Downingtown East swimming depth keys double win against West Chester East

By Bruce Adams

badams@21st-centurymedia.com

UWCHLAN – Downingtown East’s swimming depth helped to earn the Cougars a pair of victories against West Chester East   Wednesday at the Lionville Community YMCA.

The D-East boys earned a 102-76 win, while the Cougar girls swam to a 100-84 victory. Both Cougar teams are 2-1, defeating Kennett in their opening meet and falling to Perkiomen Valley.

“Our depth is pretty much going to be our key all year,” said D-East girls swimming head coach Sean Wyatt. “We have a big freshman class this year, which helps. We have a lot of fast swimmers but we know we’re not going to blow anyone out of the water, so we need to (perform) as a team. We’re young – we have 14 underclassmen out of 21 girls.”

Some of the Cougar swimmers were coming off a busy weekend of club swimming and a taper meet on Tuesday. On Friday, D-East will compete against Great Valley.

Downingtown East boys swimming head coach Kirsten Snyder said, ““I’m really proud of all of our swimmers because it is the last week before (holiday) break, so school is really busy, and some of them are not feeling well. That they were able to kind of pick it up today and keep on going is great. I’m proud of our swimmers’ grit. It’s a hard time of year, we’re tired and they’ve had a heavy week of training. We’re looking to hit Friday (against Great Valley) and then slide into the break.”

Highlights for the Downingtown East boys included Sam Sperling and Matt DiAddezio finishing 1-2 in the 100 yard butterfly, with Sperling posting a district consideration time of 54.03 seconds, and DiAddezio coming close to the consideration standard of 56.12 with his clocking of 56.40. Sperling won the 100 backstroke with a clocking of 58.36, just missing the district consideration standard of 58.27.

Other Cougar boys highlights included sophomore Charles O’Hara winning the 50 freestyle (23.73), edging out senior teammate Connor Kiebort (23.74) and beating his seed time of 23.91; and freshman Nathan Smith winning the 100 breaststroke (1:11.04), beating his seed time of 1:12.26.

“It’s kind of nice to see that, while we have some seniors stepping up, we do have (underclassmen) who are waiting in the wings,” said Snyder. “In fact, Charles (O’Hara) dropped time between (Tuesday) and today – he dropped about a second and a half in the 200 free.”

O’Hara finished second in the 200 free with a district consideration time of 1:51.95, and Cougar teammate Andrew Fulton placed third with a district consideration time of 1:52.49.

Snyder praised Fulton, noting, “Andrew had pneumonia last month, so he’s come back from being sick, swam in Virginia this past weekend, and swam in the taper meet Tuesday.”

Also for the D-East boys, Joseph Griffiths won the boys 500 free.

For the Downingtown East girls, highlights included junior captain Ava Sgarra winning the 100 breaststroke with a district consideration time of 1:11.23. Cougar freshman Natalie Kibalo won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:30.89 that eclipsed her seed time of 2:31.37.

“Natalie is a swimmer to watch out for; she’s been phenomenal,” said Wyatt. “And Ava was (ill) today, so this wasn’t her best time. She’s a real leader.”

The Cougars’ Rachel Laraio, who broke her own school record for girls diving earlier this month with a mark of 261.55, finished first in the event on Wednesday.

Wyatt noted that Kayla Terry dropped time in the 100 fly (second place, 1:06.95), 50 free (third place, 27.44) and her segment in the 400 free relay.

“Kayla had her best time in the 400 free relay of one minute flat, so she’s really peaking at the right part of the season,” said Wyatt. “Most of our girls who are club swimmers were coming off long weekends today.”

For West Chester East, this meet opened its 2024-25 season, and the Vikings had several notable individual highlights Wednesday. Ben Gotro won the boys 100 free and 200 free (district consideration time of 1:51.70), Emily Schwarz won the girls 100 fly and 200 free (district consideration time of 2:02.40) and Grace Herlihy won the girls 100 free and 100 back. Emma Antczak won the girls 50 free, Angelica Wendel won girls 500 free and Zach Flexin finished first in boys’ diving.

West Chester East swimming head coach BethAnn Carozza also praised Dylan Cuneo, who she said posted good times in the 100 fly (third place, 57.29) and the 50 free (third place, 23.86).

“We have a young team, and the great thing about swimming is that we can have small victories in the midst of a larger picture of a meet, and we had a lot of small victories today,” said Carozza. “Our kids swam hard, nobody quit, and we fought right to the end.”

Boys

Downingtown East 102, West Chester East 76

200-yard medley relay: Downingtown East (Griffiths, DiAddezio, Sperling, Kiebort) 1:44.24; 200 freestyle:  Gotro (WCE) 1:51.70; 200 IM: DiAddezio (DE) 2:08.99; 50 freestyle: O’Hara (DE) 23.73;  diving: Flexin (WCE) 141.10; 100 butterfly: Sperling (DE) 54.03; 100 free: Gotro (WCE) 51.78; 500 free:  Griffiths (DE) 5:15.18; 200  free relay: Downingtown East (O’Hara, Zeng, Kiebort, Fulton) 1:35.96; 100  backstroke: Sperling (DE) 58.36; 100 breaststroke: Smith (DE) 1:11.04; 400  free relay: West Chester East (Shupard, Cuneo, Heffernan, Gotro) 3:35.66.

Girls

Downingtown East 100, West Chester East 84

200-yard medley relay: Downingtown East (Obenski, Sgarra, Wilson, Terry) 1:58.69; 200 freestyle: Schwarz (WCE) 2:02.40; 200 IM: Kibalo (DE) 2:20.89; 50 free: Antczak (WCE) 26.40;  diving: Laraio (DE) 239.05; 100 butterfly: Schwarz (WCE) 1:02.69; 100 free: Herlihy (WCE) 57.00; 500 free: Wendel (WCE) 6:01.16; 200 free relay: West Chester East (Antczak, Doran, Herlihy, Schwarz) 1:46.86; 100 backstroke: Herlihy (WCE) 1:04.09; 100 breaststroke: Sgarra (DE) 1:11.23; 400 free relay: West Chester East (Antczak, Herlihy, Wendel, Schwarz) 3:57.01.