'STOGA SWIM AND DIVE
Conestoga vs Upper Darby - January 22, 2020
The competition was once again mostly between teammates for this spectacular Stoga squad of swimmers as they traveled to Upper Darby on Wednesday night. Conestoga took gold in every swimming event, and in most cases captured silver and bronze as well.
The inter-squad rivalry was literal for the boys, who had the captains divide up the swimmers into three teams to create a meet within the meet. The annual tradition brought a little more spirit to a team in the homestretch of a very likely Central League title (it also caused chaos on the heat sheet, making the accuracy of this summary somewhat dubious).
In the 200 Medley Relay, Ryan McDonough, Christopher Ivory, and James Johnson built a body length lead, but the A squad could not hold on. Raymond Welgosh started the comeback with a strong butterfly leg, setting up Matthew Pawlow to explode off the blocks for a come from behind freestyle leg, anchoring Welgosh, Aidan Brown and Aaron Li to the win. Ishua Jiang had a strong breaststroke leg to push Michael Orsulak, Jiang, Aspen Malstrom and Jack Hughes to silver.
Whitaker then battled Luke Nagel for the first half of the 200 Free, before Nagel closed strong in the final 100 for the win. Pawlow took 3rd. James Manion and Welgosh then went stroke for stroke in the butterfly leg of the 200 IM, but Welgosh had a great backstroke turn to build a lead he would not relinquish. Freshman Ivory took bronze.
In the 50 Free dash, Yash Ray outturned the field to dominate the last 25 and take gold, with Jiang and Mantas Sevelis going 3-4. Patrick Hoey then took over on the boards with a steady second place performance.
Stanley Kim kicked off the 2nd half with a strong last 50 in the 100 Fly, easily outdistancing James Johnson who got the touch for 2nd. Then Stephen Graver dominated the 100 Free, with Brown taking silver.
In the grueling 500, Noel Park built a lead by the half way point, slowed down to play with his food for a bit, before turning on the jets to win comfortably over 2nd place Jack Semmer. Dennis Koh was third. Nagel and Park then turned the 200 Free Relay into a battle for second, building a huge lead that James Hughes and Graver would not relinquish. In the shootout for Silver, Gary Wang’s strong turn was the difference as he anchored Osulak, Manion, and Kim over Ray, Semmer, Jack Reinhart and Derek Fung.
Jack Hughes held off a late charge from Ryan McDonough to win the 100 Back, with Zhang taking bronze, before Wang used a strong start and big turns to easily win 100 Breast over Derek Fung and John Yu.
A frenetic 400 Freestyle Relay concluded the action. With water flying throughout, Nagel and Park again setup James Hughes and Graver for gold. But not without challenge – Brown and Zhang kept the leaders within reach, but a spirited comeback effort from Welgosh was not quite enough for Pawlow to close out.
The scoreboard was turned off early, with the official score being recorded as Conestoga 95 – Upper Darby 78.
The heat sheet was more sane on the girls’ side, but the results were largely the same. It was a tight three-team battle in the 200 Medley Relay, before Alyssa Totoro’s strong butterfly was the difference in getting Madi Ritzenthaler, Lilly Shui, Totoro, and Allison Yuan the gold.
Delaney Burns won the 200 Free, extended a small lead over Ava Collin in the last 75, with Ayala Miller coming in 3rd. Then a three-way battle ensued in the 200 IM between Adriana Bertolotti, Ella O’Shea and Emma Galef. The threesome was neck-and-neck-and neck through the butterfly and backstroke legs, before Bertolotti pulled away in breaststroke for the win. O’Shea edged Galef for 2nd.
Audrey Laganelli led the entirety of the 50 Free, with Keira Haas taking second and Erin Oh finishing fourth. Jamie Semmer then flipped her way to an easy win in diving.
After halftime, O’Shea had a big 2nd 50 to win the 100 Fly, then watched Laganelli go coast-to-coast for gold in 100 Free. Collin touched out Totoro for silver in the Stoga sweep.
Stoga was swimming unopposed in the 500, and Keira Wiley’s stamina stretched a small lead after 250 into a half a pool length win. In the battle for silver, Lauren Verrelli edged Natalie McGlaughlin by a half second.
In the 200 Free relay, Joyce Fung overtook Samantha Verrelli in the 3rd leg, handing off to Collin who exploded off the blocks to anchor Bertolotti, Burns, and Fung to the win. The team of Erin Oh, Laganelli, Verrelli and Kallie Whitaker took second.
Two Stoga sweeps followed, as Haas used a strong second 50 to win the 100 Back over Lucy Wydeven and Olivia Braswell, followed by Furman going coast-to-coast to win 100 Breast. Bertolotti and Shue went 2-3.
Collin immediately eliminated the chance for any late drama in the last event, the 400 Free Relay, by handing a huge lead to Furman, Whitaker, and Totoro to close out. Equally unchallenged for second was the foursome of Wiley, Elle Wenstrup, Fung, and Ritzenthaler.
Official final score for the girls was Conestoga 95, Upper Darby 78. Both teams are back in action on Friday at home for Senior night. They will be opposed by Garnet Valley, who are also making noise in the Central league. The Garnet Valley girls in particular are undefeated and confident coming in.