TOWAMENCIN- It’s early in the swimming season, but that doesn’t mean that the North Penn Swimming and Diving Team isn’t already making a big splash. In a coed dual meet against Council Rock North, the North Penn girls won 102-75 and the boys won 97-80.

“It’s exciting to see them finally compete in a swim meet; we have been training since early November, and we are finally getting to see the fruits of our kids’ labors,” said Head Coach Jeff Faikish.

The NP girls started the meet with a winning time of 1:49.77 in the 200 yard relay, consisting of Megan Zartman, Kailyn Evans, Claudia Thamm, and Caroline Dunigan. Their relay was followed by Council Rock North’s Julia Goroshko, Katie Erlandsen, Ellie Brandbergh, and Jacqueline Rounsavil, which swam a 1:53.41 relay time, beating the North Penn B team by less than half a second.

The NP boys dominated the 200 relay and had two teams finish before Council Rock North had one. NP’s winning team swam a 1:38.77 relay with Ryan Hartmann, Sean Fakish, Noah Jamieson, and anchor Derek Friday.

After the 200 relay, the girls mounted the blocks for the 200 yard freestyle race. NP swept the race with Abbey Greene placing third (2:08.48) and Caroline Dunigan (2:00.88) finishing just behind Maureen Boland Bintner (2:00.66), who placed first.

In the boys 200 yard freestyle, NP’s Eric Degodny and Derek Friday placed first and second followed by Brandon Heese of Council Rock North placing third (1:50.56, 1:51.45, 1:52.02).

Even as NP was winning many events, Coach Faikish noted that self improvement was more of a focus for the team.

“We like to look at where our athletes were at this point in the season last year, and compared to where we were last year, we are looking very good,” said Fakish.

NP sophomore Claudia Thamm left competition in the dust swimming the 200 yard IM and winning by eleven seconds (2:08.23). NP’s Caroline Gillespie earned second place in the race with a time of 2:19.11, and Council Rock North’s Katie Erlandsen earned third with a time of 2:23.77.

The boys 200 yard IM was a much closer race with only about two seconds separating the top three finishers. NP’s Ryley Fein touched the wall first, followed by NP’s Nico Kontroubis, and then Council Rock North’s Ryan Lawlor (2:04.76, 2:06.82, 2:08.12).

Council Rock North saw its first winning event in the 50 yard freestyle where Jacqueline Rounsavill won with a time of 24.75. She was followed by NP’s Rosalinda Rivera (24.93) and Megan Zartman (25.31).

The boys 50 yard freestyle was won by NP’s Ryan Hartmann, who swam a 22.89. The times between second and third place were extremely close, but it was Council Rock North’s Blake Eshelman who snagged second place and NP’s Aidan Daly who settled for third (23.03, 23.14).

Following the freestyle, the girls got ready for the 100 yard butterfly. NP earned first and second place from Kailyn Evans (58.38) and Haley Muth (1:01.56), and Council Rock North earned third from Ellie Brandbergh (1:04.56).

Sean Faikish of NP won the boys 100 yard butterfly, and he was followed by a close finish from Council Rock North’s Davis Wojnovich and his teammate, Eric Degodny (53.03, 56.13, 56.89).

Rosalinda Rivera came back from placing second in the 50 yard freestyle to placing first in the 100 yard freestyle in a neck and neck finish with Council Rock North’s Julia Goroshko and teammate Maureen Boland Bintner (55.49, 55.69, 55.90).

The NP boys took a close first and second place in the 100 yard freestyle with Noah Jamieson (49.11) and Ryan Hartmann (49.18), and they were followed by Council Rock North’s Blake Eshelman (51.14).

In the 500 yard freestyle, the NP girls swept the race. Kailyn Evans won with a lead of almost 30 seconds on her teammates Maddy Koerper and Haley Muth (5:12.93, 5:41.41, 5:44.21).

“Kailyn swam phenomenally today, and the 500 freestyle isn’t even her [main] event. That’s what makes our team so awesome and unique; we are versatile and we have depth,” said Faikish.

For the boys’ 500 yard freestyle NP’s Sean Fakish held a lead of over 45 seconds on second and third place (4:43.21, CRN Houska 5:24.43, NP Henry 5:33.12).

Sean Faikish’s uncle is Coach Faikish, who was proud to learn that his nephew swam a 500 freestyle time that was equivalent to a time that he himself swam during his competition days.

The girls’ 200 yard freestyle relay was a tight race between NP and Council Rock North with only a second between their finishing times. NP’s Caroline Dunigan, Parker Schulz, Rosalinda Rivera, and anchor Claudia Thamm came out on top with a time of 1:39.90.

The NP boys also took first place in the 200 yard freestyle relay with Ryley Fein, Derek Friday, Aidan Daly, and anchor Noah Jamieson swimming a 1:30.42 race.

In the 100 yard backstroke, NP’s Megan Zartman won with an impressive lead of roughly five seconds (58.53). The second place finisher was Ellie Brandbergh of Council Rock North, and third place was Maeve Wydan of NP (1:03.16, 1:07.06).

Aidan Daly won the boys’ 100 yard backstroke and was followed by Council Rock North’s Zach Birkbeck and Trevor Johnson (55.02, 59.94, 1:02.36).

Caroline Gillespie managed to edge out Council Rock North’s Katie Erlandsen in a win of 1:12.05 to 1:12.62 in the girls’ 100 yard breaststroke. Emily Booth of Council Rock North placed third with a time of 1:16.66.

As for the boys’ 100 yard breaststroke, Ryley Fein dominated the competition with a win of roughly 9 second on his opponents (1:02.52). Second and third place were captured by Council Rock North’s Jonathan Heller and Parker Galley (1:11.66, 1:12.91).

In the final event of the night, the NP girls won the 400 yard freestyle relay by over 10 seconds with a time of 3:40.30. The boys’ team also won the relay with a time of 3:23.84.

“There is a lot of work ahead of us. In this sport, it takes a lot of practice to see fractions of improvements or tenths of a second. It’s going to take a lot of perseverance now that we are back into the training grind. I’m excited to see that the potential of this team is,” said Faikish.