Penn Manor swimmers stepped up to the starting blocks with confidence Monday, knowing that they would probably be able to dominate their opponents from Manheim Central.
Monday night at 6 p.m. Penn Manor went into the meet with the mindset that they had a good chance, but they needed to swim every race the hardest they could. The final score for the girls was 107-63 and 112-53 for the boys, in Penn Manor’s favor.
The boys started off strong, making the score 10-2 only after the first event.
Good thing for the announcers who periodically report the score over the loud speaker because swimming is a fast paced sport and during a close meet, it’s hard to tell what team is on top.
The scoring for an individual event is six points for first place, four for second place, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. But losing the race doesn’t help the team at all.
“I tell the freshman ‘just don’t get last,'” said head coach Cece O’Day.
In relays, only first, second and third place score points for the team. First place gets eight points, second place gets four and there are two points awarded for third.
At the break, the boys were up by 22 points and the girls had a small lead of eight points.
Both Cooper Lindsley and Steven Armstrong have yet to lose a race this year. Lindsley, 8-0, and Armstrong, 7-0, have asked their coach not to make them swim against each other so they wouldn’t break each other’s undefeated winning streak.
The girls were not on top the entire meet, but luckily Jess Burkhart, Jenna Reel and Lauren Longenecker got first, second and third, respectively in the 50 freestyle, right before the break when the score was announced.
After the break, again the same girls repeated their one, two, three placings in the 100 freestyle.
Joelle Williamson did extremely well in the meet and scored a lot of points for the team. She gave the team 24 points, winning the 200 individual medley, the 100 backstroke and the 400 freestyle relay, with Reel, Longenecker and Burkhart. She also helped the team get second place in the medley relay, giving her relay a lead as she got ahead swimming backstroke.
The boys ended the meet strongly, winning first and second in the 400 freestyle relay. Armstrong, Brian Dunne, Trevor Byrne and Travis Wells took first place with a time of 4:03.49, and Eric Bear, Nick Hartley, Sam Spearing and Edward Gahring came in soon after them with a 4:44.38.
By Liz Lawrence