North Penn boys stand atop District 1-3A; Springfield Montco sweeps Class 2A

YORK >> Without a kink in the chain, North Penn’s 400-yard freestyle relay fired out with purpose and brought a thunderous close to an overwhelming district-title performance for the Knights.

The meet’s final event wrapped one more gold medal around North Penn’s impressive District 1-3A title defense. The Knights amassed 349 points, broke school records and in effect, whet their appetite for states.

“It feels great. It’s been a goal of ours since the beginning of the season,” said the Knights’ Danny Dunigan of winning districts. “We knew we had a really deep team this year. From the beginning of the season, we put our minds to this goal and worked hard for it.”

The NP boys stood atop Class 3A while Springfield-Montco enjoyed a sweep of the Class 2A team titles. The North Penn girls also put together quite a weekend out at the Graham Aquatic Center, pushing to second place in the 3A standings behind only Conestoga.

“It’s been an awesome season all the way around,” North Penn coach Jeff Faikish said. “It’s not over yet.”

The Knights scored points in every event Saturday, a big reason they were able to distance themselves from second-place Conestoga (187 points). Central Bucks East (151), Springfield Delco (149) and CB West (144) made up a formidable top five.

“We have a lot of depth this year, a lot of sophomores, which is great to see for the team,” Dunigan said. “So it’s really good to see the young kids step up and make an impact on this team.”

Dunigan’s impact was seismic, treating everyone in attendance to a very memorable 500 freestyle.

“Absolutely incredible, gutsy swim,” Faikish said of the senior.

Dunigan (4:31.10) pushed to the wall a split second before Conestoga’s Can Yeniay (4:31.34) to seize the gold medal. Logan Richards of Owen J. Roberts, Gavin Shifflet of Strath Haven and Jack Vitella of Upper Dublin helped make up a stacked event, and Dunigan was up to the challenge.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said with a smile, after creating a new school record at North Penn. “I know those guys – we’ve been swimming the 500 for a while. It’s really fun to swim with those guys and win it for once.”

Dunigan also teamed up with Mason Potts, Macek Vandermolen and Aidan Faikish for the gold in the 400 free relay. The Knights went a blistering 3:05.38.

“I’m ready (for states). I know the team is ready,” Dunigan said. “We have one more goal and that’s to win states. So we’re looking forward to it.”

Potts raced to fourth in the 100 free (45.95) and Aidan Faikish surged to second in the 100 breast (56.93) to bring the trophy closer, and the 400 free relay locked it up.

Said coach Faikish: “Winning the 400 kind of puts the stamp on this year’s team.”

The NP girls saw Madeline Faikish break the school record in the 500 free. The 4:52.43 posted by Faikish surpassed the previous mark set by Linda Krelovich way back in 1988. Faikish, a sophomore, pushed to second in the event.

Eva Welsh raced to fifth in the breaststroke (1:05.85) and the 400 free relay of Sarah Poach, Kayla Stressman, Emma Raser and Faikish battled to fourth out of lane one, touching in 3:32.

“I’m super proud of everybody here,” coach Jeff Faikish said. “We had fantastic races up and down the pool.”

Hatboro-Horsham capped the 3A girls meet with an impressive 400 free relay, as Annie Jia, Emmy Erikson, Sarah Parker and Kathy Jia brought it all together for the gold, in 3:24.75.

Will Cross dashed to a 47.11 to win the 2A title in the 100 free for Springfield Montco. The Spartans, like the Knights, climaxed the meet with a win in the 400 free relay: Sam Pugh, Michael Cooper, Gabe Fluehr and Cross finished in 3:17.75, winning the event by almost five seconds.

Springfield outscored second-place Lower Moreland 314-214, with Pope John Paul II’s Henry Phillips (500 free, 4:48.65) and Upper Moreland’s Ian Pervall (100 back, 53.89) winning gold medals for their respective schools.

Freshman Gracie Toland (100 back, 1:00.58) and sophomore Olivia Igou (50 free, 24.26), with outstanding gold-medal swims, were two of the heroes for the Spartan girls.

The 400 free relay of Igou, Laney Forster, Mika Gradistanac and Grace Duncheskie captured gold in 3:43.14.

“We just love the competition. I’m very happy for them,” coach Bud Reiner said of his squad. “We had a lot of young girls on our team. And now they know what they have to do to stay on top.”