Episcopal girls beat GA in swimming

If the Episcopal Academy girls' Inter-Academic League swim meet win over perennial power Germantown Academy on Wednesday is any indication, another league dynasty may be in the making.

Episcopal got a big boost from several underclassmen in the 103-83 win. The league loss was the first for the Patriots since the Inter-Ac added girls' swimming to its sports roster.

Coach Dick Shoulberg began the Patriots' girls' swim program in 1969, which predated the formation of the league.

"We were missing four swimmers who were at a national meet in Ohio, but Episcopal won the meet fair and square," the legendary coach said. "The girls knew we'd be missing some people and they'd have to step up. Episcopal swam extremely well. My hat's off to them."

Both teams had several record-breaking performances in Episcopal's two-year-old pool.

"We've got some strong young talent," Episcopal coach Brian Klein said. Sophomore Emily Baturka won the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke in pool-record times, then joined with freshman Rachel Repke (breaststroke), eighth grader Emily Rhodes (butterfly), and freshman Tara Oprey (freestyle) in setting a pool- and school-record in the 200 medley relay. Their time of 1 minute, 49.06 seconds rubbed out the school-record of 1:50.68 set in 1995 and the pool mark of 1:52.40 set last season by Penn Charter.

"That was a very big win for us - something I never dreamed of," Episcopal senior cocaptain Lauren Berry said. "I was so excited. We're a young team, so the future looks bright. We had three eighth-grade recruits watching the meet."

"For years, I didn't think that was possible," Haley McShane, Episcopal's other cocaptain, said of the win. "It felt great."