Unionville swims to double victory against Kennett in neighborhood meet

Kennett Square >> Following the Unionville swim team’s double victory against Kennett in front of a packed house at the Kennett Area YMCA on Friday evening, Longhorn head coach Mike Mangan reflected on the community spirit of this particular meet.
“There’s great camaraderie between these two teams, it’s a crosstown rivalry, so we just wanted to have a good, fun meet tonight,” said Mangan. “We had a lot of (fans) here tonight, and the people know each other. That’s what has always made this meet fun, and our goal (tonight) was getting this meet back to what it used to be.
“Last year, we had no spectators — our seniors have not had this experience (packed stands) since they were freshmen. Our seniors have had to deal with a lot, with the pandemic. We had our mascot here tonight – Lenny the Longhorn – and we had lots of young kids coming from Kennett (and Unionville). I was glad that we could have a really fun meet with Kennett, and get everything back to feeling normal.”
Both Unionville teams are 2-0. The boys earned a 104-66 win against the Blue Demons (4-2), while the girls prevailed by a score of 97-63 against the Kennett girls (3-3).
For the Unionville boys, Matt Mclellan won the 100-yard fly with a District 1 consideration time of 54.49 and finished first in the 100 back with a district consideration time of 55.74. Ernesto Solana won the 200 free (1:57.84) and the 500 free (5:14.90).
“It was a team effort – we knew the boys meet was going to be close,” said Mangan. “They all stepped up tonight – I’m thrilled we how we did. Matt was great, Ernesto was great, but really it was a team effort. I’m proud of everyone on our team tonight, both girls and boys.”
Other first-place finishers for Unionville were Brendan Manion (200 IM, 2:12.03), the quartet of Manion, Dylan Burns, Conor Burns and Harrison Kachel in the 200 free relay (1:38.57), Kyle O’Neill in the 100 breast (1:07.08) and the foursome of Solana, Manion, Dylan Burns and Mclellan in the 400 free relay (3:28.36).
For Kennett, The foursome of Luke Myers, Erik Floren-Smith, Gabe Summa and Alexander Fialkowski won the 200 medley relay with a district consideration time of 1:43.63. Floren-Smith won the 100 free with a district consideration time of 50.15. Fialkowski finished first in the 50 free (23.80)
For the Unionville girls, Izzy Iwasyk led the way, winning the 50 free with a district consideration time of 24.33 and finishing first in the 100 free with a district consideration time of 56.35.
Other first-place finishers were the quartet of Iwasyk, Delaney Harlan, Lauren Dobie and Amelia Miller in the 200 medley relay (1:56.17), Miller in the 200 free (2:09.15), Dobie in the 100 fly (1:04.63), the quartet of Dobie, Jillian Murphy, Miller and Iwasyk in the 200 free relay (1:45.80) and Jasmine Liu in the 100 back (1:06.93).
Also for Unionville, Madeline Braithwaite posted an exhibition time of 1:14.35 in the 100 breast and the quartet of Jacqueline Heyer, May Telenko, Harlan and Lily Mannion posted an exhibition time of 4:06.56 in the 400 free relay..
For Kennett, Julia Banker finished first in both the 200 IM (2:21.83) and 500 free (5:47.11). Elle McCracken picked up first-place points in the girls 100 breast.
Kennett head coach Cindy Millison said, “We had a lot of time drops today by our non-club swimmers, and a lot of our boys posted best times. A lot of our underclassmen (boys and girls) had a really good meet. Alex (Fialkowski) did really well in the boys 50 free, and he dropped time in his 500 free (second place, 5:17.37). I feel we did well tonight — Unionville is absolutely stacked this year. This was a fun meet — it was fun to watch, you could feel the energy.”