2. Kyle Creachen (S) 450.35; 3. Alex Martin (S) 421.10; 4. Nick Newberry (S) 417.85; 5. Antonio Bompartito (NP) 398.00; 6. Kevin Seigfried (CBW) 383.75; 7. Lance Engel (NP) 382.15; 8. Marcos Terroba (CBE) 350.20.
Girls Diving
Suburban One League Continental Championships
Top 8-1. Maddie Freece (NP) 524.80; 2. Alexandra Charlton (CBS) 456.0; 3. Jillian Troth (CBE) 397.55; 4. Hailey DeFazio (CBW) 370.30; 5. Allison Beldham (S) 369.85; 6. Abbie Broadhead (NP) 347.85; 7. Sophia Pitelli (CBE) 347.75; 8. Avery Taylor (S) 342.90.
