Jersey Shore's 12-And-Unders On A Roll

Jersey Shore's 12-and-under girls should have the slogan 'Bring It On' emblazoned on their swim caps. After four dual meets, including Wellsboro this past Thursday night (July 12), the group has out-scored their age group opponents 233-50. Looking at it from another angle, they have placed first in almost all their individual events this summer swim season (23 out of 24) and taken the top spot in every single relay race (8).

Wellsboro, last year's Bald Eagle Swim League (BESL) regular season champs and Championship winners travelled into the western portion of Lycoming County on Thursday night for a showdown of the league's two top teams. Ignoring the hype , Shore's 12-and-under girls just went about their business. That is not to say Wellsboro's girls didn't try.

Wellsboro's 12-and-under girls opening 200 medley relay swam fast, so fast that they broke their own team record for the event. Not a problem for the black and orange foursome of Gabbie Moore, Sam Keegan, Emma Butzler, and Kendra White as they were busy pushing their own pace out front, resulting in a new BESL record. "Several of these girls go to camps, clinics, and practices outside the community for extra work throughout the year", said coach Dave Keegan. "and they are aerobically fit and have an efficient stroke". "That efficiency in the water translates into speed", he said.

Maybe it was the tough competition that pushed the girls to swim fast, but it seemed to work. White and Briar Lehman set the pace for the start of the individual events of the evening by taking first and third in the 50 yard freestyle. Then more records started to fall. Team records were set by Butzler in the 100 yard individual medley, Moore in the 50 yard backstroke, and Keegan in the 50 yard breaststroke. The final score for the age group was 45-29.

Fast start to the girls 12-and-under individual medley.

While the 12-and-under's score wasn't ever in question, the 10-and-under girls were in the fight of their summer swim season. Right off the bat, Wellsboro took first in the opening 100 yard medley relay but was only able to pick up a one point lead as Shore's quartets of Isabella Hale, Isabelle Griswold, Taylor Fleming, and Jordon O'Connor and Allison Moore, Emily Lehman, Natalie Charnego, and Sadie Griswold finished second and third respectively. Isabelle Griswold propelled Jersey Shore back into the lead by beating Wellsboro's top freestyle sprinter in the 25 yard freestyle back half a second.

The lead was short lived as Wellsboro immediately regained the lead with a win in the next event, the 100 yard individual medley. It took a 1-3 finish by O'Connor and Hale in the 25 yard backstroke to push Shore back into the lead. They would maintain a thin lead throughout the rest of the meet heading into the final individual event where the lead was lost when Wellsboro won the 25 yard fly.

The only way Shore's 10-and-unders could win was to take first and prevent Wellsboro from taking second and third in the final relay. Isabella Griswold, Hale, O'Connor, and Fleming took care of the first part of the equation by beating Wellsboro's top 100 yard freestyle relay by 12/100s of a second. But it was Jersey Shore's number two relay that secured the 38-36 win. Sadie Griswold, Allison Moore, Gabbie Bellomo, and Charnego prevented Wellsboro from taking third place by finishing ahead of Wellsboro's number two relay by almost two seconds. "These girls swam with a sense of urgency tonight, said Coach Keegan. "The competition pushed them and pushed them hard".

Jersey Shore also went on to win the girls 8-and-unders but Wellsboro won the dual meet 7-3. Jersey Shore ends their dual meet season on Tuesday night against Tri-Town followed by BESL Championships on June 21.