NTL SWIMMING & DIVING: WITH HIGHER NUMBERS TOWANDA HAS HIGHER EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS SEASON (2024-12-04)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
The Towanda swim team has seen their numbers swell this year, and their hopes and expectations for this season along with it.

“It’s really awesome,” coach Hannah Deacon said about having such a full pool.. “It takes me back to when I swam in school, and we had fulled lanes. The kids are really excited to have a bigger team this year.”

The boys are up to 15 swimmers as they hope to improve upon their one win during the dual meet season last year.

“Last year, when we won that one meet, the energy sort of changed in the team,” Deacon said. “I think they’re a little bit more excited this year to see what else we can do at those dual meets, and try to bring home more wins for them.”

Individually they return district qualifiers Alex Lantz, Nolan Deacon, and Brennick Lain.

Lantz was 11th in the 200 free and 500 free at the District IV Championships last season.

“I’m excited with this being my last season,” Lantz said. “I’ve set some pretty good goals I want to achieve by our first meet, and, overall, I’m really excited for this season.”

Lantz is looking to get under six minutes in the 500 free.

“I think it’s very doable with the hard training that I feel Hannah has been putting us through in these first couple of weeks,” remarked Lantz. 

Lantz is also excited for the bigger numbers.

“I feel we stand a chance to win more meets than we did last year,” he said. “Last year, with only winning one meet, I think that one win was like our turning point in our season, as our performances started to go up by the time we hit districts. This year, with having more numbers, I feel like we can win four or five meets.”

Deacon was a top 10 finisher in the 100 backstroke at districts last year, taking ninth in the event.

“My mom kind of forced me into it,” Deacon said about the event. “I’m going to focus on rotating my shoulders a little bit more, and I need better starts.”

He’s also going to try his hand at the 50 free.

Deacon is going to be excited about the fact that they can take a bus to meets, and they’ll be able to improve upon their seventh place finish at districts a year ago.

“I think we’ll be able to put more points on the board this year,” he said.

Coach Deacon is also excited to see what the newcomers can do.

“There’s a couple freshmen swimmers that are really good that I’m excited to see what they can do on the boys and girls team,” she said.

As for the returnees on the girls’ squad coach Deacon believes they’ve come into the season quite motivated.

“I think they’re a little bit more focused right now,” she said. “They know what to expect.”

One of those is junior Katelyn Blokzyl, who is excited to see nine girls on the team this year.

“It’s definitely a huge improvement, last year we only had four girls,” she said. “This year we can probably do two relays, which is really exciting. We definitely do have a chance at winning dual meets compared to what we did last year.”

She’s going to be focus on the 50 and 100 free with a district berth as her goal.

“I definitely have to do the works, and put forth my best effort,” said Blokzyl. “I definitely want to meet the district qualifying time, which is 30 (seconds), but 29 would be nice.”

Morgan Lamphere is the lone senior girls’ swimmer.

“I’m pretty excited for my final year,” she said. 

Lamphere is going to focus on the 100 and 200 free races, where she, too, would like to earn a district berth.

“I’m definitely just sticking to my routine and finishing out all my workouts,” she said.

The girls are also hoping to have three relays this year that they can take to districts.

“Our free relay was pretty good last year, so I think we’ll just stick with it,” Lamphere remarked.

Coach Deacon also has high hopes for the lone freshman on the roster.

“She has a great breaststroke so I’ll be excited to see that,” she said.

ROSTER

BOYS

Alex Lantz (12)

Clay Wrisley (12)

Sean Lauber (12)

Nolan Deacon (11)

Kenneth Carle (11)

Brennick Lain (11)

Hudson Wheaton (10)

Xander Pratt (10)

Carter Stanton (10)

Lake Strickland (10)

Matthew Weinman (9)

Shane Maghamez (9)

Nathan Little (9)

Lincoln Shanks (9)

Brayden Mattison (9)

GIRLS

Morgan Lamphere (12)

Marin Maynard (11)

Katelyn Blockzyl (11)

Alexis Shaffer (11)

Bertille Roth (11)

Kylee Barnes (10)

Dalila Vega (10)

Natalee Hicks (10)

Reagan Deacon (9)

SCHEDULE

Dec. 7 vs Shamokin, 11 a.m.

Dec. 11 at Williamsport, 4:30 p.m.

Dec. 27 at Elk Lake Invitational, 11 a.m.

Jan. 3 vs Elk Lake, 4:30 p.m.

Jan. 9 vs Athens, 4:30 p.m.

Jan. 17 at Tunkhannock Invitational, 3:30 p.m.

Jan. 18 at Tunkhannock Invitational, 8 a.m.

Jn. 21 vs Athens, Danville, 4:30 p.m.

Jan. 25 at Jersey Shore, 11 a.m.

Jan. 30 at Athens, 4:30 p.m.

Feb. 4 at Athens w/Bloomsburg, 4:30 pm.

Print Friendly Version