Avon Grove girls top Vikings to gain swimming dual meet split

West Chester >> The Avon Grove girls swim team improved its record to 6-1 with a 97-87 victory against West Chester East (4-2)  Tuesday evening at the West Chester Area YMCA.

On the boys’ side, the Vikings (5-1) defeated a small but potent Red Devil squad, 96-67.

For the Avon Grove girls, Lily Perrin won the 100 fly (1:01.99) and 100 back (1:01.86) and was the leadoff swimmer in the Red Devils’ victorious 200 medley relay.

“Lily Perrin had an amazing meet,” said Avon Grove swim coach Kelly Burk. “Ava Pfaff, who is also a sophomore, had an amazing meet – she lost the 200 free (finished second) and came right back and won the 100 free.”

Pfaff won the girls 100 free with a time of 55.99, was part of the Red Devils’ victorious girls 200 medley relay team of Perrin, Kaitlyn Burk, Pfaff and Sophia Paglia that posted a time of 1:54.97, and was part of the Red Devils quartet that posted the fastest time of 3:49.80 (exhibition) in the girls 400 free relay.

Avon Grove freshman Kaitlyn Burk won the girls 500 free (5:34.85) and was part of the same two strong relays as Pfaff.

“I do have a young team, we’re not graduating many swimmers, so I’m excited to see what they can do,” said Kelly Burk.

In girls 1-meter diving, Avon Grove’s Alena Kurtz (219.00) and Kiara Kloss (200.40) finished 1-2.

For the West Chester East girls (4-2), Sarah Zeminski won the 200 free (2:01.34); Taiylor Tegler won the 200 IM (2:15.26) and 100 breast (1:10.16); Sam Heiland won the 50 free (25.65); and the quartet of Sarah Zeminski, Allison Sambuco, Angelica Wendel and Olivia Cuneo won the 200 free relay (1:47.35).

“Our girls swam well tonight, we’ve swam a lot of meets recently, and we are tired, but we swam well today,” said West Chester East swim coach Beth Ann Carozza. “They gave it all they had up until the end. You’ve got to hand it to Avon Grove – they’ve got a good team, good girls.”

In the boys’ meet, the West Chester East quartet of Gavin Heffernan, Albert McNaull, Connor Fischer and Giuliano Bucciarelli won the boys 200 free relay (1:39.76); Bucciarelli won the boys 100 back (58.72); and Brendan Ryan finished first in boys’ 1-meter diving (190.30).

While the Vikings did not win a huge number of boys’ events Tuesday, the hosts (celebrating Senior Night) used their depth of talent to win the meet.

Carozza said, “The Avon Grove boys are quite good, they just don’t have much depth. We were able to win the boys meet tonight on our depth. [Seniors] Connor Fischer swam well, Albert McNaull swam well, they both had good times – our senior leadership.”

McNaull finished second in the boys 200 free (1:52.44) and was second in the boys’ 100 free (52.84). Fischer placed second in the boys 500 free (5:30.88) and was third in the boys 200 free (2:00.12).

The Avon Grove boys had only seven swimmers, but three Red Devils won a pair of individual events – Alex Whitton won the 200 free (1:51.83) and 100 free (51.95); Jacob Texter was first in the 200 IM (2:02.46) and 500 free (4:59.02); and Nate Kidder captured the 100 fly (53.63) and 100 breast (1:02.97).

The Avon Grove quartet of Jacob Texter, Nate Kidder, Alex Whitton and Jason Reuter won the boys 200 medley relay (1:43.57) and the Red Devils’ Jason Reuter won the boys 50 free (24.10). The Avon Grove quartet of Whitton, Reuter, Texter and Kidder won the boys 400 free relay (3:25.82).

“They’re doing a phenomenal job; we only have seven guys on the team, but every time they go out to a meet they give 200 percent,” said Kelly Burk. “They’re trying to make Districts in the 400 free relay; they’ve already made it in the 200 medley relay. Some of them have made [Districts] individually, so they go out there, have fun and do their thing, and it’s kind of nice to watch them.”