D-East, West Chester East earn split in Cougar-Viking swim meet

Uwchlan >> Downingtown East and West Chester East earned a spirited split in the Cougars-Vikings swim meet Wednesday afternoon at the Lionville Community YMCA.

The D-East boys improved to 7-1 after a 95-86 win against the previously undefeated Vikings, while the West Chester East girls (4-1) earned a down-to-the-wire 94-92 victory against the Cougars.

In the final girls event, the 400 free relay, the Viking quartet of Sam Heiland, Sarah Zeminski, Angelica Wendel and Taiylor Tegler finished first (3:49.40), while the West Chester East foursome of Sophia Fu, Caroline Zeminski, Cassie Sullivan and Olivia Bond captured third place, giving the Viking girls (4-1) the needed points for victory.

“Our girls, top to bottom, swam great,” said West Chester East swim coach Beth Ann Carozza. “Our swimmers, both the girls and boys, have continued to amaze our coaches by what they do – they never quit, they always keep working. They continue to exceed expectations.”

The West Chester East girls won five individual events – Heiland in the 50 free (25.36) and 100 back (1:02.17); Tegler in the 100 breast (1:06.38); Sarah Zeminski in the 200 free (2:03.90); and Olivia Cuneo in the 100 free (59.13).

“In addition to Sam Heiland and Taiylor Tegler, we also got huge swims from Olivia Bond (second place in both 200 free and 500 free) and by Lily McCaffery in the 100 fly (fourth place) and the 500 free (fifth),” said Carozza. “Sarah Zeminski (second in 100 fly in addition to her 200 free win) swam great.”

The Downingtown East girls (4-4) gave the Vikings a tough battle, as first-place individual finishers for the Cougars included Alexa Fulton in the girls 200 IM (2:09.64, four seconds faster than her seed time); Rachel Laraio in 1-meter diving (229.50); Cady Kiebort in the 100 fly (1:01.98); and Victoria Maki in the 500 free (5:34.44).

“Alexa has been doing really well in the 200 IM,” said D-East girls swim coach Sean Wyatt. “Victoria Maki had a strong 500 free today, and Finley Mulhern (fourth in 200 IM) dropped three seconds for a PR in the 200 IM.

“This was one the best meets we’ve had in a while. Our depth really helped us today – we’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries, and today was our fourth meet in eight days.”

Also for the D-East girls, the quartet of Maki, Mulhern, Fulton and Kiebort won the girls 200 medley relay (1:54.36) and the foursome of  Kiebort, Mulhern, Fulton and Maki won the girls 200 free relay (1:44.11).

The Downingtown East boys had six individual first-place finishers – Matt DiAddezio (200 IM, 2:11.53); Aidan McIlroy (50 free, 22.60); Mitchell Goldman (1-meter diving, 234.05); George Liu (100 fly, 57.12); Gabe Carroll (100 free, 51.50); and Luke Sperling (100 back, 1:02.82). Also for D-East, Jack Thompson clocked 1:06.64 in the 100 breast (exhibition).

The D-East quartet of Thompson, DiAddezio, McIlroy and Carroll won the boys 200 medley relay (1:42.44) and the Cougar foursome of Carroll, Liu, Thompson and McIlroy won the boys 200 free relay (1:31.61), with McElroy’s split timed at 22.38.

“Overall, I thought we swam really well,” said Downingtown East boys swimming coach Gigi Graesser. “Aidan McIlroy did well in the 50 free and had some good relay splits, and we got two relay [District] cuts that we were aiming for.

“George Liu has been improving by leaps and bounds – he set a PR by more than two seconds in the 200 IM (where he finished second), he had another personal best in the 100 fly, and he was on our first-place boys 400 free relay and our second-place 200 medley relay. Gabe Carroll made the District cut again in the 50 free (split on the 200 free relay).”

For the West Chester East boys (4-1), Gavin Heffernan won the 200 free (1:55.90) and the 500 free (5:21.86). The Viking quartet of Albert McNaull, Connor Fischer, Heffernan and Giuliano Bucciarelli won the boys 400 free relay with a clocking of 3:35.43.

Carozza said, “We had some excellent, excellent swims on the boys side today. They continue to exceed expectations.”