North Penn captures SOL Colonial Division title
TOWAMENCIN >> The North Penn girls swim team is performing at its best, and in one aspect, growing by the minute.
The Knights stood atop the Suburban One League Colonial Division Friday night, overcoming tremendous efforts by its area rivals, and NP also added to its impressive district roster.
North Penn amassed 509 points at the Rick Carroll Natatorium, pushing past Souderton (358) and Central Bucks East (314.5) and the rest of its stacked division as the postseason got underway in a hurry.
“A lot of our kids that tapered for today had lifetime-best swims,” Knights coach Jeff Faikish said. “And that’s ultimately what it’s all about.”
The boys championships will be held Saturday morning at 9 a.m., back at North Penn.
North Penn cranked out a time of 1 minute, 51.08 seconds in the 200 medley relay — good for third place — as a foursome of Anna Evans, Eva Welsh, Sarah Poach and Layla Robey pushed the pace for the rest of the squad.
“That set the tone for the rest of the swim meet,” Faikish said.
Said Welsh, who placed second in both the 200 free (1:57.70) and 500 free (5:15.59): “This is a pretty good start for us. It really gets the momentum rolling.”
Fast swims began piling up for North Penn.
Stressman was second in the 200 IM (2:10.51), Madeline Faikish was a silver medalist in the 100 free (53.79) and Anna Evans pushed to second in the 100 back (1:01.09).
The 200 free relay team of Emma Raser, Stressman, Faikish and Robey captured the gold, putting together a winning time of 1:40.42.
“This is an excellent first step for the kids that are moving onto districts,” coach Jeff Faikish said. “We still have our Last Chance Meet, trying to get a couple more spots filled in. We had a lot of kids make district cuts today, which, for some of these kids is a lifetime achievement. And we were fortunate to get some of those additional names added to our district roster. And we are very excited moving into the postseason.”
The Knights closed things out with a third place in the 400 free relay. Raser, Stressman, Poach and Faikish went 3:42.02.
“We’re really excited going into districts. Our team is getting bigger and we’ve just had a great season thus far that it’s looking really good moving forward,” said Welsh.
The Patriots book-ended the meet with relay victories.
The medley relay group of Jillian Thorning, Grace Petrakis, Abbie DiGregorio and Erin Suter outraced everyone in 1:50.46 and CB East’s 400 free relay foursome of Thorning, Suter, DiGregorio and Petrakis won gold with a time of 3:37.62.
In between the relays, DiGregorio pushed to the wall first in the 100 back, with a winning time of 59.20, and Petrakis grabbed the gold in the 200 IM, in 2:09.85.
Riley Reteneller was a double winner for CB South (240 points): she finished first in the 200 free in 1:56.36 and later earned the gold in the 500 free in 5:13.75. Also for the Titans, Erin Goodling raced to first in the 100 breast in 1:06.89, with Lina Hofmann coming on strong for CB West (289.5), notching second place in 1:07.51.
Ally Ricciardi also grabbed a pair of golds for Pennridge (244 points): she surged to first in the 50 free (24.47) and followed that up with a victory in the 100 free (53.11).
For Souderton, Amy Masciulli was the 100 fly champion in 59.01.
