The Crusader

The swimmers on the Lansdale Catholic 2011-2012 swim team are a dedicated group. They are up between 4:45 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. to practice at the North Penn YMCA. The head coach of the Lansdale Catholic swim team is Mr. Bob Birnbrauer. During each practice, they easily swim over a mile. They have many focuses at practice, including four different strokes, flip-turns, dives, and ways to improve their speed. Maura Conley, a senior, said “My favorite Mr. B. quote is ‘pop up like a fresh daisy.’ I don’t know what it means, but it made me swim faster.” Throughout the season, they constantly work to improve their times, hoping they will make it to the Districts meet.

Although the boys swim team had no wins, and the girls’ team had three wins, one against Cardinal O’Hara, one against St. Hubert’s, and one against Little Flower, many of our swimmers did very well in their races. Julia Young, a senior, stated “The swimmers on the team have put their heart into making it to Districts this year. Many have succeeded.” Due to the consistent effort put forth by the swimmers, 18 made it to the district meet. As a tradition to get ready for the District meet, the boys dye their hair blond the week before the meet and a few days before the meet, they completely shave their head. Below is a list of the events that Lansdale Catholic qualified for, who swam, and what place they came in:

Girls

• 200 Yard Medley Relay

o Nicole Marshall, Maura Conley, Mary Anne Wietecha, Katie Murphy – 2nd

• 200 Yard Freestyle

o Katie Murphy – 2nd

o Amanda Matylewicz – 3rd

o Mary Cate Coyle – 4th

• 200 Yard IM

o Nicole Marshall – 1st

o Maura Conley – 4th

• 50 Yard Freestyle

o Mary Ann Wietecha – 2nd

o Erin Noonan – 6th

o Dana Salanik – 7th

• 100 Yard Butterfly

o Mary Ann Wietecha – 2nd

o Mary Murphy – 5th

• 100 Yard Freestyle

o Mary Cate Coyle – 3rd

o Dana Salanik – 6th

• 500 Yard Freestyle

o Katie Murphy – 1st

o Amanda Matylewicz – 4th

• 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

o Mary Ann Wietecha, Mary Cate Coyle, Katie Murphy, Nicole Marshall – 2nd

• 100 Yard Backstroke

o Nicole Marshall – 2nd

• 100 Yard Breaststroke

o Maura Conley – 2nd

o Mary Murphy – 4th

• 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

o Mary Cate Coyle, Mary Murphy, Amanda Matylewicz, Maura Conley – 2nd

Boys

• 200 Yard Medley Relay

o Conor Plasha, Conor McCann, Harry Kulik, Dylan Yurasits – 3rd

• 200 Yard IM

o Dang Khoa Tran – 2nd

• 50 Yard Freestyle

o Dylan Yurasits – 7th

o Conor Plasha – 10th

o Harry Kulik – 11th

• 100 Yard Freestyle

o Conor Plasha – 7th

• 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

o Dang Khoa Tran, Dylan Yurasits, Harry Kulik, Conor Plasha – 3rd

• 100 Yard Breaststroke

o Dang Khoa Tran – 1st

• 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

o Dang Khoa Tran, Harry Kulik, Brian Lockhart, Conor McCann – 3rd

Diving

Dylan Yurasits placed 1st for the 1 meter dive.

States

Lansdale Catholic had two swimmers qualifying for states. Katie Murphy qualified for the 500 Yard Freestyle and placed 32nd in the state. Dylan Yurasits qualified for the 1 meter diving and placed 8th in the state.

A special thank you to Julia Young, Maura Conley, Conor Plasha, and Dang Khoa Tran for providing information used in this article.