Sweet Senior Night for North Penn with wins over rival Souderton

TOWAMENCIN >> There’s no better way North Penn would like to spend its Senior Night than to have Souderton over for an evening of fast swims.

“They’re our hometown rival,” said Knights senior tri-captain Kayla Stressman, “so it’s always nice swimming against them, especially on our Senior Night. There’s a lot of competition and we swam our best times.”

“We’re really close friends with basically the whole Souderton team,” said senior tri-captain Eva Welsh, “so it’s great we could swim Senior Night against all of our friends.”

The North Penn girls pushed to a 96-82 victory over Big Red while the NP boys enjoyed a 100-77 win in the Suburban One League Colonial Division double dual meet at a packed Rick Carroll Natatorium.

“I think we’re in a really good place right now in our season. This is our last home dual meet until the end of February. And we’ve had a bunch of meets so far and we’ve done well at all of them,” said Welsh.

“I think we’ve all been doing really well. We’ve all been practicing well and it’s nice to see good outcomes,” senior tri-captain Lindsay Ostrowski said. “A lot of people have been dropping time and doing well. And we’re all doing it as a team so that makes it fun. We’re getting there.”

Welsh and Stressman were each on winning relays and North Penn piled up several firsts, seconds and thirds to stay unbeaten in the tough Colonial Division. Madeline Faikish notched wins in both the 200 free and 100 free as North Penn brought the fire, going against one of its fiercest friends and rivals.

“(Souderton coach) Lou (Williams) was at my wedding and is one of my best friends. And that carries through to how the teams are,” Knights coach Jeff Faikish said. “You watch the kids finish their races, they get out of the pool, and instead of coming right back over and speaking with the coaches, they stand behind the blocks and are talking to each other. That’s the kind of friendship that Souderton and North Penn have.”

Danny Dunigan won the 200 free, 100 free and 500 free as the NP boys also continued their surge.

“We are in the thick of it,” coach Jeff Faikish said. “This is that part of the year where we have four or five weeks left before leagues so we have the workouts ratcheted up. We’re challenging the kids mentally, physically and emotionally.

“The way these kids perform when they’re tired, it’s bananas. Because they don’t believe they’re capable of doing it in that moment. To see these kids accomplish something greater than they thought they were capable of, it’s just so rewarding.”

Will Stanczewski pulled off a nice win in the 100 breast for Big Red and Jess Burns won both the 200 IM and 100 breast.

North Penn is at Wilson Saturday and Souderton Area is at home against Central Bucks West Tuesday as the regular season winds down for both squads.

Said Williams: “We start changing focus towards championships and start doing some lighter distances and working on some racing skills and getting ready for those things.”

Boys Swimming

North Penn 100, Souderton Area 77

200 medley relay: North Penn (Potts, Faikish, Rawa, Vandermolen), 1:38.41; 200 free: D. Dunigan (NP) 1:43.96; 200 IM: M. Potts (NP) 1:58.41; 50 free: A. Faikish (NP) 22.38; Diving: J. Gratton (NP) 280.0; 100 fly: B. Lao (NP) 53.56; 100 free: D. Dunigan (NP) 47.28; 500 free: D. Dunigan (NP) 4:51.36; 200 free relay: North Penn (Vandermolen, Dunigan, Faikish, Potts), 1:28.58; (North Penn swam the final three events as exhibitions) 100 back: L. Annise (S) 57.92; 100 breast: W. Stanczewski (S) 1:01.20; 400 free relay: Souderton Area (Bleazard, Annise, Stanczewski, Ferlick), 3:26.69.

Girls Swimming

North Penn 96, Souderton Area 82

200 medley relay: North Penn (Evans, Welsh, Poach, Raser), 1:50.41; 200 free: M. Faikish (NP) 1:56.88; 200 IM: J. Burns (S) 2:09.55; 50 free: L. Robey (NP) 25.28; Diving: K. Allison (NP) 278.80; 100 fly: S. Poach (NP) 59.24; 100 free: M. Faikish (NP) 54.14; 500 free: E. Raser (NP) 5:15.06; 200 free relay: North Penn (Robey, Stressman, Poach, Faikish), 1:41.79; (North Penn swam the final three events as exhibitions) 100 back: M. James (S) 1:07.22; 100 breast: J. Burns (S) 1:15.09; 400 free relay: Souderton (Burns, Masciulli, Descher, Stauffer), 3:50.11.