Raiders Swimmers and Divers defeat North Hills at home
With more than half their season completed and only three meets remaining, the Seneca Valley Swim and Dive Team continued their winning ways, taking two more wins for the season from North Hills and improving to an undefeated record of 7-0 in regular season meets for both girls and boys.
This was quite a night for our divers, who all put points on the board for the Raiders! Senior Captain Rylie Smith placed first for the Raiders with her season high of 223.5. First year senior Abby Kutchma placed second with a 213.08. This qualifies her for WPIALs and also earns her a spot in the 200 Club! Sophomore Emma Bedell tied for 4th.
The boys also had a stellar performance, once again taking 1-2-3. Leading the way was Senior Captain Trevor Elliott with his season high of 250.35. This has moved him up in the WPIAL standings to the #4 ranked diver in the region! Sophomore Sam Hersick placed second with a 214.575 which gets him into the 200 Club and ranks him as #6 in WPIAL! And first year freshman Isaiah Clerkley placed third with a WPIAL qualifying score of 196.05!
The North Hills girls grabbed first place in the 200 Medley Relay but SV relay teams had a strong showing, coming in second, third, and fourth: Relay B in second with Annabel Morrisard, Carly Brunello, Kendall Craig, and Emma Kreber, Relay C in third with Dilini Ranaweera, Edie Sawyer, Sloan Meyers, and Peri Gaguzis, and Relay A finishing fourth with Ria Dietz, Eva Carney, Bella Kling, and Bella Stefanowicz.
SV girls then dominated the 200 Yard Freestyle with junior Abby Perry coming in first place with a time of 2:05:07, freshman Taryn Wilson coming in second, and sophomore McKenzie Van Iddekinge with a third place finish. The girls then carried the success over to the 200 Yard Individual Medley, with Kendall Craig winning the event with a time of 2:11:97. Carly Brunello and Cara Della Toffalo brought home third and fourth places respectively.
Senior Kristen Bedell was able to show her sprinting talent with a second-place spot in the 50 Yard Freestyle, followed by Sydney Sweger tying with North Hills for third place and Bryn Carney in fourth. SV girls then brought home second, third, and fourth place points in the 100 Yard Butterfly with junior Ria Dietz in second, freshman Bella Kling in third, and freshman Sloan Meyers placing fourth.
Another first-place win for co-captain Kendall Craig in the 100 Yard Freestyle with Abby Perry coming in third and Delaney Molinero grabbing fifth. Peri Gaguzis, Bella Stefanowicz, and Emma Kreber then took to the blocks for the 500 Yard Freestyle. The SV girls took the top three spots with Perri Gaguzis coming in first with an impressive time of 5:17:39, and seniors Bella Stefanowicz and Emma Kreber placing second and third.
The Lady Raiders then filled the first spot in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with the A relay team of Kendall Craig, Kristen Bedell, Annabel Morrisard, and Peri Gaguzis. Relay teams B and C secured third and fourth place including SV swimmers Taryn Wilson, Sydney Sweger, Delaney Molinero, and Cara Della Toffalo on the B team and Sloan Meyers, Bryn Carney, Paige Walko, and McKenzie Van Iddekinge on the C team.
Junior Ria Dietz and senior Annabel Morrisard brought home first and second place wins in the 100 Yard Backstroke with Dilini Ranaweera bringing home fourth place. With those wins and the success of the Lady Raiders up to this point in the meet, the meet for the girls would turn exhibition.
Success would continue for the Lady Raiders with great swims and fast times in the last two events. In the 100 Yard Breaststroke, swimmers Edie Sawyer, Carly Brunello, and Eva Carney finished the race with strong finishes, with Edie having the fastest time in the event. Although the North Hills girls were able to grab the best time in the 400 free relay, the SV girls took the next three fastest times in the event. SV relay team A included Abby Perry, Eva Carney, Emma Kreber, and Annabel Morrisard, relay C took the next spot with Bella Kling, Edie Sawyer, Bryn Carney, and Dilini Ranaweera, and relay B included Bella Stefanowicz, Carly Brunello, Paige Walko, and Ria Dietz.
The Raiders victory over the North Hills girls was complete with a final score of 103 to 73.
It was another victory for the Seneca Boys team over North Hills last Thursday. The boys’ 200 Medley Relay teams placed first (Anderson, Hockenberry, Simoes, Whitney) and third (Tekelenburg, H.Xu, R.Xu, Lozowski). The fourth place team (Seeley, Cox, Blazer, Stevens) finished strong only .32 seconds from third. It is great to see the boys’ team push each other.
The 200 Yard Freestyle swimmers Kevin Donaldson, Frankie Walton, and Danny Kane went 1-2-3 for Seneca. The 200 Yard Individual Medley swimmers finished first (Daniel Simoes), second (Renhan Xu), and fourth (Zach Cox). These boys were racking up the points.
The 50 Yard Freestyle boys finished third (Matt Stevens), fourth (Connor Seeley), and fifth (Owen Tekelenburg). The top two spots for the 100 Yard Butterfly were taken by SV swimmers Gavin Blazer and Connor Anderson. Fast times again in the 100 Yard Freestyle event with Daniel Simoes in second, Kevin Donaldson in third, and Owen Tekelenburg in fourth.
The 500 Yard Freestyle was swum by SV and they went 1-2-3, with Renhan Xu, Matt Stevens, and Danny Kane racking up more points. The boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay teams finished first (Anderson, Tekelenburg, Petersen, Donaldson) and second (Walton, Whitney, Royhab, Simoes).
Both the 100 Yard Backstroke and the 100 Yard Breaststroke were swum in exhibition, with impressive times by Connor Seeley in the 100 Back and both Haihan Xu and Logan Hockenberry in the 100 Breast. The final event, the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, was also swum in exhibition, with very fast times by SV. Kevin Donaldson, Logan Hockenberry, Matt Stevens, and Ronny Royhab went 3:46.50, only 1.1 seconds behind the team of Gavin Blazer, Haihan Xu, Danny Kane, and Noah Petersen. Once again proving that when your team is pushing you, you can expect to see quick times.
The SV Boys were able to make this an easy victory with a 100 to 72 final score.