WAYNESBGORO – The Waynesboro Area Senior High School boys’ and girls’ swim teams had a busy week, competing in a double dual on Tuesday and against a talented Trinity team on Thursday, both held at the Waynesboro Area YMCA.
On Thursday, the Waynesboro boys team edged Trinity 86-76, while the Maidens won by a much more comfortable margin of 114-52.
Earlier in the week, the Waynesboro boys topped Susquehanna Township 63-30 and St. Maria Goretti 67-27.
The Maidens won their meet against Susquehanna Township 78-16 and nearly duplicated the score against Goretti, winning 78-13.
The Waynesboro boys improved to 5-1, while the girls remained perfect at 6-0.
“This was a huge meet for our boys team,” said Waynesboro head coach Sharon McIlquham of Thursday’s showdown against Trinity. “We faced an extremely talented and experienced team with some of the top swimmers in the Mid-Penn Conference. We knew going in that it was going to be a battle and that every race could determine the outcome of the meet.”
Trinity got the upper hand early on with wins in the boys’ 200 meter medley relay, 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle.
If the Indians were to have a chance to win the meet, they would have to win events and not settle for second or third places.
“We had been strategizing for days and came up with some new events for some of our athletes that we thought could make the difference with this lineup,” McIlquham said. “We were now able to best match the up-front speed that Trinity had. We knew that we were not as experienced but we had the depth that they did not.
“In the long run not only did the depth pay off but we had a few key swims go our way that were unexpected and that gave us a little padding going into the last relay. We then knew that as long as we did not false start we would win the meet.”
JB Bonner turned in a win for Waynesboro in the 100 butterfly, winning with a time of 1:05.97. Bonner edged Trinity’s Max Jones by less than a second (1:06.26).
The Indians garnered second and third in the 100 freestyle, with Brenner McIlquham picking up his second runner-up spot and Parker Hull placing third.
Bonner came through with another top finish, this time in the 400 freestyle with a time of 4:48.31. The boys 200 freestyle relay team touched the edge of the pool just in front of Trinity in a time of 1:49.78. Bonner, Aiden Hess, Gabe Blake and McIlquham combined to win the event.
Hess placed second in the 100 backstroke, and Owen Shockey took second in the 100 breaststroke. The Tribe’s 400 freestyle relay team consisting of Bonner, Hess, Blake and McIlquham clinched the team win with a first in 4:07.78, nearly 10 seconds in front of Trinity.
Against Township and Goretti, the Indians won 11 of 13 races.
“Junior Parker Hull and Owen Shockey shocked everyone with amazing drops in the 50 free,” McIlquham added. “Aiden Hess swam a Personal Best in the 200 IM as did JB Bonner in the 100 Backstroke.”
McIlquham said that Tuesday’s tri-meet was a good chance for the Maidens to move some swimmers around.
“This meet was a good opportunity for us to move some of our athletes around and let them swim different events,” she said. “In doing so we had a lot of swimmers make vast improvements and some set themselves up for qualifying for Mid Penns.”
Senior Brenna Naddeo had strong swims in the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle. Junior Maddy Stoops had a big meet with best times in the 200 IM and 100 freestyle. Freshman Addi Callaway performed well in the 400 freestyle.
“(Callaway) is developing the way we had hoped she would for us in the distance events,” McIlquham noted.
On Thursday, the girls team was led by sprinters Emma Swanson and Mya Beck. Strong performances were also turned in by Ashlynn Carbaugh and Savannah Brake.
