PIAA Swimming and Diving: North Penn boys capture first state title since 2004

LEWISBURG >> North Penn’s Mason Potts was cheering so loud for his teammates, he lost his voice.

This weekend at Bucknell University, the Knights gave everything they had for one another.

“All the training that we’ve been doing, all the dedication, our depth and our focus. We’ve been grinding, grinding, grinding all season, and at the end, we pulled through. We understood the assignment and we completed it,” Potts conveyed with a smile and a raspy whisper. “I was trying to hold back tears in the car (ride over), because I figured it would come down to this, down to the wire. And we were having such a good time and were super hyped. I was holding back tears in the car because I was super excited. And now I can’t even have tears because I’m just here.”

“Here” was the mountain top, as North Penn climbed its way to its first state title in boys swimming and diving since 2004. The Knights amassed 212 points, kick-started by the divers on Saturday afternoon and brought to the thrilling finish by the 400 free relay in the early evening.

The Knights overcame solid efforts by La Salle (189.5) and Conestoga (161) to stand atop Class 3A.

“Since the first week of November, when the preseason started, we knew we had a good shot,” said Aidan Faikish, a member of that bronze-medal 400 free relay with Potts, Danny Dunigan and Macek Vandermolen. “We just kept working day in and day out – in the pool, out of the pool, trying to perfect our skills coming into this meet.”

Faikish anchored home the 400 free, as the reality of a state title began to sink in.

“It was fun seeing everyone cheering. Good way to cap off the meet,” he said.

Faikish was actually born the same year the Knights last won the state title. His dad, Brian, was the head coach of that squad and his uncle, Jeff, was at the helm of the ’23 team.

“Definitely happy to be a part of this,” said a smiling Aidan.

“It’s kind of a legacy thing for most of the people around here,” said Potts, whose parents both swam for NP.

A theme for this year’s title team was everyone doing their part, or in the Knights’ words, understanding the assignment and completing it.

“It feels great,” said Dunigan. “We came in third last year, came up a little short. We had high hopes for that team as well. We knew at the beginning of the year that this was the goal and it feels great to finally achieve it.

“It’s great to end my senior season like this. It’s just a great way to go out, and win as a team.”

Contributions came from many for NP: Dunigan was fifth in the 200 free, third in the 500 free and was on the fifth-place 200 free relay and bronze-medal 400 free relay; Faikish raced to fifth in the 200 IM, earned eighth in the 100 breast and was on the fifth-place 200 free relay and bronze-medal 400 free relay; and Potts raced to third in the 100 fly and fifth in the 100 free and was on the bronze-medal 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.

The divers came through big: Brady Stanton nailed his inward double to win the championship on his sixth and final dive of the meet.

Said Stanton of his clutch effort: “That 404 at the very end there – my inward double. I knew I needed to get good scores to win and I just barely got enough.”

Stanton (306.30) vaulted past Seneca Valley’s Isaiah Clerkley (302.95) for top honors, with Central Bucks East’s Connor Thurston in fourth with a 268.40 and North Penn’s Joshua Gratton placing seventh with a 256.80.

The Knights were on their way.

“The personality of this team has been incredible,” said coach Jeff Faikish, who has guided both the boys and girls squads to state crowns. “Just day in and day out, they’ve been on a mission. The greatest part of this team victory is that everybody contributed. Every part of this state championship has been incredible. And with the boys and girls teams working together, the awesome part is that they feed each other.

“They feed each other emotionally, they feed each other in the pool every day at practice.”

GOLDEN GIRL >> Madeline Faikish fell in love with the 500 free when she was 12 and never looked back.

North Penn’s outstanding sophomore surged to the gold medal in 4 minutes, 49.63 seconds on Saturday.

“I really had to dig deep for that,” she said happily. “I saw (Haverford’s Katya Eruslanova) at districts and she out-touched me, so I was really trying to dig deep, try and finish the race and just really put my head down and just go.”

Faikish embraces the challenge of the 500.

“It’s gonna hurt. You know it’s gonna hurt. It’s your event, but you’ve done it so many times. And It’s nothing I can’t do,” she said. “So I really just had to let loose and swim my race.”

HATS OFF TO THE HATTERS >> The Hatboro-Horsham girls finished up states with a scintillating 400 free relay, beating the field by over four seconds.

A team of Annie Jia, Kathy Jia, Emmy Erikson and Sarah Parker captured the gold in 3:23.63.

“That was amazing. My sister’s a senior, it’s her last year,” said Annie Jia, a sophomore. “So to be able to win two relays with her is really emotional and great for her and it really brings us together as a team.”

The Hatters followed up their state title of a year ago with a second-place finish in the team standings.

“We did that with four people. We all swam really well,” said Annie Jia.

Jia’s weekend was one for the ages: four gold medals, including two individual events (200 IM/100 fly) that were almost back-to-back on Friday.

“Pretty exhausting but I think it’s really worth it,” she said. “It’s really a mental thing – you just gotta reset yourself. If you did well (in the first event), don’t let it go to your head. If you didn’t do well, it’s not the end of the world. There’s always other events you can swim later.

“It feels good. There’s things I could have done better but there’s also things I did really well in. So I’ll go back home, train more. The ride never really stops. You gotta keep working hard and be consistent.”

A WARRIOR’S MENTALITY >> Methacton’s Christopher Groff broke new ground on Saturday in the biggest race of his senior season.

“It feels real good. It was one of those swim where, whatever I did I was gonna be happy but it made me even happier to go under 50 for the first time,” he said of his bronze-medal swim in the 100 back (49.75). “I couldn’t ask for a better race. And everyone in that heat, I’m good friends with. It was great to swim with them and it was a good time overall.

“(The atmosphere here) is incredible. It’s one of those things, no matter how you feel, you’re gonna swim a great race. The crowd is incredible and it’s just an incredible atmosphere.”

TWICE AS NICE >> Phoenixville’s Kenzie Padilla, another standout from the Pioneer Athletic Conference, followed up her bronze medal in the 100 fly (55.08) on Friday with another trip to the medal stand on Saturday: she surged to sixth in the 500 in 4:57.80.

“I’m very excited that I got it done. The 500 is kind of a new event for me – I don’t swim it all the time,” she shared with a smile. “But I’ve been working on it for districts and states for high school swimming because the 200 free is before the 100 fly, which is my main event. So I have to do something the other day. I’m very happy with my swims – it was fun.”

The 200 free relay team also qualified for states, and although the Phantoms were DQ’d in prelims in that race on Friday, their trip to Bucknell capped quite a journey.

“That…was amazing, to have some teammates up,” said Padilla. “Last year, we were the last ones into the district meet. And this year, we were the last ones into the state meet. So we were really excited about it – we were watching our time and tracking the other districts to see if we’d make it.”