Megan Bechtol reaches over to congratulate teammate Allison Schweikart on completion of the girls 12-and-under 50 meter breaststroke.
It was a clash in the water as the two top teams in the Bald Eagle Swim League battled it out for bragging rights at Championships at the Loyalsock Community Swimming Pool. The Shore boys placed second behind Wellsboro while the girls from Jersey Shore pulled out a late win over Wellsboro’s girls. In the end, however; Wellsboro’s point total for both groups was too much for the black and orange to overcome.
Jersey Shore recorded eleven individual and seven relay wins. For the girls, it required some record setting swims and a couple of one-two punches to hold off Wellsboro.
Shore's first win of the morning came at event 3 when the 14-and-under boy's relay of Evan Moore, Tyler Sheets, Derek McPherson, and Clay Newton won by 66/100 of a second over Williamsport's top 200 medley relay. The foursome would go on to also capture the 200 meter freestyle relay. McPherson was the only Shore boy swimmer to win an individual event which he accomplished in the 50 meter freestyle.
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The older girls quickly followed suit with a record breaking swim in the opening 200 meter medley relay of Maddi Thompson, Danielle McPherson, Sam Kennelley, and Jamie Mason. The same group broke the league record in the morning's closing 200 meter freestyle relay. In between those two relays, records were broken and several firsts were captured.
Shore's Gabby Rossman (out front) and teammate Brooklyn Hillyard sprint to the front of the pack in heat 2 of the girls 15-and-over 100 meter breaststroke.
Thompson, on route to wins in the 50 and 100 meter freestyle events broke a 21 and 2-year old record respectively. Teammate McPherson also went on to win two individual events, the 100 meter IM and breaststroke. Kennelley was able to edge out Troy's Jessica Machmer by 76/100 seconds in the 50 meter butterfly.
By the end of the morning session, Jersey Shore boys were in fourth place behind Tri-Town, Wellsboro, and Loyalsock. The girls were in second, trailing Wellsboro by 17 points.
The 10-and-under girls rose to the afternoon challenge and slowly started to close the point gap. The 100 meter medley relay of Kendra White, Cassie Kitchen, Gabbie Moore, and Hannah Stemler beat Wellsboro's top relay by a second.
Several one-two finishes narrowed the gap even more. Emma Butzler and White cruised to 1-2 finish in the 100 meter IM that pushed Wellsboro's Elizabeth Poirier and Jillian Berguson to third and fourth.
Several events later, Shore's head coach Patty Kennelley got a treat when Butzler, Moore, and Stemler swept the top three 25 meter backstroke spots respectively over Wellsboro's fourth place finisher, Zoe Iseri. Butzler's winning time also broke a 32-year old record. Butzler and White teamed up again for the two top spots in the 50 meter freestyle over Williamsport's Annie Rosenow.
The Shore girl's were able to keep Wellsboro out of the top spot in other events and continued the assault on the tenuous lead. Briar Lehman captured the 10-and-under breaststroke over Wellsboro's Berguson and Moore had out-touched Wellsboro's top butterflyer by less than a second.
The girls put an exclamation on their come from behind win by taking first and second in the final 100 meter freestyle relay with the foursomes of Kitchen, Moore, White, and Butzler and Sam Keegan, Allison Panczyszyn, Haley Naugle, and Stemler.
The Shore boys were able to leap from fourth to second by the end of the afternoon with numerous placings and a win in the final relay. The 8-and-under boys relay of Tycen Whitman, Caleb Stemler, Alex Butzler, and Tayven West out-touched Williamsport by several seconds.
Lindsay Dudek stretches before getting on the block for the girls 15-and-over 50 meter butterfly.
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