Friends on Land/Rivals in the Water

Emma Butzler and Hanna Everhart are friends;  they do the texting thing, slumber parties together, and go to the same swim clinics.  But they are also rivals as Butzler swims for the Jersey Shore YMCA and Everhart for the Bloomsburg Y.  A rivalry only exists when both competitors are evenly matched and it is anyone's guess who will come out on top during competition.    The two have been racing against each other for years and it has been a  back and forth competition.

Earlier this swim season, they squared off in the 100 yard freestyle at the  Bellefonte Invitational where Everhart out-touched Butzler by 11/100s of second.  Although neither of them won the 200 yard freestyle event,  Everhart had a much more dominating swim against her friend and rival as she beat her by over 2 seconds.

The two matched up again in the dual meet season in the 200 yard individual medley (IM).  It appeared as Butzler had the race in hand as she lead by a few body lengths after the backstroke and butterfly legs.  Everhart chewed up the lost yardage in the breaststroke leg to take a lead that she would not relinquish, touching the wall first by 19/100s of a second over Butzler.

The Central Pennsylvania YMCA Swim League Championships this past weekend provided another opportunity for the two to race.   Their first meeting, although not head-to-head, was in the 200 medley relays.  Everhart's strong swim in the anchor position was enough to propel her relay to a win over Shore's Gabbie Moore, Sam Keegan, Butzler, and Kendra White by 66/100s of a second.

The one-on-one competition was with the 200 IM where BAY's Everhart was the number one seed followed by Butzler.  She was also facing the rest of the BAY team as the other four lanes were occupied by Everhart's teammates.  The race started to play out in a similar fashion to the January dual meet as Butzler led throughout the first two legs but this time she did not fade in the breaststroke.   Her effort was not only enough to win the event but set a new league record.  Check out the video below and the results can be viewed here.  Butzler is in lane 4 with Everhart in lane 3 (lane 1 is at the bottom of the screen and lane 6 at the top)