Depth in pool key for Tornado

By Mike Kilroy Eagle Staff Writer

January 13, 2015 Last Updated: January 13, 2015 01:50 PM High School

BUTLER TWP — It came down to depth.

Butler had more of it.

While the top performers for the Butler and Knoch boys and girls swimming and diving teams duked it out and turned in typical top-notch performances, it was a few key contributions from others that made the difference for the Golden Tornado.

Butler’s boys beat Knoch, 102-79, while the girls edged the Knights, 98-85.

“I was happy with the team effort,” said Butler coach Dave Bocci. “What I did tonight was move some kids around to see if we could maybe broaden our points and get more points from more people.

“High school swimming is a team sport, and my team pulled together tonight,” Bocci added. “That’s what I was happy about.”

The strategy worked.

It was one also shared by Knoch coach Rick Hassler, who also used people in different events to try to gain precious points.

“It’s a team thing,” Hassler said. “That’s what we stress here at Knoch. The team aspect. Some schools don’t, but we do.”

Hassler’s biggest move was placing Rachael Wittmer in the 500 freestyle.

It was the first time Wittmer had competed in the event and she excelled, placing first with a time of 6 minutes, 26.11 seconds.

“She wanted to do it and she was all excited about it,” Hassler said. “She’s a very good swimmer. She can swim all four strokes.”

Brooke Zukowski and Abby Jones each won two events for the Knights, but they weren’t enough as Butler used its depth, two wins by Emma Weiss, and two relay victories to triumph.

“I tried to split some things up on the relays for more of an advantage to win, but also for some more depth,” Bocci said. “So, that was the key to the night because I know they have some very good front-line swimmers, but to counter-act that, we spread things around more.”

The same was true on the boys side for Butler.

Knoch got a pair of wins from Austin Wittmer and John Wilson, but Butler won two relays and had more swimmers place.

Bocci was happy with some of his unheralded swimmers.

“There was a little bit more strategy than usual,” Bocci said. “It was fun. On the girls side, I was really happy with Liz Graham, she’s a freshman, and was very competitive in the (200 individual medley) and the backstroke. And Maddy Como in the 500. She normally doesn’t do it and she’s a senior and showed some senior leadership tonight.”

Bocci also mentioned sophomore Trai Kish in the breaststroke and freshman Robby Hays in the 500 for the boys.

“Sometimes those people get overlooked,” Bocci said.

Hassler was pleased with his team as well.

Ben Lowery was another standout for the Knoch boys with a score of 271.95 in the 1-meter diving event.

“I know coming up here, knowing Dave and the type of coach he is, his kids would be ready to go,” Hassler said. “What I was looking for was for our boys and girls to be competitive against them tonight and hopefully make some WPIAL cuts and I think we achieved that goal.”

Girls

Butler 98, Knoch 85

200 medley relay: 1-Butler (Kaelyn Emanuel, Morgan Keelan, Emmas Weiss, Jillian McElhaney) 2:00.53

200 freestyle: 1-Abby Jones (K) 2:05.33

200 individual medley: 1-Brooke Zukowski (K) 2:16.79

50 freestyle: 1-Jillian McElhaney (B) 26.51

1-meter diving: 1-Claire Weiland (B) 230.65

100 butterfly: 1-Emma Weiss (B) 1:03.38

100 freestyle: 1-Jones (K) 56.43

500 freestyle: 1-Rachael Wittmer (K) 6:26.11

200 freestyle relay: 1-Knoch (Megan Hunt, Lydia Walls, Chelsea Bova-Bauer, Noelle Steedle) 1:03.45

100 backstroke: 1-Weiss (B) 1:07.21