Team Effort
PENN TWP — There were plenty of individual performances to admire Sunday during the Allegheny-Kiski Valley swim league championships at Penn Valley Athletic Club.
For the hosts, it was all about acquiring team hardware.
Penn Valley earned the A-K Valley championship with 1,366 points, which was 275 points clear of second-place Sylvan. The meet also featured Vandergrift (1,039.5), Sebco (710.5), Zelienople (323), Bouquet (241), Belmont (231) and Alameda (192).
Although some athletes stood out with first-place finishes and record times, the depth of Penn Valley's 92 swimmers made the difference in the team standings.
“Our entire team works toward a common goal and we keep that in mind for the entire season,” said Penn Valley coach Corrie Jones. “We need ninth-place finishes, we need 12th-place finishes, because you can't win a meet with just first-place finishes. We definitely have the depth. We filled every spot and that helped us.”
Four Penn Valley records went down throughout the day.
Hannah Knoll shattered the 50-meter backstroke record in the 11-12 age group with a time of 33.81 seconds, besting the previous mark of 35.22 which had stood since 1997.
“She was supposed to go on vacation and we talked her parents into staying home,” said Jones. “She ended up beating the record by two seconds.”
The senior relay teams comfortably topped club records.
Regan Kelly, Abigail Jones, Macie Pennington and Hannah Webb dropped nearly four seconds of their seed time and set a new team standard in the 200 medley relay by touching the wall at 2:12.38. The same quartet also broke the team and pool records in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:57.90.
Both marks were eclipsed by over a second.
“That's a decent amount for swimming,” said Jones. “Usually, we feel pretty good when we break records by a tenth of a second.”
The combination of Nathan Callithen, Alex Wigton, Ryan Deemer and John Wilson settled for second place in the 13-and-over 200 medley relay, but turned in another record performance for Penn Valley. They broke an 11-year-old team best with a time of 1:59.62, less than a half-second behind Vandergrift's 1:59.38.
“There is no better satisfaction as a coach to watch a kid improve in a sport that they've put time into,” said Jones. “Just when I think a kid has reached their fastest time, they just amaze me and swim faster.”
Jones estimated 85 to 90 percent of the Penn Valley swimmers climbed out of the pool with season-best times. She credited the improvement to their dedication.
“That's because they will get in the pool, they will work hard and they take care of the little, tiny things that make you swim faster,” said Jones. “We put it out there that whatever you put into this sport, you're going to get out of it. There's no way in this sport that you work hard and swim slower.“They know, 'If I give 100 percent, I get 100 percent back in my results.'”In all, the eight teams were represented by a total of 346 swimmers and Penn Valley played host to between 500 and 600 people, which includes athletes, friends and family.“To run a championship, to accommodate 500 people at Penn Valley, we get cooperation from our Penn Valley athletic board and the aquatic parents group,” said Jones. “It's a huge group effort.“We do need to shut that pool down for three or four hours that it should be open and the board very willingly does that because it showcases our pool,” she added. “It's a nice facility. As a swim team, we appreciate the fact that they let us do that.”Jones explained the athletes' hard work in the pool is only possible with the cooperation and effort of their parents.“Our parents group, everybody is always in it 100 percent,” she said. “No swim team can really run without a great group of parents and I am extremely fortunate to have that. They buy into everything we have to offer and we rarely have any problems.“To me, that's true dedication to helping kids better themselves,” Jones added. “I have good kids because I have good parents. It's a good testament to them.”Penn Valley also won the A-K Valley Lollipop championships, which is a swim league for the younger children and took place on Saturday. Penn Valley tallied 329 points, followed by Sylvan (202), Vandergrift (158), Alameda (138), Belmont (104), Sebco (90), Zelienople (80) and Bouquet (42).“It's a team effort,” said Jones. “Whether it's kids, parents, our swim team board, our athletic board ... everybody works together and that's what's most important.”
