North Penn girls make big splash on first day

The North Penn girls met all expectations yesterday in the first day of competition at the PIAA District 1 swimming championships at West Chester University.

The defending-champion Maidens raced to the early lead in the team standings with 164.5 points, well ahead of Conestoga (137) and Souderton (123). North Penn also reached a major goal by breaking a school record while winning the 200-yard freestyle relay.

The team of junior Lauren French, freshman Sam Deana, sophomore Nicole Dibonaventura and senior Allison Warwick posted a time of 1 minute, 37.32 seconds to edge rival Souderton (1:37.86) and Downingtown East (1:38.54). The North Penn school record of 1:37.92 was set in 1991.

"I had that [old record] written down on my book," said North Penn coach Kristen Bartlewitz. "It was a goal for the team, but more importantly they wanted to beat Souderton."

North Penn's depth played a key role in the first-day lead. "I would say we have a lot of depth," said Warwick. "We have 15 girls and three divers. A couple girls got in the top six even though they were seeded 12th or 19th."

Conestoga was led by sophomore Anna Connolly, who won the 200 individual medley in 2:08.24. She also swam a leg on the fourth-place 200 freestyle relay (1:39.47) and is seeded first in today's 100 breaststroke.

The surprise of the day may have come from Council Rock South freshman Courtney Beidler, who won the 200 freestyle by more than 2 seconds, in 1:53.23.

In the AAA boys' competition, North Penn took a first step toward a 20th straight district crown by scoring 152 points, 20 more than Unionville's 132. Unionville's Shane Austin, Brent Sanderson, Jon Wertz and John Austin teamed to win the 200 medley relay (1:35.47) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:26.32).

In Class AA, Radnor is leading the boys' competition with 185 points, while Springfield (Montco) is close behind at 176. Springfield's Ben Clark, Ben Fallon and Jesse Bregman each had legs on the winning 200 medley (1:38.99) and 200 freestyle (1:28.47) relays.

In the girls' AA competition, the lone meet record all day was set by Nazareth Academy freshman Victoria Gillespie, who raced to a 57.75 in the 100 butterfly.

The top four finishers in each Class AAA race automatically qualify for the PIAA meet in two weeks at Bucknell University. In Class AA, the winners advance. The next-best 16 finishers around the state also advance in AAA and AA.

The Results

BOYS

Class AAA

Team Scoring: (top 10): 1, North Penn 152. 2, Unionville 132. 3, Henderson 109. 4, Upper Dublin & Perkiomen Valley, 102. 6, Conestoga 82. 7, Owen J. Roberts 79. 8, Wissahickon 72. 9, Pennsbury 61. 10, Strath Haven 51.

200 medley relay: 1, Unionville (Shane Austin, Brent Sanderson, Jon Wertz, John Austin) 1:35.47. 2, Owen J. Roberts, 1:37.25. 3, North Penn, 1:37.51. 4, Pennsbury, 1:38.75.

200 freestyle: 1, Andrew Fink, Henderson, 1:43.11. Dominic Pavlik, Perkiomen Valley, 1:44.06. 3, Ralph Clayton, Upper Dublin, 1:45.04. 4, Daniel Dingman, North Penn, 1:45.21.

200 individual medley: 1, Ken McCormick, Henderson, 1:57.43. 2, Jake Lewing, Pennsbury, 1:57.97. 3, Joseph Watts, North Penn, 1:58.62. 4, Matt Salig, Downingtown East, 1:58.71.

50 freestyle: 1, Rich Ryan, Wissahickon, 21.27. 2, David Chao, Conestoga, 21.41. 3, John Austin, Unionville, 21.66. 4, Mike Naccarelli, Strath Haven, 21.68.

100 butterfly: 1, Andrew Stoker, Conestoga, 51.06. 2, Mike Volpe, Owen J. Roberts, 52.09. 3, Colin Chenet, Conestoga, 52.48. 4, Jon Wertz, Unionville, 52.66.

200 freestyle relay: 1, Unionville (Shane Austin, Brent Sanderson, Jon Wertz, John Austin) 1:26.32. 2, Henderson, 1:26.53. 3, Upper Dublin, 1:27.32. 4, Perkiomen Valley, 1:27.33.

Class AA

Team Scoring: 1, Radnor 185. 2, Springfield-Montco 176. 3, Bayard Rustin 141. 4, Upper Moreland 135. 5, Upper Merion 100. 6, Harriton 94. 7, Kennett 70. 8, Springfield (D) 64. 9, Sun Valley 54. 10, Lansdale Catholic 49.

200 medley relay: 1, Springfield-Montco (Ben Clark, Lyle De la Rosa, Jesse Bregman, Ben Fallon) 1:38.99. 2, Radnor, 1:41.37. 3, Bayard Rustin, 1;44.08.

200 freestyle: 1, Russell Paulson, Bayard Rustin, 1:49.57. 2, Steven Rowland, Upper Moreland, 1:50.81. 3, Joseph Dimino, New Hope-Solebury, 1:52.24.

200 individual medley: 1, Matt Dello Buono, Bayard Rustin, 1:57.82.2, Robbie Norton, Radnor, 2:02.65. 3, Alex Ziev, Phoenixville, 2:03.38.

50 freestyle: 1, Albert Augustine, Faith Christian, 22.20. 2, Nikolai Paloni, Kennett, 22.36. 3, Robert Schwartz, Upper Moreland, 22.45.

100 butterfly: 1, Robbie Norton, Radnor, 53.03. 2, Chris Foley, Upper Moreland, 54.78. 3, Jesse Bregman, Springfield (M), 55.74.

200 freestyle relay: 1, Springfield (M) (Ben Clark, Ben Fallon, Hugh Pedley, Jesse Bregman) 1:28.47. 2, Radnor, 1:32.20. 3, Upper Moreland, 1:32.24.

GIRLS

Class AAA

Team Scoring: 1, North Penn 164.5. 2, Conestoga 137. 3, Souderton 123. 4, Henderson 87. 5, Downingtown East 86.5. 6, Hatboro-Horsham 85. 7, Perkiomen Valley & Boyertown 72. 9, Unionville 71. 10. Upper Dublin 52.

200 medley relay: 1, Souderton (Katie Curzon, C.J. Corcoran, Paige Whitmire,, Angela Severn) 1:49.58. 2, Boyertown, 1:51.41. 3, Unionville, 1:51.73. 4, Henderson, 1:52.85.

200 freestyle: 1, Courtney Beidler, Council Rock South, 1:53.23. 2, Kathleen Hohwald, Downingtown East, 1:55.78. 3, Allison Warwick, North Penn, 1;55.99. 4, Megan Happ, Spring-Ford, 1:57.04.

200 individual medley: 1, Anna Connolly, Conestoga, 2;08.24. 2, Sara Hartman, Boyertown, 2:08.96. 3, Meghan Barber, Perkiomen Valley, 2:13.27. 4, Lindsey Miller, Central Bucks East, 2:14.17.

50 freestyle: 1, Sam Palser, Downingtown East, 23.56.2, Angela Severn, Souderton, 24.14. 3, Paige Whitmire, Souderton 24.18. 4, Kristen McMullan, Henderson, 24.24.

100 butterfly: 1, Shannon Draves, Boyertown 57.80. 2, Dana Glodek, Norristown, 58.94. 3, Jung Kim, Haverford and Kristina Roop, Downingtown East, 1:00.22

200 freestyle relay: 1, North Penn (Lauren French, Sam Deana, Nicole Dibonaventura, Allison Warwick) 1:37.32. 2, Souderton 1:37.86. 3, Downingtown East 1:38.54. 4, Conestoga, 1:39.47.

Class AA

Team Scoring: 1, Villa Maria Academy 191.5. 2, Nazareth Academy 162. 3, Bayard Rustin 141. 4, Springfield (M) 126. 5, Radnor 103. 6, Mount St. Joseph 99. 7, Lower Moreland 80.8, Upper Moreland 71.5. 9, Merion Mercy Academy 62. 10. Phoenixville 55.

200 medley relay: 1, Springfield (M) (Alex Stoddart, Monica Wolgast, Dana Hills, Emily DeStafano) 1:50.02. 2, Nazareth, 1:52.32. 3, Bayard Rustin, 1:53.24.

200 freestyle: 1, Michelle Johnson, Nazareth, 1:54.90. 2, Katie Pulos, Radnor, 1:57.36. 3, Julie Lin, Bayard Rustin, 1:59.34.

200 individual medley: 1, Mary Anne Lerro, Lower Moreland, 2:13.48. 2, Dana Keller, Phoenixville, 2:13.58. 3, Aubrey Caldwell, Pottsgrove, 2:15.46.

50 freestyle: 1, Emily DeStefano, Springfield (M), 24.65. 2, Bridget Halligan, Villa Maria, 25.14. 3, Amy Rowland, Upper Moreland, 25.40.

100 butterfly: 1, Victoria Gillespie, Nazareth, 57.75 (meet record, breaks mark of 57.79 set by Lisa Herbster of Marple Newtown, 1993). 2, Megan Garvey, Villa Maria, 1:00.03. 3, Galen Fisher, Radnor, 1:00.22.

200 freestyle relay: 1, Nazareth (Adriana Lesiuk, Liz Grey, Megan Herbert, Michelle Johnson) 1:40.73. 2, Radnor, 1:40.80. 3, Springfield-M, 1:41.50.