Easterns Swimming: Lo’s first major meet leaves Episcopal on a high

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LANCASTER — Chris Lo’s goals Friday at the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming Championships had little to do with the swimmers around him.

In his first year of varsity swimming, the Episcopal Academy water polo/squash player who joined the team for “winter conditioning” was just hoping for modest improvement. He thought he had put in more work than the 23.59-second season-best in the 50 freestyle had indicated. He figured the only swimmer he’d be racing at Franklin & Marshall would be a past version of himself.

What Lo did exceeded his wildest visions.

The junior went from the 33rd seed in the 100-yard butterfly to 23rd overall, dropping more than three seconds to 54.93. His descent in the 50 free was even more drastic: From the 48th seed, to a prelims tie for 24th in 22.29, then a 21.78 in the swim-off that led to him, amazingly, winning the B final in 21.76 to take 17th place.

The highlight was the swim-off against Mercersburg Academy’s Mason Green, which Lo won decisively, with his entire team on deck to cheer him in an “exhilarating” moment.

“I don’t think anything can get more exciting than the swim-off,” Lo said. “Props to the person I swam against, he was such a nice guy. But to have the whole EA team, they’re so supportive, and I’ve never been more nervous in my whole life. I had so many jitters, and I got on the block and I felt super calm.”

Lo swam when he was younger but fell in love with squash in sixth grade at EA. He split time this winter in the pool and on the courts. Water polo is his primary sport, and he didn’t expect to do much for the swim team this winter except get in shape. Yet at his first major meet, he lit the spark for his team.

“I was so proud of him,” senior Sam Wesley said. “He’s only done high school swimming for one year. He’s been working so hard.”

Following Lo’s lead, Wesley anchored the medley relay to a win in 1:30.53, joining Jack Christian, Ben Wesley and Cole Whitsett to set a Delco record just ahead of Haverford School (1:31.43 finals), which had broken the county mark in prelims at 1:30.98.

Christian was fourth in the 200 free. Whitsett downed Shane Ryan’s nine-year-old county record in the 100 fly in 48.74.

The evening’s high point was Sam Wesley’s win in the 200 individual medley, an event he didn’t swim last year, with teammate and Daily Times Boys Swimmer of the Year Ivan Puskovitch winning in a Delco-record time. Wesley did the same this year, clocking in at 1:48.46, mounting a huge comeback over the torrid front half put down by Alex Hazlett of Brunswick School.

It earns Wesley, an Army commit, his first gold in his fifth career individual Easterns A final. Ben Wesley was seventh.

“Every single year I’ve wanted to work to get better,” he said. “This is surreal. As a freshman I was in two C finals and now I’m up top.”

Kelly Feuzue Mekoue won the girls 50 free, defending her top seed from prelims in 23.71.

“I had a lot of support from my friends and my teammates and also my coaches, so I was really just trying to come first because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone,” she said. “And also it was for me, I wanted to drop more time from the morning.”

Emma Lunn was fifth in the 200 free, Chelsey Liu made A finals in the 50 free (eighth) and 100 fly (fourth) and EA finished second in the 200 free relay. It sits third in the team standings after day one.

Lo’s self-belief grew as his times dropped, and it seemed contagious. From wondering if he’d get a night swim, Lo by the afternoon figured he could go and win his C final in the 50 free. He duly delivered.

“I felt that I put the work in this season and I really wanted to show them that I could do better than a 22.29,” he said. “I’m going to show them what I did in the swim off and win the whole heat.”

• • •

When Madison Kolessar hit the wall in the 200 free, she slammed the water emphatically in celebration.

It wasn’t for a win; that went to Germantown Academy senior and Brookhaven native Emma Atkinson, in a meet- and pool-record 1:45.77. It wasn’t for a personal-best, which for Kolessar still looms as the Delco record she set as a freshman at Garnet Valley (1:49.62).

But it was a momentous achievement for the Notre Dame senior, the first time she’s cracked 1:50 since that swim, taking second in 1:49.74.

“I was super excited because I hadn’t been under 1:50 since my freshman year of high school states,” the University of Florida commit said. “So being that this is my senior year and at a meet like Easterns, it was just really exciting to do that again.”

That kind of plateau is not uncommon, particularly for a distance swimmer, even of her caliber. While it’s been a tough journey, gritting her way under 1:50 again is big for her confidence, particularly since she was only lightly rested for Easterns.

“It definitely puts me in a good space mentally knowing I’m starting to get my groove back with everything,” Kolessar said.

Mia Abruzzo had a similar conundrum. She cut time for a second straight year in the IM, advancing the Delco record that is definitively hers to 1:59.24. But she was denied a third straight title by Penn Charter’s Sarah Foley in 1:58.11. Ashley Kolessar was third in that event with Natalie Stuart sixth. The Irish took fourth in the medley relay.

• • •

The number 20.00 looms large for any elite boys sprinter. Brian Brennan is no exception.

While the Haverford School senior has been chipping away at times in the low 20s for years, that stubborn first digit has refused to switch. He still got a silver medal in 20.09 Friday, trailing only the national prep record of 19.42 by Pennington School’s David Curtiss, but that last tenth of a second north of 20 seconds carries loads of cachet.

“It’s been a barrier I’ve been trying to break for a while,” the UVA commit said. “Sadly I haven’t been able to do it, but I’m happy with a .02 drop, and a 20.0 is pretty damn close to a 19, but it’s been something I’ve been trying to break for over a year.”

One unambiguous benefit has been his sprint company, the Fords’ other BB sprinter: Bobby Blewett, who finished seventh in the 50 in 20.99. The Fords were seventh in the 200 free relay, Jack Deppen took fifth in the 200 free, Anton Crescente finished eighth in the 200 IM and Antonio Octaviano was eighth in the 100 fly.

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Matthew De George

Matthew De George
Matthew De George is the Asst. Sports Editor and the lead Union writer for The Daily Times.

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