Matthew sees ‘promise’ in Generals’ swim debut

  • Brian Questel
  • December 8, 2010
  • 267
                        
121310 WHSgirlswim Promo: Wooster girls close second in opening swim meet Matthew sees ‘promise’ in Generals’ swim debut By Brian Questel It wasn’t the sweep of years past, but that wasn’t what Wooster High girl’s swim coach Chris Matthew was focused on last Saturday. Canfield won the quadrangular meet with 169 points to get by Wooster (160) and Youngstown Boardman (141), with Warren Harding (54) bringing up the rear in Wooster’s opening night of action at Youngstown State University’s pool. Wooster won only two events, but Matthew saw plenty of promise in the outcome. “Gabrielle Sibilia did well and she’s barely swimming. She is such a competitor and she knows how to race,” said Matthew. “We were down one swimmer and our top diver, Danielle Tooley and Kara Dagley. Those two would have scored at least 10 points, so they were a big loss. To lose by only nine points tells me we could have beaten them if we would have been at full force. “Regardless, it was good opening meet. We had some great swims, particularly Gabrielle Sibilia and Madison Gingery. (Gingery’s) a competitor. She had swum a 1:23 in the 100 fly and Sunday she went 1:13.67 (to place fifth). “She was also on the ‘A’ 400 free relay and she had her best time by two seconds in her 100 free split. Gabrielle’s 26.50 won the 50 free, which is her personal best and she’s training at low yardage. She has a great future. She’s qualified for the YMCA zones the past 4-5 years, but most of all she’s a racer.” Sibilia was also part of Wooster’s only other win, joining Emily Cornelius, Michelle Sczpanski and Katelyn Persinger on the winning 200 medley relay (1:01.38), and she placed second in the 100 back (1:08.48). “That (relay) win was a nice way to start the meet,” said Matthew. ”Persinger had a great split for the first meet and was third in the 50 free.” Wooster got seconds from Kim Sibilia in the 100 fly (1:08.95), the 200 free relay of both Sibilias, Jillian Perry and Persinger (1:48.15), and the 400 free relay of Kim Sibilia, Gingery, Perry and Sczpanski (4:04.65). The Generals also had thirds from Sczpanski in the 500 free (5:50.58), Cornelius in the 200 IM (2:35.10) and 100 breaststroke (1:16.75), Perry in the 100 free (1:01.39), and Makena Rhodes in diving (126.10 points). “McKenna Rhodes last year started with an 88 and this year with a 126,” said Matthew. “When you compare first meets, that’s a huge improvement. Kylie McMichael swam all best times. Se was on all three relays … she did 28s in her 50s and a 1:03 in the 100, so she had a great meet. Sczpanski and Kim Sibilia started out solid. Both of their 200 free times were a lot faster than this time last year, so that’s a good sign. “It was a evenly matched meet with Canfield, us and Boardman,” said Matthew. “We got to see the NEAC Conference and all three of us are evenly matched. All of us have15-18 girls, so it should be a great NEAC (on Jan. 7). Canfield lost a lot of seniors and it would have been nice to have beaten them … but I know we’ll do better in our pool.”


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