Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

Streaks earn section titles Boys take share in sweep of Warwick
BY PETE KAUFFMAN, Sports Staff

They were looking for a shot at redemption. And a share of the section title.

The Manheim Township boys' swimming team got both Tuesday, handing Warwick its first loss of the season by a 97-73 margin at the Lititz recCenter.

The victory by the Blue Streaks (4-1, L-L, 7-1 overall) forged a three-way tie for the Section One crown with the Warriors (4-1, 8-1) and Hempfield (4-1, 7-1), which topped Cedar Crest 103-67 Tuesday after knocking off Township 92-91 last Wednesday.

The Township girls, on the other hand, repeated as section champs by toppling Warwick 100-70 in a meet that showed how depth plays a huge part in scholastic swimming.

The Streaks ended their dual-meet season with a perfect 5-0 mark in Section One (8-0 overall). Hempfield (4-1, 7-1), which overpowered Cedar Crest 115-55 Tuesday, finished second and Warwick (3-2, 7-2) took third.

The more tense meet of the evening turned out to be the boys' contest, where Township trailed through four events before taking the lead for good with a 1-2-4 finish from Kameron Kubicki (54.01), Cody Kalinowski (55.92) and Jordan Kalinowski (58.42) in the 100-yard butterfly.

"That really was a meet-turning event,'' MT coach Dan Graybill said of outscoring Warwick 12-4 in the fly and turning a 32-30 deficit into a 42-36 advantage.

"I knew that was one event where we had to come on strong, and the boys did.''

"We try and work hard in every event, whether it's pivotal or not,'' said Kubicki, who also won the 50 freestyle in 22.33 and was on the victorious 200 (1:32.27) and 400 (3:20.05) free relays.

"At that point (in the meet) we were still behind. We knew we needed to pick it up, and we were kind of back-loaded in the meet, so we felt we had a good chance.''

Tyler Russell followed Kubicki's win in the 100 fly by grabbing the 100 free in 49.84 and later, the 100 backstroke in 55.48, while Dan Ross won the 500 free in 4:50.37. Ross also won the 200 free in 1:44.41.

Warwick's Nick Beard won the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.75, but in that event Township took 2-3-4 and tallied its meet-clinching points by going up 87-69 with just one event remaining.

Beard previously won the 200 IM in 2:04.32, again using the strength of his breaststroke leg to overcome a fairly sizable deficit through the butterfly and backstroke components.

The Streaks used a combination of winners -- taking first in six individual events and all three relays -- and filling in with the necessary second- through fifth-place finishes.

"Because of the scoring, depth is so important in high school meets,'' said Graybill.

In scholastic duals in this area, a team can take second through fourth and outscore the team that wins and takes fifth, 9-7.

That was very evident in the girls' meet, where the Warriors won five individual events and two of the three relays, but couldn't back their front-runners with enough points.

In three of Warwick's five individual wins, Township actually came out ahead points-wise, 27-21.

"We certainly had the depth, and that factored into the outcome,'' Graybill said.

The Blue Streaks got individual wins from Katie Diller in the 200 free (1:55.69), Emily Mann in the 500 free (5:21.06) and Samantha Kegel in the 100 back (1:03.70), then closed out the night by winning the 400 free relay in 3:50.16.

Five-time state champion Emily Cameron had a big night for Warwick, taking the 200 IM in 2:06.15. She then outdueled Diller in the 100 fly, clocking 57.01 to Diller's 57.93.

Cameron was also on the winning 200 medley (1:52.91) and 200 free (1:40.99) relays. Morgan Haney was also on both of those relays, and the sprint freestyle specialist also won the 50 (24.49) and 100 (53.54) free races for Warwick. Maddie Schouten picked up Warwick's other win by going 1:10.56 in the 100 breaststroke.

pkauffman@lnpnews.com