The Wilson girls know if they can keep up with the tough competition among their teammates, they will do fine in big meets.
That philosophy showed from a record-breaking start to a dominant finish on Friday night on the first day of the BCIAA Swimming Championships at Wilson’s Roy G. Snyder Natatorium.
Wilson broke the girls meet and pool record in the opening event, the 200 medley relay, and then cruised from there. The Bulldogs won gold medals in five of the six races and captured 23 medals on the opening night.
“It kind of set the tone for the rest of the meet,” Wilson junior Madalee Roberts said. “The energy of the team and the cheering really set the tone.”
Roberts, Emma Dougherty, Olivia Vecchio and Evelyn Quick posted a time of 1:45.13 to eclipse the 2-year-old record set by the Exeter team of Lauren Ramsey, Megan Unruh, Hannah Hurleman and Gabrielle Istenes by .05 seconds.
“Getting the record was just a nice bonus for us,” Wilson coach Tom Houck said. “We didn’t even talk about the record.
“It’s a huge honor. That relay record that they broke, that was a heck of a relay that they beat. That was a really good group of girls. It was a nice reward for them to get.”
The rewards kept coming for Dougherty, Roberts and Vecchio, all juniors.
Roberts led a Wilson sweep of the top four places in the first individual event, the 200 free. Roberts won the race in 1:56.62 followed by Katelyn Spann, Quick and Kendall Bausher, who raced out of the middle heat. The four Bulldogs were separated by just over two seconds.
“Each day we push each other at practice,” Roberts said. “I honestly wasn’t really expecting a lot from it. But I knew I had my teammates by my side to push me. That’s what really motivated me to keep up with them and race them. That’s what we do all the time at practice.”
Dougherty said she finds her motivation from within. She was trailing Schuylkill Valley’s Mabel Walborn at the halfway point of the 200 IM before pulling away in the breaststroke, Dougherty’s strongest stroke.
“At the end of the day I race myself,” Dougherty said. “There are other people around me to motivate me but I told myself if I want to go this time I have to put the work in.
“I kind of go in and swim to have fun. We all had that mindset.”
Dougherty ended up winning the race by more than 4 seconds in 2:09.22.
Vecchio put in a dominant performance in the 100 butterfly, winning by nearly 3 seconds over runner-up Addie Johnson of Gov. Mifflin with a time of 57.66.
Dougherty and Roberts picked up their third gold medals of the night by teaming with Spann and Bausher to win the 200 free relay in 1:37.24, more than three seconds ahead of second-place Gov. Mifflin.
“Today we were able to win a lot of events and we were able to put a lot of kids up on the medals stand, which was great,” Houck said. “This is one of the deepest teams we’ve ever had. It starts every day at practice and they’re very close. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Exeter’s Shailla Mejia prevented a Wilson girls sweep of Day 1 gold medals with a win in the 50 free in 24.45, just ahead of Spann.
On the boys side, Wilson won both relays. Trentin Lechleitner, Mateo Graff, Kai Boyer and Tommy Houck earned gold in the medley relay before Lechleitner, Boyer, Houck and Ezekiel Eberly finished the night with a victory in the 200 free relay.
Individual winners were Muhlenberg’s Brady Robidas in the 200 free (1:42.13), Schuylkill Valley’s Owen Eisenhofer in the 200 IM (1:56.03), Exeter’s Evan Carl in the 50 free (21.72) and Gov. Mifflin’s Braden Weise in the 100 butterfly (51.38).
Source: Berkshire mont