Local High School Swimming

Quaker swimmers set 2 individual records, relay record

The Quaker swim teams lost Wednesday, January 6 to both Alliance High School and Dover High School.  For the girls team, the scores were Dover 163, Alliance-79, Salem-32.  The boys scores were Dover-162, Alliance-97, Salem-16.

Highlighting the meet for the Quakers was sophomore Jacob Thompson, who set a school record in the 200-yard freestyle.  Thompson swam the 200-yard freestyle in 2:31.42, breaking the previous record by over 9 seconds.  Freshman Austin Sudol also set a school record in the 200-yard Individual Medley in a time of 2:55.86.  His record-setting performance marks the first time a Salem boy has swam the 200 I.M. in school history.  Thompson also finished 4^th in the 100-yard backstroke and Sudol placed 5^th in the 100-yard freestyle.  Also representing the Quakers was Freshman Mike Hritz, who swam to  5^th-place finishes in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-breastroke.

On the Lady Quakers side, the relay team of Madison Thomas, Ciara Andrews, Aleta Pisoni, and Brynn Crowgey set a school record in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:34.55.  In the 200-yard Freestyle, Pisoni took third with a time of 2:30.91.  She also took third in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 6:48.38.  Thomas claimed fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke while Andrews claimed 5^th in the 100-yard backstroke and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle.  Finishing 6^th for the Quakers was Crowgey in the 100-yard breaststroke and 50-yard freestyle.

The Quaker swim team will be back in action this Saturday when they compete at the 1^st Annual Salem Athletic Booster Club’s Small School Invitational held at the Salem Community Center.  The meet starts at 8:00 a.m. and is open to anyone in the community that would love to support the program.

This Saturday, January 9, 2010 marks a first for the Salem High School Swim team.  With sponsorship by The Salem Athletic Booster Club, the team will be hosting its first ever swim meet at the Salem Community Center.

The meet is an invitational for area schools that are “small or independent.”  Head Coach Caroline McDermott has been trying to create more high school meets for these types of schools over the past year.  She explains, “When I was swimming [for Salem (1996-2000)] there was a lack of high school meets for independent swimmers and smaller schools.”  Most High School Meets are in a dual-meet format, where one school has even lanes and the other school has the odd lanes.  McDermott explained that coaches were unwilling to give up a lane and points for one or two swimmers to have a tri-meet.  “As an independent athlete, it was disappointing that you couldn’t get high school competition experience until season-end tournaments.  This meet offers student-athletes in the area that chance.”  Also, schools that have less than 15 swimmers could not win a dual meet against a team with a full roster of 40 swimmers.

Twelve schools and 74 athletes from the area will be participating in the swim meet this weekend. Teams include Salem, Alliance, Columbiana, East Liverpool, Harvey (Painesville), Marlington, South Range, Struthers, Weir (WV), West Branch and Western Reserve.

“We are very thankful of how supportive the Salem Athletic Boosters Club has been in terms of support for the meet and our team,” said Coach McDermott.  Other area businesses have also supported the meet.  The UPS Store donated all of the copies of the meet programs, and Friends Roastery has donated coffee for the meet workers and concession stand.  “The community support this first year has been great,” stated McDermott.

The meet will be held this Saturday, January 9, 2010 at the Salem Community Center.  Warmups start at 7:00 a.m. with the meet beginning at 8:00 a.m.  The meet should be finished around 10:00 a.m.  Ticket prices are $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students. Meet Programs are available for $3.00.  Questions regarding the meet can be directed to Coach McDermott at 234-567-1010.

Salem High School’s swim team opened it’s season this past weekend at the Perry High School Invitational in Perry (Lake), OH.  The girls team finished 14th overall.  More than 300 athletes and 14 schools participated in the event.

On the girl’s side, Freshman Aleta Pisoni placed tenth in the 200-yard Individual Medley with a time of 2:57.10.  Pisoni also took 12th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 1:05.51.  Freshmen Ciara Andrews and Madison Thomas also participated for the Lady Quakers.

In boys action, Freshman Austin Sudol was the highest place finisher, finishing 22nd and 24th in the 100 yard breaststroke and the 100 yard freestyle, respectively.  Sophomore Jacob Thompson just missed setting a school record by .03 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, and freshman Mike Hritz was also present for the boys’ team.

“I am very pleased with how well our team performed at our first meet,” stated Coach Caroline McDermott.  She continued, “It was our freshmen’s first meet ever and a meet that size can be very intimidating to a new swimmer.  I feel that all of our athletes swam very well and I am happy with the individual time improvements.”  Alltogeter, the team posted time improvements of 25.98 seconds.

The Quakers will be back in action twice this week.  They will compete this Wednesday, January 6, when they swim against Alliance High School, Dover High School, and West Branch High School.  The meet is at 5:00 p.m. at the Alliance Family YMCA.  They will also be competing this Saturday, January 9, when they co-host a small-schools invitational with the Salem Athletic Boosters Club.  The meet starts at 8:00 a.m. at the Salem Community Center.