Mount swimming surges to 5-1, leads league

Posted 1/28/19

In the 200 medley relay at the start of Thursday’s meet, Mount senior Bryn McLaughlin (lower left) has just finished the first leg and freshman Grace Yaegel is about to enter the water. (Photo by …

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Mount swimming surges to 5-1, leads league

Posted

In the 200 medley relay at the start of Thursday’s meet, Mount senior Bryn McLaughlin (lower left) has just finished the first leg and freshman Grace Yaegel is about to enter the water. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

Employing the depth of talent that is a trademark of the squad this year, Mount St. Joseph Academy’s swim team raised its record to 5-1 in dual meets last Thursday, defeating host Wissahickon High School, 110-76.

The Magic have strung together five straight wins since opening the season in mid-December with a non-league loss to North Penn, the defending Class 3A state champion.

Within their own Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, the Mounties are 4-0, with victories over Villa Joseph Marie, Nazareth, Merion Mercy and longtime league champ Villa Maria. Janet Tompkins, who has been head coach for the Mount since 2001, said that it’s been at least a dozen years since the Magic have recorded a head-to-head victory over Villa, which was the 2018 state champion in Class 2A.

“I knew we matched up well with them this year,” said Thompkins, harking back to the 107-79 win over the Villa Hurricanes on Jan. 5. She noted that the top MSJ relay teams performed well in the meet, which took place at Villa’s home venue at nearby Malvern Prep.

“Maggie won the 200 free and M.K. was right behind her, so that set a good tone early in the meet,” the Mount mentor noted. “Kristen O’Connor’s 200 IM was a big battle and she touched out their swimmer. I figured she would have a shot and she came through.”

O’Connor is a junior and Mikalic and Leonard are both sophomores. In other events, O’Connor won the 100 free, Leonard won the 500 free and Mikalic placed second in the butterfly behind victorious senior Hailey Goodyear.

At Wissahickon last Thursday, Mount St. Joe started off with a close medley relay victory (in 1:57.04) over the Trojans with the foursome of sophomore Sydney McKernan, junior Holly Householder, Goodyear and O’Conner.

Individually McKernan won the 50 Free (25.39) and the backstroke (1:03.44) to lead one-two-three sweeps for the Magic in both races. In the freestyle sprint her sister Shayne, a senior, was second and Householder was third, while in the backstroke the runner up was senior Bryn McLaughlin and third place went to sophomore Maura Scanlon. Shayne McKernan also gave the Mount second-place points in the 100 free, where Householder was third.

Seen here anchoring the winning 200 freestyle relay, Norwood Fontbonne Academy graduate and La Salle senior D.J. Comerford also won the 50 freestyle at Wissahickon High School. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Mikalac won the 500 free (5:14.20) and placed second in the 200 free, with Leonard coming in third in both events. Goodyear and O’Connor took second and third, respectively, in the butterfly, and O’Connor was the runner-up in the IM. Freshman Grace Yaegel garnered third place in the breaststroke.

Mount St. Joseph was already ahead 40-22 in the meet when the pool was vacated for the diving competition. The Mount divers aren’t able to compete in a number of the team’s meets, since the facilities where they take place aren’t equipped with boards.

Here, junior Charlotte Whipple captured first place with a score of 231.35, while sophomore Maddy Donahue was fourth and freshman Skylar Vacca was fifth.

In the freestyle relays, the Magic won convincingly in the 400 (3:42.05) with Leonard, Shayne McKernan, O’Connor and Mikalic, and were second in the 200 with Sydney McKernan, Householder, Shayne McKernan and Mikalic.

“We had a lot of good swims today, and our team depth is huge,” remarked Tompkins.

For the host Trojans Carly Zlotnikoff placed first in the 100 free (52.10) and 200 free (1:53.63), Kim Karas was first in the IM (2:16.29) and the breaststroke (1:13.25) and Katie Sapoznikov won the butterfly (59.01).

At Thursday’s meet the Wissahickon boys were swimming against La Salle High School. The visiting Explorers remained undefeated in dual meet action, topping the Trojans 105-70, even though they stopped adding points after nine events and competed on an “exhibition” basis after that.

In the official results, Paul Brosky won both the 200 IM (1:58.21) and the 500 free (4:51.05), D.J. Comerford won the 50 free (21.98), Luke Ramalho won the butterfly (53.33), Liam Smith won the 100 free (47.30) and Matt Szekely won the 200 free (1:43.46). The Explorers swept the top three spots in the 200 medley relay at the outset, and later on they went one-two in the 200 freestyle relay, the last event in which they raced on an official basis.

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