Happy Senior Night for Upper Dublin with sweep of Souderton
UPPER DUBLIN >> For the Upper Dublin swim teams, Opening Night was also Senior Night.
Surely, it was a different way to start the season, but nevertheless an adrenaline pumper for sure.
“It was very exciting – made us look forward to the opener that much more,” said Alanis Andrulonis, her team back in action after the shutdown due to the pandemic had pushed the season back to mid-January. “It was really good, the best it could have been under the circumstances.”
The Cardinals were fast off the blocks, racing to a 104-82 win over Souderton on the girls side while the boys were 108-75 winners over Big Red.
Two of District One’s premier programs battled back and forth at Upper Dublin.
“I just want to make it feel as much like a regular season as possible for the underclassmen and have them look forward to next year and enjoy being part of the team,” said Andrulonis, a senior freestyler. “We always have a tradition of success and we always work hard. Even though a lot of our really talented seniors are gone, we always know that that’s part of our legacy so we’re working towards that this year.”
Co-State Champs with North Penn in Class 3A a year ago, the Upper Dublin girls began 2021 by winning the first six events in the pool, including a pair of victories by Molly Braun in the 200-yard IM and 100 butterfly.
Braun also joined Meghan DiMartile, Emma McCarthy and Grace McManus to win the 200 medley relay in 1:49.69, and teamed up with Maya Gondek, Hannah McKeown and Korinna Pesti to win the 200 free relay in 1:40.40.
“It was good to swim again,” Braun said. “It was pretty good. Our Senior Night was our first meet, which was weird, but it was good to get it in just in case. It was our first meet, so (the goal was to) get up and swim fast.
“Senior Night is usually our last meet so we’re usually a lot more in shape and stuff. This time, we just got back in the water three weeks ago. But it was good to get a Senior Night because there are some other things that didn’t happen this year (due to the pandemic).”
Said Braun of the goal this year: “We lost a lot of seniors, one of them my sister (Elle, who is now at Wisconsin), but we hope to get the state title again. We’re doing pretty well. The first meet went well and we’ll see how it goes. We have two meets a week for the next month so we’ll be getting into the grind.”
Meanwhile, in the boys meet, Aidan Keillor swam to a pair of victories to help lead the Cards, his wins in the 200 free and 500 free contributing key points.
Souderton, out to a 2-1 start on both the boys and girls sides, finished things off with Robbie Ferlick’s strong anchor leg on the first-place 400 free relay (Drew Stephens, Kristian Stanczewski, Brien Yaglenski). Big Red bookended the meet with winning relays: Brien Yaglenski, Matvey Andryushin, Robbie Ferlick and Drew Stephens took the 200 medley in 1:44.78.
“We’re pretty happy with the way both the boys and girls swam. These are the kinds of programs we measure ourselves against,” Big Red coach Lou Williams said. “We love coming here to swim at this pool and against Upper Dublin.
“Robbie was great in the boys meet again (winning the 50 and 100 free), he and Drew Stephens. Robbie had a very nice come-from-behind win victory in the 400 free relay. In the girls, it was nice to see our freshman girl, Jess Burns, race a little bit in the 100 breast (to get the win). Senior Elle Hiestand, (who was second in the 50 free and 100 back), had a very nice meet there, had some nice times today.”
Souderton hosts North Penn Thursday and Upper Dublin hosts Hatboro-Horsham that same afternoon.
Boys: Upper Dublin 108, Souderton 75
200 medley relay: Upper Dublin (Brian Yaglenski, Matvey Andryushin, Robbie Ferlick, Drew Stephens), 1:44.78; 200 free: Aidan Keillor (UD) 1:52.61; 200 IM: Jonas Andrulonis (UD) 2:05.33; 50 free: Robbie Ferlick (S) 22.41; Diving: Alex Martin (S) 233.40; 100 fly: Spencer Motelson (UD) 57.77; 100 free: Robbie Ferlick (S) 49.89; 500 free: Aidan Keillor (UD) 4:59.39; 200 free relay: Upper Dublin (Connor Brennan, Jonas Andrulonis, Michael Gewartowski, Spencer Motelson), 1:32.86; 100 back: Brien Yaglenski (S) 58.20; 100 breast: Michael Yoon (UD) 1:05.37; 400 free relay: Souderton (Drew Stephens, Kristian Stanczewski, Brien Yaglenski, Robbie Ferlick), 3:26.27.
Girls: Upper Dublin 104, Souderton 82
200 medley relay: Upper Dublin (Meghan DiMartile, Emma McCarthy, Molly Braun, Grace McManus), 1:49.69; 200 free: Maya Gondek (UD) 1:58.61; 200 IM: Molly Braun (UD) 2:11.23; 50 free: Korinna Pesti (UD) 25.05; Diving: Avery Taylor (S) 205.70; 100 fly: Molly Braun (UD) 58.21; 100 free: Maya Gondek (UD) 54.13; 500 free: Amy Masciulli (S) 5:33.06; 200 free relay: Upper Dublin (Maya Gondek Hannah McKeown, Korinna Pesti, Molly Braun), 1:40.40; 100 back: Meghan DiMartile (UD) 57.83; 100 breast: Jessica Burns (S) 1:08.08; 400 free relay: Souderton (Drew Stephens, Kristian Stanczewski, Brien Yaglenski, Robbie Ferlick), 3:26.27.
