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Despite losing several strong seniors last year, the Avonworth/Northgate Girls’ swim team continues a tradition of excellence. “I think they definitely felt a piece of that [the graduating seniors] missing, but obviously it’s evidenced by their levels of success that they carried the torch pretty well,” says Avonworth’s athletic director Andrea Patton.
The girls’ swim team finished another winning season with an overall record of 10-1-1 and a section record of 6-0-1 to clinch their section title.
They also had a very successful WPIAL run, coming in 2nd place overall, with “lots of great individual performances,” according to Ms. Patton.
The 400 freestyle relay team (Amelia Hardiman, Elise Nardozzi, Kendall McKelvey, and Catrina Raich) won 2nd place, and the 200 freestyle relay team (Amelia Hardiman, Elise Nardozzi, Kendall McKelvey, and Izzy Schuster) won 3rd place. Both teams qualified for the PIAA championships.
The girls’ team also had great individual success at WPIALs. Lilia Mackenzie, one of the school’s first female divers, won 7th place and just missed the cutoff for states. Amelia Hardiman won 2nd place in the 500 freestyle and 3rd in the 200 freestyle, qualifying for states in both events. Graduating senior Catrina Raich also qualified for states in the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle.
Elise Nardozzi won 2nd place in the 100 freestyle and the 200 freestyle, and Ms. Patton says that “Elise definitely has a chance of earning back her title at the PIAA tournament so we’re excited to see if she picks that up again in either the 100 or the 200 freestyle.”
Ms. Patton also notes that there is a “tradition of excellence and a tradition of winning” for the team and that “the storyline for them is one of incredible success, even if they don’t get as much noise as some of our other programs.”
