LEWISBURG — When Megan Ehrnfeldt touched the wall in the 400-yard freestyle relay, she closed out a historic season for the Schuylkill Valley girls swim team.
For the first time in program history, the Panthers brought home the team trophy from the PIAA Class 2A Swimming and Diving Championships.
Schuylkill Valley scored 177 points over the two-day meet, which concluded Saturday night at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. Mount Pleasant was second with 169 points.
“It’s amazing to be a senior and finally have the team title be a thing,” Ehrnfeldt said. “My freshman year we placed second, two years ago the meet was canceled (due to COVID) and last year was just a weird year so it’s great to finally be back here and get this.
“It was something that we worked hard for. I don’t know if we really understood that we could do it, but as the season went on, everyone progressed really well. We all knew coming into this meet that it was going to be close and we had to work together and work really hard.
“Everyone stepped up and had big swims. We scored a lot of points in the consolation finals. Annie Gao won the consolation final in the 100 fly, Katie (Eisenhofer) did amazing in the breaststroke. I know they were bummed that they didn’t make the top eight in the morning swims so they could get a medal, but if you have a lane, you have an opportunity to swim fast and score points, and every point counts.”
Ehrnfeldt anchored the 400 free relay that included Emily Gao, Annie Gao and Jenna Kirby. The foursome finished second with a time of 3:33.64.
“The adrenaline was really pumping,” said Annie Gao, a sophomore. “It was really fun to be with all my teammates and get this opportunity. We knew we had to swim well. There was some pressure, but as a team we all kept calm. We did it as a team.
“I was happy to win the consolation heat (in the 100 butterfly) yesterday. Everything I did, I did for the team and I wanted to score as many points as possible.
“Being here gives me a lot of confidence and my teammates really give me a boost.”
Earlier in the evening, Ehrnfeldt finished fourth in the 100 freestyle (51.75).
“I didn’t go a best time but I’m happy,” she said. “We got the big prize and this is the memory I’ll really keep.”
Schuylkill Valley’s Aryanna Kulp was 10th in the 100 backstroke (59.42), Eisenhofer placed 11th in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.75), Paige McKim finished 12th in the 500 freestyle (5:19.44) and Kirby posted a 14th-place finish in the 100 backstroke (1:00.43).
Oley Valley’s Mary Carl also earned a medal on the last evening, placing fourth in the 500 freestyle (5:01.09).
“I did the best that I could do and I’m happy with that,” she said. “I had a couple of good races.”
Her freshman year the meet was canceled but she competed in the 500 freestyle last season as a sophomore.
“I didn’t get a medal last year so to get two this year is really great,” she said. “They didn’t have as many people swimming last year as this year so this year it was more competitive. It was great to race them. This is an amazing pool and getting on the podium here means so much.
“I’m excited for next year.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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