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Williamsport sweeps Shore in pool

Jersey Shore and Williamsport might not be the type of rivalry most high school sports fans would talk about, but when it comes to swimming it’s one of the biggest in the area.

Both schools have their own swimming pools, which makes training and offseason workouts much easier. Most teams are forced to train at the local YMCA or, if lucky, a close by college. That’s not the case with Williamsport and Jersey Shore and the results show.

Williamsport won the boys meet with a team total of 107 to Jersey Shore’s 42. The girls also won, picking up a 113-70 win over the Bulldogs.

“The team goals are definitely undefeated season and district title,” Williamsport’s Lydia Smith said. “I think that goes for a lot of girls on the team. The goal is to get district championship not only individually, but as a team. We are just keeping up with doing our best and getting better.”

Lydia Smith won the 200 free with a final time of 2:08.28 and then won the 500 free in 5:53.38. Smith was also one the swimmers competing in two individual events along with helping on two of the three relays.

After winning the 100 and 500 free events, Smith swam in the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay to close out the meet. Williamsport’s group won the final relay with a time of 4:01.38.

“Our relays are awesome,” Smith said. “We have a great group of girls and they are awesome to train with. Going out there with them is just so cool.”

The relays are always a big portion of the meets. The 200 medley opens every meet and the 200 free always sits in the middle with the 400 free ending the event.

In Monday’s contest at Williamsport both top-seeded groups of Jersey Shore’s medley relay teams got the event started on a positive note for the Bulldogs. Jordan O’Connor, who also won the 50 free with a final time of 26.10, opened fast with the backstroke.

“I like to start my team off on the right foot,” O’Connor said. “We all need the motivation to see one of us doing well, because then we all do well. If we start off well then, we’ll end well. It just sets the pace for the whole race.”

Meaghan Keegan then swam the breast and continued to keep the Bulldogs at a pace just a little better than the Millionaires in the next lane. Allison Moore swam a nearly flawless lap in the fly and Veronica Sander closed the race out in the free to post a time of 2:00.96 for first place.

“I really like swimming her before districts, because it gets me ready for the pool,” Moore said. “I really like the blocks at this pool.”

O’Connor had a heavy workload for the Bulldogs, but performed well throughout the meet. She won the 50 free, helped her team open with the 200 medley relay, swam a portion of the 200 free relay, and came back to win the 100 back with a time of 1:04.36.

“You try to work on the little things,” O’Connor said. “At this point you can’t get faster by working hard in the water. You have to do the little things and work on the details.”

Moore had one of the busiest meets of the day as she participated in the 200 medley relay, 200 IM, 500 free, and the 400 free relay. She opened with the medley relay and quickly got ready for the 200 IM. There was a break for diving, but Moore took on the always tough 500 free before ending the meet as the anchor in the 400 free relay.

The Jersey Shore boys weren’t as fast, but it really didn’t matter as the group of Riley Hockman, Joshua Bonislawski, Devon Shank, and Ross Flerlage topped the field by 20 seconds to post a 1:51.38. Jersey Shore’s group of Max Ferguson, Artie Dammer, Alex Butlzer and Blaine Mann finished second with a time of 2:11.07.

The four Williamsport swimmers who competed in the race also excelled in their individual events. Moments after helping his team finish first in the 200 medley relay, Bonislawski hit the water again in the 200 free. He entered with the lowest seed time and continued to push to clear the field and give Williamsport wins in both of the opening events of the meet.

“We make sure as team captains we keep the team stretched out so we don’t get tight during the races,” Bonislawski said. “We did a good job of that, because there were some really good times today.”

After a break for diving, Williamsport’s Matthew Beard took on the field in the always entertaining 100 free. The sprint event was exactly that for Beard, who jumped out to a quick lead and cleared the field by half the pool to capture a first overall finish.

Girls

Williamsport 113, Jersey Shore 70

200 medley relay: 1. Jersey Shore (Jordan O’Connor, Meaghan Keegan, Allison Moore, Veronica Sander), 2:00.96. 200 free: 1. Lydia Smith (Williamsport), 2:08.28. 200 IM: 1. Mallory Pardoe (Williamsport), 2:22.75. 50 free: 1. Jordan O’Connor (Jersey Shore), 26.10. Diving: 1. Madison Marchese (Williamsport), 187.00. 100 fly: 1. Mallory Pardoe (Williamsport), 1:02.94. 100 free: 1. Isabelle Griswold (Williamsport), 57.63. 500 free: 1. Lydia Smith (Williamsport), 5:53.81. 200 free relay: 1. Williamsport (Mallory Pardoe, Isabelle Griswold, Elisa Dinicola, Lydia Smith), 1:45.94. 100 back: 1. Jordan O’Connor (Jersey Shore), 1:04.30. 100 breast: 1. Meaghan Keegan (Jersey Shore), 1:13.12. 400 free relay: 1. Williamsport (Amy Jarvis, Isabelle Griswold, Lydia Smith, Mallory Pardoe), 4:01.38.

Boys

Williamsport 107, Jersey Shore 42

200 medley relay: 1. Williamsport (Riley Hockman, Joshua Bonislawski, Devon Shank, Ross Flerlage), 1:51.38. 200 free: 1. Joshua Bonislawski (Williamsport), 2:02.83. 200 IM: 1. Alex Butzler (Jersey Shore), 2:17.33. 50 free: 1. Matthew Beard (Williamsport), 22.94. Diving: 1. Jack Beattie (Williamsport), 195.75. 100 fly: 1. Devon Shank (Williamsport), 1:01.46. 100 free: 1. Matthew Beard (Williamsport), 49.77. 500 free: 1. Jack Beattie (Williamsport), 5:40.48. 200 free relay: 1. Williamsport (Matthew Beard, Riley Hockman, Samuel Hillman, Jack Beattie), 1:38.13. 100 back: 1. Max Ferguson (Jersey Shore), 1:34.561. 100 breast: 1. Artie Dammer (Jersey Shore), 1:21.97. 400 free relay: 1. Jersey Shore (Alex Butzler, Max Ferguson, Blaine Mann, Owen Knepp), 4:26.49.

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