Jersey Shore head coach, Patty Kennelley, announced her upcoming retirement from the sport to her swimmers several weeks ago. This past weekend at YMCA States was bittersweet as it was her last walk on a pool deck as a coach. She will walk into retirement with good memories over the many seasons and was able to exit the sport with a state champion swimmer under her belt.
The stage was set when Emma Butzler swam the 10-and-under girls 50 yard butterfly at YMCA Western Districts on March 13th and finished second to Allison Ahl of Corry YMCA by 34/100s of a second. Her finish was fast enough to qualify her for States but it also seeded her second to Ahl in the upcoming event.
The final heat and top seeds of the 50 fly at States went off fast as all swimmers had clean starts. Butzler moved down the lane, slightly ahead of Ahl but trailing behind Phoenixville YMCA’s Erin Merke. Coming out of the turn, Butzler pulled even with Merke and neither swimmer could create any separation as they swam the final length. It was a splash of water as the three top seeds lunged toward the wall. Spectators and officials could not visually see who touched the wall first and all eyes turned to the timing board at Penn State’s McCoy Natatorium to see the results. The timer had Butzler on top at 30.68 seconds, 2/100s of a second ahead of Merke and 22/100s in front of Ahl. It was the closest race over the two day, 72 event swim meet.
In addition to her butterfly win, Butzler placed fifth in the 100 yard freestyle. She finished her day by joining teammates Sam Keegan, Riley Markley, and Ashlyn Wool for a sixteenth place finish in the 200 yard freestyle relay. Although Keegan dropped times in her individual races, she just finished out of the point race with a 13th and 16th in her 50 yard breaststroke and 100 yard individual medley.
Shore swimmer Maddi Thompson was also on the medal podium with a 5th and 10th place finish in the girls 15-and-over 50 and 100 yard freestyle events. She also swam with teammates BethAnn Schwoyer, Gabby Rossman, and Lindsay Dudek to place 14th in the 400 yard medley relay. Schwoyer captured 25th in the 100 yard backstroke and 14th in the 500 yard freestyle.
Brothers Cody and Chet Schwoyer along with Tyler Sheets and Evan Moore finished 21st in the 14-and-under boys 200 yard medley relay and 22nd in the 200 freestyle relay. Each member of those relays swam one individual event as Chet was 32nd in the 200 yard freestyle, Cody was 31st in the 100 yard backstroke, Moore was 29th in the 100 yard butterfly, and Tyler Sheets was 26th in the 50 yard freestyle. On the girls side, Hannah Runtas finished 36th in the 50 yard freestyle.
Jacob Butzler was Shore’s sole representative in the 12-and-under category and placed 22nd in the 200 yard freestyle.
Lock Haven’s YMCA has two state qualifiers, Nolan Dale in the boys 14-and-under boys finished 33rd in the 50 yard freestyle while his brother, Ethan finished 24th in the boys 12-and-under 50 yard breaststroke.
Full results can be obtained
here (scroll down to bottom of page)
