February 15, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount swimmers third at AACA meet
by TOM UTESCHER

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For the Mount St. Joseph swimming team, a third-place finish in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies regular-season meets foretold an identical outcome at the AACA Championships, which took place last Sunday at La Salle University.

Heavy favorite Villa Maria Academy used its impressive team depth to build up a winning total of 337 points, although runner-up Nazareth (292) could claim more first-place finishes after winning eight of the 11 swimming events. Mount St. Joe had no entries in the league diving competition, which had been held two days earlier at a different venue.

While the Mount Magic were a respectably close third with 266 points at Sunday’s meet, Gwynedd Mercy and Merion Mercy waged a watery war for fourth place, with Gwynedd prevailing, 137-136.

In order to have caught Nazareth, MSJ coach Janet Tompkins explained, “Our girls who qualified for the District 1 meet would have had to swim outstanding, and they weren’t shaped and tapered for this meet today. Their focus needs to be on Districts in three weeks [March 2 & 3 at West Chester University].

“It was tough to watch those people struggle a little today,” she went on, “but at the same time, this isn’t the meet they’re going for. Our other kids swam great.”

While there was just one first-place finish for the Mount, it was a memorable one. Dominating the 100-yard breast stroke, the Magic produced the only one-two-three sweep of the day. Freshman Danielle Kouch won in one minute, 10.29 seconds, junior Jackie Hain was second in 1:11.10, and senior Athena Diaconis placed third in 1:13.27.

“I was hoping for it,” Tompkins said. “I knew we were really strong and we had a good shot at it. I was impressed not only with the sweep, but also with having three other girls place in the top 12.”

MSJ’s Hain and Kouch both participated in the 200-yard individual medley, where Hain came in fourth overall (2:21.31) and Kouch put up a solid time (2:24.85) to win the second-fastest heat in the event. Diaconis took sixth place for the locals in the 50 freestyle with a time of 26.86, coming in one spot ahead of sophomore teammate Mary Maginnis (26.88).

Junior Caroline Menapace captured third place in both the butterfly (1:03.38) and the backstroke (1:06.36), and in the longer freestyle races Magic senior Julie Erhart came in third in the 500 (5:38.48) and seventh in the 200 (2:08.02). In the 500, Mount St. Joe also took away eighth and ninth place thanks to sophomores Nicole Rossetti (5:52.50) and Lauren Lahann (5:56.07).

The 100 freestyle yielded another third-place performance for the Mount, as freshman Laura Pospisil checked in at 57.89. Junior Meg Held was seventh in that event, in 59.51.

In the relays, Mount St. Joe’s best outcome was a second-place effort in the 200 free, where Maginnis, Diaconis, Menapace, and Pospisil touched up in 1:46.10. Hain, Kouch, Menapace, and Diaconis came in third in the 200 medley (1:56.58), and in the 400 free the Magic also struck bronze, thanks to Pospisil, Held, Erhart, and Hain.

During the meet, two Mount sophomores achieved the times they needed to qualify for the district championships. Katherine Wzorek made the grade in the backstroke with a time of 1:09.56 (7th), and Kelsey Scheier punched her ticket with a 1:07.85 in the butterfly (11th).

“We had a number of top swims throughout the meet,” Tompkins observed. “Emily Gimpel [a freshman] had a great meet, and [senior] Emily Walker had a really strong showing for her last meet.”

AACA Winning Times

50 Freestyle – Victoria Gillespie (NAZ) 25.48

100 Freestyle – Adriana Lesiuk (NAZ) 56.46

200 Freestyle – Michelle Johnson (NAZ) 1:58.32

500 Freestyle – Michelle Johnson (NAZ) 5:17.34

100 Backstroke – Jen Brennan (NAZ) 1:02.69

100 Breaststroke – Danielle Kouch (MSJ) 1:10.29

100 Butterfly – Victoria Gillespie (NAZ) 59.72

200 Ind. Medley – Jordan Dick (VMA) 2:18.11

200 Medley Relay – Nazareth 1:55.22

200 Freestyle Relay – Villa Maria 1:45.43

400 Freestyle Relay – Nazareth 3:43.04