The Pinkerton Academy boys’ swim team used its impressive depth and some excellent individual performances to rise to the very top of the tough Division I pack earlier this year. And the Lady Astro swimmers registered a top-10 finish at the D-I girls’ state championship meet that same day.
Now as the 2015-16 campaign gets going, the defending D-I champion PA boys find themselves aiming to defend their crown with a slew of battle-tested veterans and promising newcomers doing the hard work, and the Lady Astros are poised to try to move closer to a D-I title themselves.
Coach Ed Faszewski is once again running both contingents, and there appears to be expectations of success from both academy contingents.
BOYS
The Astro guys collected their first state championship since 2008 this past February by tallying a team score of 216, outdistancing runner-up Exeter (182).
Key returnees from that title-winning troop are junior Zachary Denbow – who won the 100-meter breaststroke at the D-I championship meet – and his fellow point-getter senior Bernard Suwirjo.
Denbow will be a significant competitor in the individual medley and the breast-stroke, and Suwirjo is expected to keep bagging points in the distances and freestyle events.
Other important returnees include seniors Evan Boisse (breast-stroke and individual medley), Mitch Williams (freestyle), Nick Botnick (freestyle), Zach Botnick (butterfly/backstroke), Tyler Boyle (distances, freestyle), Dylan Gerlach (butterfly), and Matt Allard (freestyle); juniors Addison Carder-Cannillo (individual medley/butterfly), Kyle Brown (backstroke/ freestyle), and Matt Payan (freestyle), and sophomores Gordon Suwirjo (butterfly/ IM) and Chris Ploss (backstroke/breast-stroke).
The squad’s promising newcomers include senior Christian Arrell (distances/ freestyle/butterfly), sophomore Nathan Landry (freestyle), and freshmen Christian Nelson (backstroke/ breast-stroke), Jackson Neeb (freestyle), and Raymond Davis (freestyle).
When asked what his team’s keys will be toward continued success, coach Faszewski said, “Developing depth so that we may have four qualifiers in each event.”
GIRLS
Present senior Nicole Beals and junior Hannah Terry were both true stalwarts for their Lady Astros’ crew all last winter, and that success continued on through the D-I championship meet. Both return this season with aims of contributing in multiple events once again.
Among the squad’s other key returnees are seniors Jocelyn Hutchinson (backstroke/butterfly), Elizabeth Preble (distances/freestyle), Nicole Driscoll (freestyle), and Madisyn Gordon (freestyle/breast-stroke), junior Meghan Kimball (distances/freestyle), and sophomores Danielle Roy (freestyle), Skyler Eno (backstroke/freestyle), and McKenzie Clark (backstroke/ freestyle).
The team’s promising newcomers include freshmen Olivia Neville (freestyle/backstroke), Catherine Stariknok (butterfly/breast-stroke), Madison Young (freestyle), Sydney Devine (freestyle), Kelsey Wilbur (freestyle), and Samantha Knight (freestyle).
Coach Faszewski felt that the girls’ team’s keys to a successful 2015-16 campaign include, “Developing a large crop of incoming freshmen who have shown potential in the first weeks of practice.”
