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Seneca Valley Swimming and Diving

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11

Feb, 2021

SV Celebrates The Seniors

Raiders Swim and Dive defeat Hampton on Senior Night 

On Senior Night, the final meet in SV’s 50+ year old SV Natatorium, the Raiders took two from Hampton, with the Girls besting their section rivals 101-77 and the Boys scoring 105 points to Hampton’s 64. At this point in their season, with only two contests remaining, the Girls have won all but one of their meets, and the Boys remain undefeated. The Boys are hoping to take the WPIAL Section 2 title when the Raiders face Butler Thursday, February 18th in their new home, the beautiful Seneca Valley Natatorium. After an exciting ribbon cutting ceremony and first practice in the new pool Wednesday, the Raiders are fired up and ready to go! 

DIVING
 

The Senior Divers started the meet taking center stage by placing first and second for both the girls and the boys. Every diver earned points for the Raiders!  

Senior Captain Rylie Smith led the girls with a 211.80, receiving 43 points on her inward 1 1/2 which earned her first place. Senior Abby Kutchma, accomplishing a lot in her very first year of diving, came in second place for the Raiders with a 167.55. First year Sophomore Emma Bedell also scored points for the Raiders with a fifth-place win.   

The boy divers were on fire, adding high difficulty dives for Senior night! Leading the way was Senior Captain Trevor Elliott taking first with a 243.53, scoring a huge 51.15 points on one dive alone! Senior Matthew Laslavic was a close second with a 239.25, adding a sky high triple front somersault for the first time! Junior Sam Skeen also earned points for the Raiders, placing fourth with a 207.23, which qualified him for the WPIAL Championships. Congratulations Sam! 

GIRLS SWIMMING 

The Girls 200 Yard Medley A Relay team grabbed a first-place win, with senior Annabel Morrisard swimming backstroke, senior Carly Brunello swimming breaststroke, senior Dilini Ranaweera swimming butterfly, and sophomore McKenzie Van Iddekinge swimming freestyle. The B Relay team placed third with Cara Della Toffalo, Sydney Sweger, Eva Carney, and Bella Stefanowicz, and the C Relay team secured fifth place with Sloan Meyers, Paige Walko, Taryn Wilson, and Bryn Carney. 

Peri Gaguzis had a new season best time of 1:59.64 in the 200 Yard Freestyle and was able to bring the second first-place win of the night for the SV girls. Bella Kling came in second place with a new season best time of 2:01.83, and Delaney Molinero came in fourth. The Lady Raiders continued their first-place success in the 200 Yard Individual Medley with senior co-captain Kendall Craig coming in with a time of 2:11.52. Other Lady Raiders Abby Perry and Sloan Meyers came in second and fifth places, respectively. 

The 50 Yard Freestyle was a shutout event, with senior Kristen Bedell coming in first, senior co-captain Edie Sawyer coming in second, and junior Ria Dietz grabbing third. Senior Dilini Ranaweera had a great race in the 100 Yard Butterfly, turning in a first-place finish and a new season and personal best time of 1:03.33. Taryn Wilson had a fourth-place finish and Paige Walko came in fifth.  

Senior Annabel Morrisard continued the SV girls’ first place finishes in the 100 Yard Freestyle. Teammates Ria Dietz and Bryn Carney placed second and fourth. Kendall Craig placed first in the 500 Yard Freestyle while Bella Stefanowicz placed third with a new season best time of 5:22.39. Senior Emma Kreber finished fourth. 

The 200 Yard Freestyle Relay was another dominating race for the Lady Raiders, with the A, B, and C Relay teams earning first, second, and fourth place finishes against Hampton. The A relay was helmed by senior Kristen Bedell, with Abby Perry and Peri Gaguzis in the second and third legs, and McKenzie Van Iddekinge anchoring for the win. The B relay included Cara Della Toffalo, Sloan Meyers, Taryn Wilson and Eva Carney. Edie Sawyer, Bryn Carney, Paige Walko, and Delaney Molinero made up the C relay team. 

With the girls so far ahead of their Hampton counterparts, the rest of the Raiders’ events were swum as exhibition. Annabel Morrisard and Bella Kling had the fastest times in the 100 Yard Backstroke. The three fastest times in the 100 Yard Breaststroke race were earned by Seneca swimmers Edie Sawyer, Carly Brunello, and Sydney Sweger. In the final event for the girls, the Seneca 400 Yard Freestyle A Relay team had the fastest time with Kendall Craig, Bella Kling, Peri Gaguzis, and Bella Stefanowicz, supported by the all-senior B relay team of Kristen Bedell, Dilini Ranaweera, Annabel Morrisard, and Sydney Sweger and the C relay team of Delaney Molinero, Emma Kreber, Ria Dietz, and Carly Brunello. 

BOYS SWIMMING 

The Seneca Valley boys team continued to demonstrate their strength with their win over Hampton. In a non-COVID season we would have seen many WPIAL cuts. With the new 16-swimmer limitation for each event, the WPIAL qualifying times have been significantly lowered and many SV swimmers are achieving WPIAL “B” cuts, or cuts that reflect the original qualifying times. We will have to wait and see where our swimmers rank in the top 16 of each event, but with the WPIAL 2 section title almost in hand, the SV Boys already have an impressive list of top five WPIAL times, including the fastest seed in WPIAL in both the 200 and 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. It is also notable that three SV swimmers – Junior Danny Simoes, Sophomore Haihan Xu, and Senior Kendall Craig – have achieved a WPIAL A or B qualifying time in every single individual event. 

Many WPIAL B cuts were achieved at this meet, along with season best times. Sophomore Logan Hockenberry achieved his best 200 Yard Individual Medley time of 2:05.55 and got the WPIAL B cut in the 100 Yard Breaststroke with a time of 1:02.69. Sophomore Frankie Walton swam his season best 100 Yard Butterfly in 55.73. Senior and team co-captain Connor Anderson and junior Danny Simoes swam their season best times in the 100 Yard Backstroke, with a 55.27 and a 56.41 respectively, and both boys got their WPIAL B cuts. 

The boys swam fast and many reached season best times. Junior Zach Lozowski swam the 100 Yard Freestyle in 49.96 and Sophomore Haihan Xu swam it in 50.06. These boys continue to motivate and push each other toward great times! Haihan got his season best time in the 200 free 1:48.69 and his brother, senior Renhan Xu, got his season best time in the 200 IM 2:04.63. 

The Raiders are looking forward to tonight’s meet against Butler at home, and while the whole team is focused on preparing for their races, everyone has one footnote in the back of their minds: the winner of each event tonight will set the pool record in the new pool! Good luck Raiders! 

 

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