ATHENS — Juniors Taegan Williams and Taylar Fisher led the Lady
Wildcats to a 91-90 win over Elk Lake, while junior Ethan Denlinger
paced the Athens boys to a 104-50 victory here Tuesday afternoon in
non-league swimming action.
GIRLS
ATHENS 91, ELK LAKE 90
Williams
and Fisher each won four events while senior Brooke Kopatz was a
triple-winner to lead the Lady Wildcats in their first dial of the
season.
Williams won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:09.96,
and sophomore Emily Marshall was second in 1:23.04. Williams also won
the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:10.53.
Fisher won the 200-yard IM in a time of 2:35.47, and Kopatz was third in 2:43.74.
Fisher also won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:12.9, and Marshall was third in 1:19.06.
Williams, Fisher, Kopatz, and Marshall teamed to win the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 2:08.23.
Williams, Fisher, and Kopatz teamed with junior Alli Thoman to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:55.79.
Kopatz won the 100-yard breaststroke in a tim e of 1:16.89, and Thoman was second in 1:24.17.
Freshman Abbie Panek was second in the 1-meter diving competition with 176.5 points.
Sophomore Grace Cobb was second in the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 6:45.38.
Thoman
finished third in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 30.63 seconds, and
senior Hannah Walker was third in the 100-yard freestyle in 1:17.49.
BOYS
ATHENS 104, ELK LAKE 50
Denlinger
was a quad-winner, while freshman Ethan Hicks was a triple-winner, and
freshmen Ryan Gorman and Ronel Ankam, and junior Chris DeForest each won
two events in the Wildcats' 54-point win.
Denlinger won the 200-yard IM in a time of 2:28.43, and Gorman was second in 2:51.07.
Denlinger also won the 500-yard freestyle in a time of 5:48.12, and junior Joe Blood was third in 6:55.46.
Denlinger, Ankam, Gorman, and Hicks teamed to win the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 2:03.45.
Denlinger, Ankam, Hicks, and DeForest to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 3:50.37.
Gorman won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:25.95, and junior Travis Webster was third in 1:30.54.
Hicks won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:07.95, and freshman Pierce Oldroyd was third in 2:20.59.
DeForest won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:00.11, and freshman Treyvon Simpson won the 1-meter diving competition.
Blood finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:30.48, and senior Shayne Reid was third in 2:35.23.
DeForest finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.35 seconds, and senior Kyle Anthony was third in 26.12 seconds.
Ankem
was second in the 100-yard freestyle in a district-qualifying time of
57.73 seconds, and Reuven Gifeisman was third in 1:04.23.
The Wildcats are now off until after the New Year.
BLOOMSBURG — Athens senior Emma Roe finished third at the District 4
Diving Championships here at the Bloomsburg Middle School, improving on
last year’s finish and point total.
Roe, in just her second year
of diving, tallied 317.05 points, bettering last year’s total of 314.6
points, which earned her a fourth-plat finish.
Danville’s
Gabrielle Hackett won individual gold medal with 339.2 points, and is
the only diver advancing to States this year due to the reduction in
numbers as a result of Covid.
Central Columbia’s Ava Snyder won the silver with 332.05 points, and Bloom’s Alayna Lovelace finished fourth with 315.3 points.
WILLIAMSPORT — Sophomores Taegan Williams and Taylar Fisher each had
four top-8 finishes to lead Athens to a sixth-place finish here Thursday
night at the District 4 Girls Swimming & Diving Championship at
Williamsport High School.
Danville cruised to the team title with
383 points, well ahead of runner-up Danville, which tallied 315 points.
Central Columbia was third with 249 points, while Bloomsburg was fourth
with 229 points, Shamokin was fifth with 181 points, and Athens tallied
180.
Williams finished third in the 200-yard freestyle in a time
of 2:04.39, and freshman Emily Marshall was eighth in 2:23.82. Williams
also finished sixth in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 58.56
seconds.
Fisher finished sixth in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:08.86. She was seventh in the 200-yard IM in a time of 2:28.64.
Williams
teamed with sophomores Alli Thoman and Taylar Fisher, and junior Raven
McCarthy-Gardner to finish sixth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a
time of 1:58.42.
Williams teamed with Marshall, sophomore Macaria
Benjamin, and freshman Grace Cobb finished eighth in the 400-yard
freestyle relay in a time of 4:34.94.
Fisher teamed with Thoman, Marshall, and McCarthy-Gardner to finish fifth in the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 2:14.13.
McCarthy-Gardner was eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:22.44.
TOWANDA — Sophomores Chris DeForest and Ethan Denlinger helped the
Athens boys to a 49-44 win over Lewisburg here Saturday in non-league
swimming action, while the Lady Dragons won all 11 swimming events in an
80-34 win over the Lady Wildcats.
BOYS
Athens 49, Lewisburg 44
DeForest
and Denlinger both had two wins and a second-place finish as the
Wildcats improved to 3-0 with their first win over the Green Dragons
since 2010..
DeForest won the 50-yard freestyle in a
district-qualifying time of 24.25 seconds, and senior Asher Ellis was
third in 29.63 seconds
Denlinger won the 500-yard freestyle in a district-qualifying time of 6:07.42, and sophomore Joe Blood was second in 6:48.79
DeForest
and Denlinger teamed with seniors Mason Henderson and Joe Toscano to
win the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:44.51.
Senior Zac Gowin won the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:19.85, and senior Lucas Aquilio was third in 2:52.07
DeForest
also finished second in the 100-yard freestyle in a district-qualifying
time of 54.2 seconds, and senior Joey Toscano was third in a
district-qualifying time of 59.05 seconds.
Denlinger was second in the 200-yard IM in a time of 2:36.78.
Henderson finished second in the 100-yard butterfly in a district-qualifying time of 1:07.42, and Gowin was third in 1:17.01.
Ellis finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:28.88, and Aquilio was third in 1:31.63.
Blood finished second in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:26.19.
GIRLS
Lewisburg 80, Athens 34
Senior diver Emma Roe notched Athens’ only win in the loss to Lewisburg
Roe won the 1-meter diving competition with 177 points, and junior Rave McCarthy-Gardner was third with 104.25 points
Sophomore
Alli Thoman finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 31.44
seconds. She also finished seconds in the 100-yard breaststroke in a
time of 1:24.74, and McCarthy-Gardner was third in 1:27.0
Sophomore
Taylar Fisher finished second in the 100-yard backstroke in a
district-qualifying time of 1:12.92. Fisher also finished third in the
200-yard IM in a district-qualifying time of 2:36.86
Freshman
Emily Marshall finished third in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of
37.93 seconds. She was also third in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of
1:24.41
Sophomore Taegan Williams finished third in the 500-yard freestyle in a district-qualifying time of 6:00.43.
Freshman Rebeca Gifeisman finished third in the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 1:25.08.
Athens returns to action Wednesday at Towanda.
ATHENS — The Athens swim teams both recorded wins over Towanda on
“Senior Night” here Tuesday afternoon in NTL swimming & diving
action.
“The seniors had a great night and lots of fun,” said
Keister. “We had several very close races that made are nearly empty
pool area roar.
“Senior Emma Roe and junior Raven
McCarthy-Gardner tried out some new dives,” he added. “And, we had an
all seniors boys medley relay.
It wasn’t all about the seniors, though.
“The freshmen also did well,” said Keister. “For example, Grace Cobb dropped nearly 23 seconds in the 500 free from last week.”
GIRLS
Athens 110, Towanda 51
Sophomores
Taegan Williams and Taylar Fisher won four events apiece, and junior
Raven McCarthy-Gardner and freshman Emily Marshall were each
triple-winners to lead Athens to a 110-51 win over Towanda.
Williams
won the 200-yard IM in 2:40.98. She also won the 500-yard freestyle in a
time of 6:04.97, and Cobb was second in 7:15.44.
Fisher won the
100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:16.59, and Marshall was second in
1:26.08. Fisher also won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:13.56.
Marshall
led a sweep in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:33.02, while
freshman Isabella Potter was second in 2:33.97, and Cobb was third in
2:38.64.
McCarthy-Gardner won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:25.03, and Potter was third in 1:35.77.
Williams,
Fisher, McCarthy-Gardner, and Marshall teamed to win the 200-yard
freestyle in a time of 2:00.59, while Fisher, Williams,
McCarthy-Gardner, and sophomore Macaria Benjamin teamed to win the
200-yard medley relay in a time of 2:17.36.
Marshall, senior
Kaitlin Kisner, Cobb and freshman Rebeca Gifeisman teamed to win the
400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 5:06.18.
Senior Emma Roe won the 1-meter diving competition with 153.7 points, and McCarthy-Gardner was second with 103.75 points.
Kisner
finished second int he 50-yard freestyle in a time of 31.23, and
Benjamin was third in 34.36 seconds. Kisner was also second in the
100-yard freestyle in a time of 1:09.74.
BOYS
Athens 75, Towanda 54
Senior
Mason Henderson won four events and sophomore Chris DeForest was a
triple-winner to lead Athens to a 75-54 win in the boys meet.
Sophomore Ethan Denlinger and senior Zac Gowin were double-winners for the Wildcats.
Henderson won the 200-yard IM in 2:37.11. He also won the 100-yard freestyle in a time of 58.6 seconds.
DeForest
won the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:08.76, and sophomore Joe
Blood was third in 2:31.95. DeForest also won the 100-yard butterfly in a
time of 1:05.8.
Denlinger won the 500-yard freestyle in time of 6:0903, and Gowin was second in 6:19.89.
Henderson and Gowin teamed with seniors Joe Toscano and Lucas Aquilio to win the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 2:07.16.
Henderson, DeForest, Gowin, and Denlinger teamed to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:48.11.
Toscano
finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 26.32 seconds,
and Aquilio was third in 30.71 seconds. Toscano also finished second in
the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:11.57.
Aquilio finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:31.43, and senior Asher Ellis was third in 1:37.16.
Athens is scheduled to swim against Danville at Towanda Saturday.
ATHENS — Coming off NTL championship seasons, both Athens swim teams
return a host of District 4 qualifiers, and look to be very competitive
in 2021.
“We have some solid swimmers on the boys and girls team —
several district qualifiers, who are normally year-round swimmers,”
said Athens boys coach Mark Keister.
“We do have a couple of
swimmers who were top-10 point-earners and district qualifiers that
decided not to come out this season.
“The remaining swimmers
are getting a good amount of attention and working hard to catch up in
this ‘short’ season,” added Keister.
The boys were 7-3 last
season, and return seniors Lucas Aquilio, Zac Gowin, Mason Henderson,
and Joe Toscano, who were all District 4 qualifiers, as well as juniors
Reuven Gifeisman, and sophomores Chris DeForest and Ethan Denlinger —
also District qualifiers.
The newcomers are senior Asher Ellis and freshman Joe Blood.
“Asher (Ellis) is a good athlete,” said Keister. “He’ll likely swim freestyle and breaststroke.”
The Lady Wildcats also return a slew of District qualifiers, led by sophomore Taegan Williams.
“(Taegan)
broke the 500 free school-record at Districts,” said Keister. “She has
the potential to break additional records this year.”
Also
returning are seniors Kaitlin Kisner and Raven Gardner, sophomore Mea
Abbott, Taylar Fisher, and Allison Thoman, and well as senior divers
Emma Roe, who finished fourth at Districts, and Katie Lynch.
The
Lady Wildcats also have a long list of newcomers, including sophomore
Meltem VanHelder, and freshmen Macaria Benjamin, Grace Cobb, Rebecca
Gifeisman, Emily Henderson,
Madelyn Jones, Isabella Potter and Emily Marshall.
“Our newcomers have good potential that may produce a couple district qualifiers,” Keister said.
Keister is also excited there will be a postseason.
“We got word recently that we will have secured a district championship meet site this year and plans for States,” he said.
“We
will again compete at Bloomsburg for diving — boys and girls split
morning and afternoon as normal — and Williamsport High School for
swimming, but the boys and girls meet will be separate days.
“Another new thing is a virtual swim meet. We will be able to compete with any team in the Commonwealth,” added Keister.
Athens opens the season today at Towanda.
TOWANDA — Virtual competition is upon us, and the Athens swim team got its first taste of it Thursday.
The
Wildcats swam, along with Towanda in the Black Knight pool, while
Shamokin swam in its own pool. Shamokin actually swam on Wednesday, but
the times won’t be merged until Friday morning to produce the team
scores and individual placements.
The following are the times and places in the Athens-Towanda meet:
BOYS
Senior
Mason Henderson and sophomore Chris DeForest won four events apiece,
while seniors Joey Toscano and Zac Gowin, and sophomore Ethan Denlinger
were each triple-winners to pace the Wildcats’ efforts.
Henderson and DeForest each swam on all three of Athens’ winning relays.
The
duo teamed with Toscano and Denlinger to win the 200-yard medley really
in a time of 2:21.98, then teamed with Toscano and Gowin to win the
200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:47.61. They teamed with
Denlinger and Gowin to win the 400-yard freestyle in a time of 4:04.24.
Henderson
won the 100-yard butterfly in a District-qualifying time of 1:07.46,
while DeForest won the 100-yard freestyle in a District-qualifying times
of 54.4 seconds, and Gowin placed third in 1:05.68.
Gowin won
the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 2:23.68, while Denlinger won the
200-yard IM in 2:36.42, and Toscano won the 50-yard freestyle in a time
of 26.43 seconds.
Senior newcomer Asher Ellis posted his first
varsity win in the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:34.8, and senior
Lucas Aquilio was third in 1:37.43.
Toscano finished second in the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:17.55, and freshman Joe Blood was third in 1:28.21.
GIRLS
Sophomores
Taegan Williams and Taylar Fisher, and freshman Emily Marshall were
triple-winners, and sophomore Ally Thoman was a double-winner to lead
the Lady Wildcats.
Williams led a sweep in the 200-yard freestyle
in a district-qualifying time of 2:16.1, while freshman Isabella Potter
was second in 2:35.03, and freshman Grace Cobb was third in exhibition
in 2:40.64.
Williams also won the 500-yard freestyle in a
District-qualifying time of 6:05.13, and senior Kaitlin Kisner was
second in 7:10.58.
Fisher led a sweep in the 200-yard IM in a
District-qualifying time of 2:41.67, while freshman Malaria Benjamin was
second in 3:31.66. Swimming in exhibition, Marshall clocked in at
2:58.72.
Fisher also won the 100-yard backstroke in a
District-qualifying time of 1:13.93, and freshman Emily Henderson was
third in 1:58.1.
Marshall won the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1:28.57, and Benjamin was second in 1:40.40.
Thoman won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:26.41, and senior Raven McCarthy-Gardner was second in 1:27.32.
Fisher,
Thoman, Benjamin, and Marshall teamed to win the 200-yard medley relay
in a time of 2:20.39, while Kisner, Marshall, Potter, and Williams
teamed to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in a time of 4:42.13.
Senior Emma Roe won the 1-meter diving competition with 156.1 points, and McCarthy-Gardner was second with 109.45 points.
Thoman
finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in 31.44 seconds, and Kisner
was third in 31.77, while Potter finished second in the 100-yard
freestyle in a time of 1:08.35.
BLOOMSBURG — Defending District 4 champion Bloomsburg jumped out to a
big lead early, and rolled to a 59-29 win over Athens here Wednesday
night in non-league girls basketball action.
“Bloomsburg is a
very talented team,” said Athens coach Brian Miller. “They were bigger
and faster and played great team defense.
“It was good for us to
get of our league and play a talented team like that,” noted Miller. “We
won’t see a team that good unless we make it to the state tournament.
“We
played hard and did some nice things against a very good team,” he
added. “We will build off it learn and get better from it.”
Rylee
Klinger scored 11 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and an
old-fashioned three-point play, to fuel Bloomsburg’s 22-7 first-quarter
blitz.
The Lady Panthers used a 15-5 second-quarter run to extend its lead to 37-12 at the half.
Senior Kayleigh Miller scored eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, in the first half for the Lady Wildcats.
Bloom
subbed liberally in the second half, and outscored the Lady Wildcats,
22-17. Junior Caydence Macik and senior Megan Collins combined to score
all 17 of Athens’ points.
Macik led Athens with 12 points,
including 10 in the second half, three rebounds, and four blocked shots,
while Miller had eight points and three steals, Collins scored seven
points, and sophomore Karlee Bartlow grabbed four rebounds.
The Lady Wildcats committed 25 turnovers in the loss.
Klinger
led Bloom with 22 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while
Madeline Evans scored 15 points, and Kelsey Widom added 10 points.
Athens, now 2-1, returns to action Saturday at Wellsboro in a noon start.