Plymouth Whitemarsh boys, Wissahickon girls prevail in the pool
PLYMOUTH MEETING » The Plymouth Whitemarsh boys pushed hard to the wall on Tuesday, adding to an already robust district roster.
“We have double the team we had last year,” the Colonials’ Riley Coyle said of the long list of qualifiers. “So I think that’s looking pretty good for us.”
PW continued its surge against rival Wissahickon, earning a 106-80 victory over their Suburban One League Liberty Division rival. The Wissahickon girls were also impressive, swimming and diving to a 107-79 win over the Colonials.
“It was a solid win. We’re just training, getting ready for the championships at the end of the season. So this was a chance to get those last few swims in before then,” said Coyle, who won a pair of individual events and was also a member of the first-place 200-yard freestyle and 400 free relays.
That 200 free foursome of Cameron Huynh, Joe Fazio, Riley Coyle and Aidan Smith punched its ticket to districts, finishing in 1:34.21. The 200 medley team (Brennan Coyle, Huynh, Alex Babka, Jonathan Tavory, 1:46.83) and 400 free relay (Fazio, Riley Coyle, Aidan Smith, Brennan Coyle, 3:30.41) also prevailed for the Colonials.
“Those definitely hurt,” Riley Coyle said with a smile, speaking of cranking out those fast relays in the midst of their tough training. “We were trying to push them for their district times.”
“I like where we’re going,” he said. “I think we’ll be good, especially for Suburbans. I think we’re all looking good.”
Riley Coyle had quite an afternoon, adding victories in the 200 free (1:51.39) and 100 free (50.14).
“They weren’t my best swims but they put they points on the board,” he said.
Brennan Coyle also provided a lot of points, winning a total of four events, including individual firsts in the 50 free (23.26) and 100 fly (57.89).
Huynh was also instrumental to PW’s success, winning four events, including the 200 IM (2:05.25) and 100 breast (1:02.56).
“The season was pretty rough but we finally started getting in our groove recently,” Huynh said, speaking of the pandemic impacting the schedule earlier in the year. “These last two weeks, I’m pretty hopeful for everyone.
“It’s getting a lot better. We had some complications in the middle of the season but everyone’s back, training hard, and you can’t ask for anything more.”
The Colonials’ performance was bolstered by Michael Flamm’s victory in the diving (238.30).
The Wissahickon girls had multiple standouts emerge, as Maddie Johnson outraced everybody in the 200 free (2:03.75) and 100 free (57.54); Ava Walters won both the 200 IM (2:17.06) and 100 breast (1:14.87); and Sarah Pickel was tops in the 50 free (26.75) and 100 back (1:05.55).
Diver Regan Santoro (227.45), Bernice Fu (100 fly, 1:04.53) and Rachel Le (500 free, 5:47.12) also contributed victories for the Trojans.
The Wiss girls swept the relays.
The 200 medley (Rachel Le, Maddie Johnson, Ava Walters, Gabrielle Jones, 2:01.31), 200 free (Faith Pigeon, Fu, Walters, Le, 1:46.76) and 400 free (Fu, Pigeon, Le, Pickel, 4:02.28) all touched first.
Wissahickon’s Nathan Valentine earned a victory in the boys 500 free (5:13.13) and teammate Tyler Shilling was fastest in the 100 back (1:02.80).
Nina Ruggerio raced to second in the 200 IM (2:27.98) and 100 back (1:09.26), and teammate Jules Tulio was second in both the 50 free (27.44) and 100 free (1:01.56) for the PW girls.