Swimming: Eagles fly out of the blocks with a pool full of state cuts
Skyline left any doubt that they weren’t ready to rock and roll this year on the pool deck Thursday night as they came out flying – they are Eagles after all – in an impressive performance that even left usually reserved coach Maureen Murrett beaming.
“We had a big night,” Murrett said following Skyline’s season opening 122-61 victory over visiting SEC foe Temperance Bedford.
“We knew Bedford would be competitive in many races and our guys came at it with a really good mindset,” she said. “We had some breakthrough swims from our younger guys. I’m really excited about where this season will take us.”
Among the 122 points Skyline racked up where 12 state cuts from six different swimmers including two of the three relays. They not only beat Bedford, but they beat the clock all night long.
The team of all juniors – Ben Deininger, Daniel Osterholzer, Ben Kurniawan and Matthew Lee – took first in the opening medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 38.63 seconds. Skyline’s team of Nick Cordell, Conor Pyle, Soren Nielsen and Onat Ozer touched third in 1:55.90.
The Eagles took the top three spots in the 200 free with junior Evan McKelvey first (1:47.83), Andrew Xi second (1:55.62) and Daniel Koselka third (1:59.74).
Ben Kurniawan won the 200 IM in 1:59.46 with freshman Lucas Caswell second in 2:02.23.
Matthew Lee was second in the 50 free (22.13) and Jack Staunton was third (23.78) for the Eagles.
In diving, Skyline sophomores Charlie Andrew-Vaughan (second, 156.45 points) and Soren Nielsen (third, 129.55) brought home seven points for the Eagles.
Ben Kurniawan returned to the winner’s circle in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.67. John Evangelista was fourth (1:02.83) for the Eagles.
Skyline went one-two in the 100 free with Lee (47.87) and McKelvey (48.95).
Xi, only a freshman, took second in the 500 free with a time of 5:13.98. Owen Schadler was third (5:48.17) and Nick Cordell was fourth (6:01.31).
Skyline went one-two in the 200-free relay. The team of McKelvey, Staunton, Ben Edlund and Koselka took first in 1:34.63 and the team of Pyle, Lewis McCammon, Evangelista and Schadler was second in 1:40.93.
Deininger was second (55.69), Lucas Caswell was third (56.34) and Chris Kurniawan was fourth (58.75) in the backstroke.
Osterholzer won the breaststroke in 1:01.64. Staunton was third (1:07.36) and Pyle touched fourth (1:08.11).
The Skyline team of Lee, McKelvey, Ben Kurniawan and Lucas Caswell won the 400 free relay in 3:18.76. The team of Koselka, Schadler, Chris Kurniawan and Deininger was third in 3:45.92.
