Redeemer German girls use their depth to sink Prep
Battling what’s sure to be its top competition at the district level, Holy Redeemer German girls swimming and diving coach Mara Pawlenok couldn’t help but highlight the youngest members of the team.
Wyoming Valley West’s Brianna Gaylets swims the breaststroke on Thursday afternoon.
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The Royals’ depth panned out for the reigning District 2 Class 2A champions Thursday at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center. Redeemer utilized its depth and its youth for a 102-81 victory over Scranton Prep in Wyoming Valley Conference interdivisional showdown.
Redeemer’s boys team shared a similar outcome. After Prep crawled to within 10 points, the Royals managed to put away the Cavaliers in the final three races for a 95-71 victory, thanks to the efforts of some of their underclassmen.
In the German girls meet, Prep’s Mia Nonnenberg broke her District 2 record in the 200 IM with the time of 2:07.52. Her previous record time was 2:08.40. She also clocked in at 1:00.99 in the 100-yard backstroke, defeating last year’s district champion Julie Ann Mahle of Redeemer for her second individual win of the night.
Facing arguably the fastest individual swimmers in the district, the Royals girls team managed a victory by consistently taking the second- and third-place points. Scranton Prep claimed the top spot in nine of the 12 races, forcing Pawlenok to rely on her team’s depth to pull out the victory.
“Your depth counts in meets like this,” said Pawlenok. “They managed to win quite a few events, but we tell our kids all the time everybody on the team counts here. It’s a team sport and everybody counts.”
Pawlenok underlined the efforts of freshmen Melissa Cruz, Mallory Kusakavitch and Stephanie McCole, all of whom scratched out seconds off their times. Cruz was part of a first-place 400 free relay team that sealed the meet. Kusakavitch fought for third in the 100 breast.
“On the other hand, our new kids made leaps and bounds today,” said Pawlenok. “They dropped their times like crazy. Those were a few swimmers that really picked it up with their performance today.”
The Royals also received first-place finishes from Elizabeth Finnegan in the 50 free. Olivia Vitali posted the top score in diving with a 198.65. Alexa Kalafut, Lucy Reilly and Kellen Katra joined Cruz on the winning 400 free relay.
Similar to last year’s district meet, Prep combated its low numbers with exemplary times. Nonnenberg, Katie Voitek and Rebekah Campo each won two individual events.