Fox Chapel boys, girls swimmers open new year with 3-meet winning streak
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Friday, January 18, 2019 | 7:42 PM
The Fox Chapel swimming team started the new year off with three wins to improve both the boys and girls records to 6-1 overall, 2-0 in the section.
“I think that a big part of our success has been the depth on both teams, which really helps,” coach Dan Taylor said. “This has been our biggest strength. We have a good bit of experience, and we’ve received some pleasant surprises by the contributions of freshmen Rei Sperry and Julia Stutzman for the girls and Tim Park and Dave Dering on the boys side.”
On Jan. 10, the Foxes swept Woodland Hills as both the boys and girls claimed first in all but two events. On Jan. 8, the Foxes defeated Canon-McMillan: The girls won by 92-82 and the boys posted a 99-78 win. First-place finishers were the girls 200-yard medley relay (Grace Gackenbach, Zoe Skirboll, Margaret Fox and Arianna Pasquella), the girls 200 free (Vivian Shao), the boys 200 free (Jake Sperry), the girls 200 IM (Leia Ross), the girls 50 free (Rei Sperry) and boys diving (David Manelis).
Also earning firsts were girls 100 free (Margaret Fox), girls 500 free (Skirboll, pool record), the girls 200 free relay team (Sperry, Gackenbach, Ross, Fox) and the boys 100 back (Evan Gu).
On Jan. 3, the Foxes swept Plum with the girls edging the Mustangs, 87-83, and the boys earning a 92-78 win.
Fox Chapel first-place finishers were: girls 200 medley relay (Gackenbach, Skirboll, Ross and Shao), boys 200 medley relay (Nate Roe, Will Wang, Ian Change and Nate Serkov), girls 200 free (Skirboll), girls 200 IM (Gackenbach), girls 50 free (Shao), boys 50 free (Serkov), girls 100 free (Ross), girls 500 free (Gackenbach), boys 500 free (Jake Sperry), girls 100 back (Ross), girls 100 breast (Skirboll), boys 100 breast (Wang) and the girls 400 free relay (Ross, Gackenbach, Shao, Skirboll). Gackenbach, Ross and Skirboll each had four first-place finishes.
The Fox Chapel divers have coach Vernon Yenick excited about their postseason chances.
“We are well into the season, and I think this will be the best season yet. We have a total of 11 divers, and everyone is going through their own fun and difficulty day-in and day-out, week-to-week and month after month. I’m not going to elaborate, but I’ll be surprised if Jonah Cagley and David Manelis do not go gold and silver at the state championships. They have already made the WPIAL cut along with Magnus Loeffler.
“Jonah and David are definitely the highlight of the team as they’re driving extraordinarily well. Both of them are jumping higher, spinning faster and twisting more effortlessly than in the past.
“On the girls side, we have a freshman named Hanna Essey. She’s a gymnast who is trying diving and making it look easy. She has excellent body coordination and is going to be an excellent diver. She learns dives very quickly and is a grounding personality on the team, which is a help with a sport like diving where, at times, there is so much fear involved.”
Marty Stewart is a freelance writer.
Tags: Fox Chapel
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