SPORTS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2009
THE SPOKE
21
Girls’ swim team takes home ninth-consecutive title By Rachel Weber Staff Reporter Shouting it from the bleachers, reflecting it off their spirit wear and telling it to all who will listen, the girls’ swim team knows it: they’re the best. The girls have a load on their shoulders for every meet they enter. The swimmers have not lost in six years or surrendered a competition to another Central League team in eight. However, instead of going into each meet assuming they will prevail, swimmers say each girl swims her hardest because breaking the streak would be humiliating. “Losing would be pretty awful. The freshmen would feel 100 percent responsible,” freshman Alex Stuart said. Although teams may have been easy to beat in years before, underestimating a competitor could prove to have a failing result. The swimmers agree that Villa Maria and Radnor were the most dif-
ficult teams to compete against and that they changed their game-plan when they confronted them. They were successful against Villa Maria and Radnor and don’t encounter any teams as strong until districts. Although they perform well in meets, concerns about the unity of the team exist in many of the swimmers. Members of the team are not required to attend every practice if they belong on a club team, so many girls swim only in meets. “It’s hard to really bond as a team because people practice at different places and sometimes it feels like were not really united,” junior Mary Bridget Kane said, “But I think we do a good job of coming together and working as a team.” Pride for their record-breaking group is understandable. Sophomore Danielle Sachs had only positive things to say about her team. “We’re perfect.” Rachel Weber can be reached at rweber@stoganews.com.
Jonathan Yu for The SPOKE
Freshman Ally Weigand swims backstroke. The girls have not lost a Central League meet in eight years.
Radnor tops ’Stoga in boys’ meet to decide league champs By Chris Grant Staff Reporter Conestoga and Radnor swam against one another in a meet that would determine the winner of the Central League.
’Stoga entered the season as fivetime defending Central League champions. However, Conestoga suffered significantly greater losses as a result of graduation than Radnor did. “Last year, we lost our top breaststroker, Lance Liu, and top distance
swimmer, Mitch Paczesniak, to graduation. We’ll do okay replacing Mitch because we have several swimmers who can do the distance events. Replacing Lance will be difficult. Our weakest events will be breaststroke and the sprint freestyle events,” junior
Crunch Time Henry Rome/ The SPOKE
Girls Basketball Although the losses of graduates Kristen Johnson and Chelsea Shine set the team back, it has managed to hold its own. They finished the season over .500 in the Central League. Senior Ellen Hill (above) leads the team on and off the court.
Wrestling Led by senior captains Matt Roe, Dave Exler and Taylor Perkins, the wrestling team has been achieving unanticipated success. From the beginning of what was expected to be a rebuilding year, they have won all but one of their Central League matches.
By Erin O’Neil
Indoor Track
Despite the loss of several key seniors from last year, the team has revamped its relays and headed to Nationals. Senior J.C. Rizzo is ranked fourth in the state for the 800m, and senior Tom Mayer is ranked sixth in the state for the High Jump. Both Rizzo and Mayer, along with juniors Connor Tait and Curtis Baylis, are part of the 4x400 Relay, ranked fourth in the state. As for the girls, senior Meghan Shanley, juniors Marta Klebe and Kacie O’Neil and sophomore Maddie Klebe hold top state and national rankings for both the 4x800 and Distance Medley Relay. The girls 4x800 Relay, the boys 4x400 Relay and both Sprint Medley Relay teams will be competing at Nationals in Boston in March.
Erin O’Neil can be reached at eoneil@stoganews.com.
James Connors said. Conestoga came into the meet on the heels of a 31-point loss to Malvern. However, the team swam well, and it was an encouraging effort going into the Radnor meet. Senior Quinn Bartlett broke the school record in the 100yd backstroke at the meet, which was a feat he had been chasing since the beginning of the season. Another positive point going into the Radnor meet was Conestoga had a four-point lead before the first event took place, thanks to the diving performances of junior Kurt von Mol and freshman Nick Nalbone. Once the meet started, it became apparent that Conestoga would have trouble keeping up with Radnor. While Conestoga was very deep in many events, they lacked the ability to get a lot of first place finishes. Though ’Stoga kept the meet in reach during the first half, Radnor certainly seemed to be a little stronger in many of the events. Radnor senior Robbie Norton was a quadruple winner, as he
was part of the winning 200yd medley relay, the 400yd freestyle relay and an individual winner in the 100 yd butterfly and the 500yd individual freestyle. The final score of the meet was 102-83, in favor of Radnor, but the final score does not speak to how close the meet really was. Conestoga was certainly not dominated in any phases of the meet, but Radnor did match up a little bit better. The Conestoga swimmers did everything they could to keep up with Radnor, and the ’Stoga swimmers combined to improve on 21 of their previous top times from the season. Although it is undeniable that the final result was a disappointment for Conestoga’s seniors, Conestoga should certainly be in contention again next season, especially since Radnor will be losing several key seniors to graduation this spring. Chris Grant can be reached at cgrant@stoganews.com.
Henry Rome/The SPOKE
Senior David Shapiro swims butterfly. For a complete photo gallery of the meet, go to stoganews.com.