La Salle boys, Upper Dublin girls surge to the finish, earn non-league wins

UPPER DUBLIN >> They finished up with a preview, a glimpse at possibly what is to come.

The Upper Dublin girls 400-yard freestyle relay put everything together for a first-place finish in 3 minutes, 55.79, surging past Gwynedd Mercy Academy in the final event of Thursday night’s non-league meet.

The Cardinal foursome is ready to start a promising postseason.

“I’d love to win states with the relay,” said a smiling Maya Gondek.

The Cardinals had plenty to smile about Thursday, racing to a 118-67 victory over the Monarchs to cap a tremendous regular season. The La Salle boys also came out with a victory, earning a 100-73 win over the Cardinals as part of a fast double dual meet at Upper Dublin.

“It was a really nice win. I usually don’t swim breast but I did that today,” said Gondek. “It was a really nice win and a good time.”

Gondek, usually a sprint freestyler (100 and 200 free), got to switch things up against the Monarchs and raced to a first-place finish in the 1:13.35. Upper Dublin actually went one-two-three in the event, with Amanda Kulak (1:20.73) and Grace Rizzuto (1:21.01) placing second and third.

Upper Dublin displayed its versatility throughout.

In fact, Anna Luciani (200 IM), Grace McManus (500 free) and Korinna Pesti (100 back) all came away with victories in their respective events. Divers Alexia Brown, Abby Rizzuto and Madelyn Fagan went one, two and three, and the 200 medley relay foursome of Meghan DiMartile, Madison McManus, Grace Rizzuto and Sarah O’Neill kick-started the meet.

Said Gondek: “There’s a really good team dynamic.”

All that was left was the 400 free relay. The team of Liza Dugan, Madison McManus, Gondek and Kayla Mosteller capped things off. The relays could again be big winners for the Cards in the postseason.

“We wanna win states – that’s always the goal,” said Gondek.

Brynn Romberger won a pair of events (200 free, 100 fly) for GMA and she anchored the 200 free relay to a win, joining Amanda Murray, Samantha Yuen and Ella McManus. Murray took the 50 free for the Monarchs.

It was a tremendously balanced effort by the La Salle boys.

Cole Faikish (200 free), Alex Sleptsov (200 IM), Andrew Acker (50 free), Liam Keenan (diving), Noah Lubinski (100 fly), Gavin Brooke (100 free) and Gabriel Cowart (500 free) all earned first places.

The 200 medley relay foursome of Aidan Schnapf, Brooke, Tim Grossi and Quinn Buck posted a 1:37.42 to get things rolling for the two-time defending state champs.

The Upper Dublin boys, who will also make plenty of noise in the postseason, were powered by Odin Andrews, who won the 100 back, and Andrew Heisman, who touched first in the 100 breast.

The 200 free relay (Alex Freilich, Michael Gewartowski, Nicolas Medvedev, Julian Ruocco) and 400 free relay (Jack Vitella, Heisman, Franco Ciccarone, Daniil Salimov) teams were first-place finishers for the Cards.