On Thursday night, the Connellsville swim team put up a tough fight against non-section opponent Laurel Highlands at Connellsville. But in the end, the visitors came away with two wins as the Fillies narrowly glided by the Lady Falcons 94-87 while the Mustangs beat the Falcons 95-43. The girls race was close throughout and it truly was a meet that could have gone either way. “There were a couple of close races that I was hoping to win, but we just got touched out at the end,” Connellsville coach Jim Ramey said. “That’s the way it turns on just a few events.” The Lady Falcons started strong as Chelsea Gilpin got Connellsville going with a first-place showing in the diving competition with 160.5 points. Once the swimming started, Connellsville quickly gained some momentum as Heidi Halfhill, Jessica Brdar, Marie Nedley and Emily Kozel teamed up to win the 200 medley relay (2:08.75). Nedley then followed with a win in the 200 free (2:06.56). But Laurel Highlands rallied back as Erin Perry scored a close win in the 200 individual medley (2:30.81) before Theresa Reilly posted a WPIAL qualifying time and winning time of 26.07 in the 50 free. Jeannette Mayfield then came through with a win in the 100 butterfly (1:20.19). “Reilly had two close races in the 50 and the 100,” Laurel Highlands coach Bill McCombie said. Reilly was able to take the 50 free over Halfhill, but the Connellsville swimmer came back with a win in the 100 free (57.38) to close the gap. Connellsville tightened things up even more when Nedley dominated the field for a win in the 500 free (5:30.69). The Fillies regrouped with a victory in the 200 freestyle relay (1:53) that went to Perry, Kelly Huston, Casey Martin and Reilly. Brdar got the Lady Falcons back in it with a win in the 100 back (1:13.03) while Perry countered with a win in the 100 breast (1:19.97). Connellsville closed it out with a victory in the 400 relay (4:22.62) thanks to a strong effort from Nedley, Kaylan Trimboli, Brdar and Halfhill. Although the girls didn’t win, Ramey was pleased with the team. He also pointed out that Alicia Paschke and Trimboli were able to turn in personal bests during the meet. For the Fillies, the win improves them to 5-5. The Lady Falcons fell to 2-6. “This is the tough part of the season and we were hoping to be at .500 at this point,” McCombie said. On the boys side, the Mustangs are well above .500. In fact, they are undefeated at 10-0. “I’ve been working the guys very hard,” McCombie said. “I think they are going to do very well at WPIALs and in the section.” The Mustangs won every race and earned plenty of WPIAL qualifying times in the process. Ben Bonchosky got Laurel Highlands rolling with 159.1 points in diving, which earned him a WPIAL spot. The 200 medley relay team of Alex Mundel, Steve Hunchuck, Adam Collins and Jimmy Tesauro qualified with a mark of 1:50.91. Also hitting WPIAL times were Tony Marghella, Ben Mundel, Alex Mundel and Tesauro in the 200 freestyle (1:44.41), Chris Hunchuck, Marghella, Collins and Steve Hunchuck in the 400 free relay (3:46.46), Collins in the 100 back (55.91) and the 50 free (23.19), Steve Hunchuck in the 100 breast (1:10.43) and 100 fly (1:02.53) and Chris Hunchuck in the 200 individual medley (2:17.19). Finishing second and qualifying were Marghella in the 50 free (23.43) and Ben Mundel in the 100 fly (1:03.52). Rounding out the wins for Laurel Highlands were Alex Mundel in the 200 free (2:15.66), Chris Hunchuck in the 100 free (54.87) and Ben Shinsky in the 500 freestyle (6:19.44). Although they didn’t pick up any first-place times, the Falcons (0-8) got a strong effort from Phillip Shandorf. “Phillip was 20 seconds better than his previous time in the 200 freestyle,” Ramey stated. “Jared Whoric had his best time in the backstroke and 200 individual medley. Seth Reed and Derick Reed are showing improvement.” Connellsville will host Penn Hills on Monday.

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