ATHENS RETURNS A SLEW OF DISTRICT QUALIFIERS IN 202
By: Tim Birney / January 14, 2021 / Photo: Chris Manning
ATHENS — Coming off NTL championship seasons, both Athens swim teams
return a host of District 4 qualifiers, and look to be very competitive
in 2021.
“We have some solid swimmers on the boys and girls team —
several district qualifiers, who are normally year-round swimmers,”
said Athens boys coach Mark Keister.
“We do have a couple of
swimmers who were top-10 point-earners and district qualifiers that
decided not to come out this season.
“The remaining swimmers
are getting a good amount of attention and working hard to catch up in
this ‘short’ season,” added Keister.
The boys were 7-3 last
season, and return seniors Lucas Aquilio, Zac Gowin, Mason Henderson,
and Joe Toscano, who were all District 4 qualifiers, as well as juniors
Reuven Gifeisman, and sophomores Chris DeForest and Ethan Denlinger —
also District qualifiers.
The newcomers are senior Asher Ellis and freshman Joe Blood.
“Asher (Ellis) is a good athlete,” said Keister. “He’ll likely swim freestyle and breaststroke.”
The Lady Wildcats also return a slew of District qualifiers, led by sophomore Taegan Williams.
“(Taegan)
broke the 500 free school-record at Districts,” said Keister. “She has
the potential to break additional records this year.”
Also
returning are seniors Kaitlin Kisner and Raven Gardner, sophomore Mea
Abbott, Taylar Fisher, and Allison Thoman, and well as senior divers
Emma Roe, who finished fourth at Districts, and Katie Lynch.
The
Lady Wildcats also have a long list of newcomers, including sophomore
Meltem VanHelder, and freshmen Macaria Benjamin, Grace Cobb, Rebecca
Gifeisman, Emily Henderson,
Madelyn Jones, Isabella Potter and Emily Marshall.
“Our newcomers have good potential that may produce a couple district qualifiers,” Keister said.
Keister is also excited there will be a postseason.
“We got word recently that we will have secured a district championship meet site this year and plans for States,” he said.
“We
will again compete at Bloomsburg for diving — boys and girls split
morning and afternoon as normal — and Williamsport High School for
swimming, but the boys and girls meet will be separate days.
“Another new thing is a virtual swim meet. We will be able to compete with any team in the Commonwealth,” added Keister.
Athens opens the season today at Towanda.
About the Author
Tim Birney
Tim Birney is the founder / owner of River Road Media Group. He was born and raised in the Valley, graduating from Waverly High School in 1984.
Birney earned an Associate's Degree in Journalism from SUNY Morrisville in 1986 and a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism / Public Relations from Utica College of Syracuse University in 1988. He began his newspaper career at The Daily Review in Towanda in 1989, before moving on to The Evening Times in 1995. He spent more than 10 years at the Times, the last four as Managing Editor.
River Road Media Group includes five sites in "The Sports Reports" family that cover 24 school districts in five counties: Valley Sports Report (launched Aug. 10, 2009), Tioga County (NY) Sports Report (Aug. 13, 2018), and Northern Tier Sports Report (Aug. 31, 2020); Northern Tier West Sports Report (March 15, 2021) Southern Tier Sports Report (Aug. 16, 2021).
