HS Swimming: Blue Mountain soars by Pottsville in battle of boys’ contenders
Blue Mountain's Brody Moyer, right, and Pottsville's John Mohl, left, get set to compete in the 100-yard butterfly during their Schuylkill League dual meet Thursday at the Glen Belmont Natatorium (Photo by Leroy Boyer).
ORWIGSBURG — It’s the dual meet the Blue Mountain boys’ swim team circles on its calendar every season: Pottsville.
The Eagles were ready for it Thursday.
Porter Sarnes, Gabe Kamarousky and Brody Moyer paced a balanced attack as Blue Mountain soared past Pottsville 115-62 in a Schuylkill League boys’ swimming clash of title contenders at the Glen Belmont Natatorium.
Sarnes and Kamarousky each won two individual events and Moyer had a hand in three of the Eagles’ seven straight event wins to close the meet.
The win improves Blue Mountain to 3-0 overall, 3-0 in league play. The Eagles girls completed the sweep with a 135-37 rout of the Crimson Tide.
“They’re our rival,” Porter Sarnes said. “It feels good to beat them.”
Added Moyer: “It was a very good meet for all of us. We had a few PRs there.”
Blue Mountain entered the season favored to win an eighth straight Schuylkill League crown, with Pottsville the top challenger.
The difference Thursday was simply the Eagles had more swimmers than the Crimson Tide. Blue Mountain head coach Pete Sarnes was able to balance his lineup from top to bottom. The Eagles not only won events, they also took the top two spots five times.
In the end, it was too much for Pottsville to overcome.
“I’m super pleased,” Pete Sarnes said. “The boys’ team is working super hard. I do have that advantage that almost every boy on the team can swim any event that I have for them. They’ve had great training in age group and that training alone let them to be able to swim all four strokes.
“I’m fortunate that I have that kind of depth and get that kind of versatility out of a lineup.”
Pottsville (1-1, 1-1 SL) gave the Eagles a good fight early.
The quartet of Ashton Maroukis, Killian Bressler, John Mohl and Noah Bevan won the 200-yard medley relay and Bevan edged Moyer to win the 50 freestyle.
When Adam Klinger, Colin Kline and Spencer Prestileo finished 1-2-3 in diving, the Crimson Tide trailed just 39-33.
“These guys get up,” Pete Sarnes said. “It’s Pottsville. Every year they have solid swimmers. These guys look forward to this meet because they know they’re going to be pushed hard.
“Everyone throws it all down for this meet.”
That’s when Blue Mountain took over.
Moyer won the 100 fly, Kamarousky and Zach Scala went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle and Sarnes and Liam Magdeburg went 1-2 in the 500 freestyle. The three-race blitz gave Blue Mountain a 73-46 lead.
“I was a little disappointed with my 50,” Moyer said of his event. “I breathed right before the flags, which kind of slowed me down. I think that’s why I didn’t win.
“In the 100 fly, it was a time I was looking for right now, especially at this time of the season. Getting a 56 is big. It’s good to have this time this early. Hopefully I can keep improving over the season and hopefully win districts this year in the 100 fly.”
Blue Mountain didn’t stop there, winning every event the rest of the way.
Aidan Varney, Kamarousky, Scala and Moyer took first in the 200 free relay, Scala captured the 100 backstroke and Seth Nestor paced a 1-2-3 sweep of the 100 breaststroke.
The Eagles’ foursome of Kamarousky, Varney, Sarnes and Moyer capped the meet with a convincing win in the 400 freestyle relay.
“We have very good depth on our team,” Moyer said. “We work hard every day to improve and get faster so meets like this, where it might be close after diving, we pull away after and have scores like that on the scoreboard.”
On the girls’ side, Isabella Lafko (200 free, 500 free) and Alayna Hensel (100 free, 100 breast) each won two individual events and swam on two winning relays as the Eagles (3-0, 2-0 SL) dominated from start to finish.
Molly Stone (200 IM), Hailey Scheuer (diving) and Caityln Seidel (100 fly) added wins for Blue Mountain. Gianna Laselva (50 free, 100 back) won twice for Pottsville (0-2, 0-2).
