Shady Side Academy swimmers look to maintain momentum after successful season

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 14, 2018 | 8:06 PM

The 2017-18 season was a highly successful one for the Shady Side Academy swim teams.

The girls finished 12-0, won the Section 3-AA crown, claimed the WPIAL team championship and finished fifth at states. The boys ended up with a 9-3 record and were section runners-up. They finished sixth at WPIALs.

“As usual, we will have big shoes to fill this year,” SSA coach John Landreth said. “We lost seven of the 12 swimmers who went to the state meet last year. Christian Taylor, Sevryn Napora, Lindsey and Heather Grune, Sasha Arefyev, Meredith Cummings and Jeanne Lauer all graduated. But, also as usual, I am confident that our team will find its own identity as the year progresses and work together towards success one lap at a time. We return many strong letter winners, and another year of learning and time drops will certainly transpire.”

Seniors returning for the girls are Nicole Jani (sprint freestyle), Sophia McMahon (sprint freestyle) and Marie Kim (backstroke, freestyle). Juniors are Kat Bennett, WPIAL relay champion Maya Groff (breaststroke) and Phee Marquette (butterfly, freestyle). Sophomore Ashley Chu (freestyle) also returns.

Promising newcomers include seniors Cat Jegasothy (free) and Gabby White (free), sophomores Emory Anderson (free, fly) and Dorothea Geroulakos (free, back) and freshmen Alexandra Jaffe (free, fly), Kira Myers (free), Crystal Ma (breaststroke, IM) and Sophia White (free).

Seniors on the boys team are WPIAL relay champ Adrian Beckford (sprint free), WPIAL and PIAA qualifier Will Engel (fly, free), Trent Fuller (fly, sprint, free), Jonathan Hung (free, breast), WPIAL relay champion Nick Lauer (free), Eliseo Salazar (back, free) and Thomas Spiker (free, fly).

Returning juniors are Akshay Amesur (back, IM), WPIAL and PIAA qualifier Sean Kelley (free, fly) and Andrew Meyers (sprint, free). Sophomores Adam Lauer (free) and Rory Engel (free, breast) also return.

Landreth is hoping for contributions from Andrew Liu (breast, IM), Stefan Stratimirovic (free, fly), both sophomores, and freshmen Jeffrey Patterson (free) and Anish Kusumanchi (free).

“It will certainly be a year of learning,” Landreth said. “Hopefully, we can work to be a balanced team through the lineup.”

“We will certainly focus on growing some sprint freestylers again this year as this is the most important stroke for success in high school dual meets. We have good numbers again, so working together to be the best team we can be will be important starting with our first meet.

“Our dual meet success will be challenging as we learn where our strengths lie. Certainly our section meets with Northgate, North Catholic and Deer Lakes for both squads will be good tests of where we are. Hopefully, we can work thoughtfully and cooperatively to qualify a full complement to the WPIAL meet this season and potentially get a relay or two and a few individuals to the state meet again.”

Marty Stewart is a freelance writer.

Tags: Shady Side Academy