The Mount St. Joseph swim team captains this winter are (from left) seniors Bryn McLaughlin, Shayne McKernan and Hailey Goodyear. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

For Mount St. Joseph Academy swimmers, the two dual meets staged in the 2018 portion of the season presented a stark contrast.

On Dec. 13, the Magic lost to a perennially powerful North Penn High School team with a large and deep roster. Exactly one week later, the Mount engaged in an Athletic Association of Catholic Academies meet with the Jems of Villa Joseph Marie, which had just seven swimmers turn out for the occasion.

After seven events, longtime Mount head coach Janet Tompkins informed the meet scorers that the Magic would not accept points for the last four races, but the visiting Mounties still prevailed, 81-50.

Neither school has its own pool, and Villa Joe was hosting last Thursday’s meet at a middle school pool in Levittown. Not surprisingly, this facility was not equipped with the latest digital timing and scoring equipment, but the Mount was fortunate to have excellent record keepers in senior manager Krista Kushnerick and her 11th-grade understudy, Anna Paz.

In the first event, the 200-yard medley relay, the Mount’s top quartet featured senior captains Hailey Goodyear, Shayne McKernan and Bryn McLaughlin along with sophomore MaryKate Leonard. They won in one minute, 57.60 seconds ahead of a foursome representing the Jems, and the Mount took third place with junior Sara Collins, freshman Grace Yaegel, senior Emily Lubinski and junior Ava Solecki.

In the first individual contest, the Mount logged a one-two finish in the 200 freestyle with sophomore Maggie Mikalic (winning time – 2:01.26) and freshman Leah Manzo-McCottry. Junior Kristen O’Connor won the 200 individual medley in 2:20.47 and sophomore Katie O’Connor was third.

Back in the water after racing in the opening relay race, Mckernan captured first place in the 50 freestyle (26.68 seconds) and McLaughlin was the runner-up. Another relay racer, Goodyear, was not too tired to win the butterfly a time of 1:02.95, with Collins coming in third.

Sophomore Maura Scanlon finished first in the 100 freestyle in 58.95 seconds, with third place going to junior Mae Sweeney.

The longest event, the 500 freestyle, was next, and going one-two-three for the Mounties were Leonard (5:31.65), junior Carrie O’Connor (Kristen’s twin) and freshman Grace McDonough.

After this race, Mount St. Joseph led 81-26 in the team scoring and decided to compete on an unofficial basis the rest of the way.

Although they did not collect the first-place points, junior Holly Householder, Collins, McKernan and Kristen O’Connor won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:47.06, and in third were Yaegel, freshmen Sarah Powell and Manzo-McCottry and senior Erica Brocato.

Sydney McKernan, Shayne’s sophomore sister, took the back stroke race in 1:03.31, leading a Mount sweep that included Householder in second and freshman Ava Fricker in third. Villa Joseph Marie recorded its only actual individual victory in the breast stroke, where Yaegel was runner-up for the Magic and Katie O’Connor was third.

Wrapping things up in the 400 freestyle relay, Goodyear, McLaughlin, Lubinski and Shayne McKernan placed first in 4:03.65, but they were only 16 hundredths of a second ahead of another quartet formed by Leonard, Scanlon, Sydney McKernan and Mikalic. Coming in third were four ninth-graders, Lauren O’Malley, Olivia Forti, Powell and Manzo-McCottry.