Franklin Regional swimming team has new coach, youthful squad

By: Paul Schofield
Saturday, December 16, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Franklin Regional has a new swimming coach, and he’s inherited a young team.

Dan Taylor, who recently coached at Fox Chapel, takes over for Vic Santoro, who resigned after the 2022-23 season.

Taylor is a teacher in the Franklin Regional School District at the middle school. He once served as an assistant with Santoro.

“When Vic stepped down, I decided to come back,” Taylor said. “Teaching in the district made it easy.”

Seniors Holden Thomas and Ben Holm return after qualifying for the PIAA Class 3A championships. Both were on the winning 200-yard medley relay team with Aiden Bunker and Jason Tosh. They also competed in the 200 freestyle relay that placed second.

Bunker finished third in the 200 IM and 13^th in the 100 breaststroke.

The boys team finished seventh in the state. They were also section champions.

Thomas competes in numerous events but specializes in the 100 backstroke, the 100 butterfly and the sprints. He placed fourth in the PIAA in the 100 backstroke.

Holm also competes in numerous events, including the 100 butterfly, 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle.

“The boys will do OK,” Taylor said. “I’m counting on Holden and Ben to have big years and lead the way.”

Taylor said junior Eric Lingg, sophomore Peter Ducruet and freshman Lucas Oates will be key contributors.

Lingg competes in the 200 and 500 freestyle events, Ducruet competes in the 100 freestyle and Oates competes in the breaststroke.

“I’m excited to see what Lucas will bring,” Taylor said. “Peter is very versatile, and Eric can do a lot of things.

“We graduated a lot of good swimmers from both teams. But these kids are very coachable, hungry and anxious to compete. They’ll do well.”

The boys and girls teams compete in Section 1-3A with Armstrong, Latrobe, Hempfield, Norwin and Penn-Trafford.

Others hoping to contribute are seniors Abram Spinola and Dylan Tometsko; juniors Carson Elchick, Joe Kvocak and Mackinley Miller; sophomores Eliot Chen, Max Weber and Christopher Wu; and freshmen Jordan Duffield, Ben Kvocak, Ralston Schneider, Andrew Silvis and Thomas Westerman.

Miller and freshman Joshua Underwood are the team’s divers.

The biggest loss for the girls was the graduation of Paityn Blakley, who competed in the 100 breaststroke.

The girls’ squad features seven talented freshmen, led by Aidan Holm and Scarlett Zolnak. Sophomore Amelia Oates will be another key contributor.

Junior Kate Bunker is back along with sophomore Maggie Hull.

Bunker is a team captain. She will compete in the breaststroke and 200 IM.

Franklin Regional has no senior swimmers on the girls’ squad.

Others hoping to contribute are juniors Ruby Bandli, Addison Boswell and Geya Prasad; sophomores Meagan Doorley, Anna Sechrist and Kayla Staley; and freshmen Phoebe Boswell, Rebecca Burgess, Jamie Kociela, Kendyl Kurimsky and Caroine Shirley.

The divers are seniors Kate Lowe, Olivia Motkowski, Linzi Shaffer and Alayna Stroup; junior Sydney Nguyen; sophomore Emma Klinger; and freshman Lilyana DePaolo.

“All the girls are young, hard working and they are going to be good in the coming years,” Taylor said. “They have a lot of quickness.”

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional