Falcons Swim Big in Finals

It was a case of David against Goliath when St. Matthew’s boys’ swim team competed in the Junior Delphic League Championships last Saturday at Oaks Christian School in Westlake and David gave a good account of himself. When all of the points were totaled the Falcons sat in second place out of eight schools, behind only powerhouse Harvard-Westlake. Meanwhile, St. Matthew’s girls finished eighth overall out of 10 schools Perhaps the Falcons’ most impressive stat was that 37 of the 40 sixth, seventh and eighth-graders on their roster competed. Including fifth-graders, who are not eligible for the championships, the team has 61 members. “This is an outstanding accomplishment for our team and our program, going up against much larger schools,” Athletic Director Andy Bernstein said, speaking on behalf of coaches Sarah Newman, Eric Butler and Bruce Harlan. “We’re very proud of all of our swimmers.” In the boys’ 200 medley relay, St. Matthew’s foursome of Matt Chen, Nick Edel, Alexander Landau, and Alex Kahn took first place and bettered their seed time by four seconds. The Falcons’ 100 medley relay (Matt Douglas, Kieran Sheridan, Brandon Kupfer, and Kurt Kirschner) took third, as did the 100 freestyle relay (Kupfer, Sheridan, Matt Moses and Kirschner). Scoring points by swimming ninth in the event was the team of James Mann, Andrew Jones, Douglas and Eric Rosendahl. The 200 freestyle relay (Chen, Kahn, Landau and Edel) brought home the runner-up ribbon. Individually, Landau took first place and Kupfer was fourth in the 25 butterfly and Chen won the 25 backstroke. Nick Edel won the 100 individual medley and was second in the 50 freestyle, Kahn was fifth in the 100 freestyle (lowering his time by three seconds) and eighth in the 50 freestyle. Chen was third in the 100 individual medley and Sheridan was sixth in the 25 backstroke. For the girls, Courtney Carswell swam second in the 25 backstroke and Amy Nadal was 10th in the event. Carswell also finished fourth in the 100 individual medley. The 100 medley relay team of Charlotte Notaras, Amelia Green, Brooke Reese, and Liza Wong was ninth; the 100 freestyle relay (Alex Jackson, Reese, Brianna Kupfer and Taylor Pecsok was ninth and the Falcons’ 200 freestyle relayers (Carswell, Maggie Adair, Nadal and Alessandra Laurent) placed seventh.