Orchard Park boys swimming – Sectional final qualifiers – from left: Connor Maloney, Jon Wardner, Liam Hoover, Nolan McArdle, Brian Manley, Kyle Myers, Zach Healy. Not pictured: Divers Jake Oritz and Gordon Holden

The highlight for Orchard Park at the Section VI swimming and diving championships held at Clarence High School, Saturday, Feb. 16 was the team’s 200 Yard Freestyle Relay of Nolan McArdle, Brian Manley, Liam Hoover and Zach Healy earning a second place finish and clinching a berth in the state championship to be held at Webster-Schroeder in Rochester, Thursday, Feb. 28.

The foursome finished the race with a time of 1 minute, 30.04 seconds.

Here are other results from the finals:

200 Yard Medley Relay
Nolan McArdle, Connor Maloney, Brian Manley, Zach Healy – 3rd place – 1:42.65

200 Yard Individual Medley
Liam Hoover – 2nd place – 2:01.00
Kyle Myers – 11th place – 2:12.67

Diving
Jake Ortiz – 5th place – 341.50 points
Gordon Holden – 8th place – 314.90 points

100 Yard Butterfly
Liam Hoover – 4th place – 55.49
Brian Manley – 15th place – 58.34

100 Yard Freestyle
Zach Healy – 3rd place – 50.00

100 Yard Backstroke
Nolan McArdle – 4th place – 56.82

100 Yard Breast
Jon Wardner – 13th place – 1:07.38
Connor Maloney – 15th place – 1:08.15

400 Yard Freestyle Relay
Healy, McArdle, Manley, Hoover – 3rd place – 3:20.89

Orchard Park came out on top of Clarence in what is surely the greatest swimming rivalry in boys swimming.

The Quakers won 9 of 12 events to defeat the visiting Red Devils, 104-82, at the OPHS pool Friday.

“I had no idea what the outcome was going to be,” said Nolan McArdle. “All of our guys really stepped it up.”

Orchard Park fell to Clarence in each of the last two seasons, including a one-point loss last season.

“It feels great,” McArdle said of winning the rivalry. “Every sport with Orchard Park and Clarence is great. It’s really competitive.”

Liam Hoover captured a win in the 200 individual medley (2:07.26) in OP’s 104-82 win over rival Clarence Friday. Photo / James Goller

Results from the meet:

200 medley relay:
OP – 1st – Nolan McArdle (back), Connor Maloney (breast), Brian Manley (fly), Liam Hoover (free) – 1:42.96
200 free: OP – 2nd – Zach Healy – 1:53.85 (Just 0.02 behind leader – 1:53.83)
200 individual medley: OP -1st – Liam Hoover – 2:07.26
50 free: OP – 1st – Nolan McArdle – 23.10
Diving: OP – 1st – Gordon Holden; 2nd – Jake Ortiz
100 fly: OP – 2nd – Brian Manley – 57.61
100 free: OP – 1st – Zach Healy – 50.38
500 free: OP – 1st – Liam Hoover – 5:17.75
200 free relay: OP – 1st – Nolan McArdle, Brian Manley, Jesse Field, Zach Healy – 1:34.20
100 back: OP – 1st – Nolan McArdle – 57.78
100 breast: OP – 2nd – Jon Wardner; 3rd – Connor Maloney
400 free relay: OP – 1st – Jackson Hogan, Zach Healy, Kyle Myers, Liam Hoover – 3:31.04

Gordon Holden dive:

View the entire photo gallery

Four Quakers reached the New York State Girls Swimming Championships held at Ithaca College on Nov. 16-17.

Freshman Andrea Ernst returned to the state meet to compete in the 100 butterfly. After finishing first (58.5 seconds) at the Section VI Championships, Ernst finished in fifth place at the state meet (57.80). She finished in ninth place (58.35) last season as an eighth grader.

Junior Amanda Ernst earned a 19th place finish in the 50 free (25.27 seconds) at the state meet after finishing third at sectionals (24.53).

Last season, the Quakers sent the team of Ernst, Ernst, Grace Coyle, and Anna McArdle to the state meet to compete in the 200 medley relay. This season, the group of Ernst, Ernst, Coyle and Sarah Gura qualified for the 200 free relay and finished in ninth place (1:40.42) after earning a second-place finish at sectionals (1:40.31).

Andrea Ernst captured a first-place finish in the 100 butterfly (58.5 seconds) at the Sectional Swimming Championships on Friday, Nov. 2. File Photo / James Goller

Four members of the Orchard Park girls swim team have qualified for the New York State Championships.

At the Section VI Championships at the Burt Flickinger Center on Friday, Nov. 2, Andrea Ernst, Amanda Ernst, Grace Coyle, and Sarah Gura earned finishes strong enough to qualify the Quakers to advance to the state meet scheduled for Sat. Nov. 15 at Ithaca College.

“I’m so proud of all the girls,” said freshman Andrea Ernst, who earned a first-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (58.5 seconds). “We did so much better at sectionals this year than last year.”

Ernst also finished third in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.51) while her sister Amanda, a junior, finished third in the 50 free (24.53).

The Quakers 200-yard free relay team of Ernst, Ernst, Coyle, and Gura earned a second-place finish with a time of 1 minute, 40.31 seconds.

“I’m psyched to go to states with Amanda, Grace, and Sarah,” said Ernst. “I’m hoping that we will get a best time.”

Sophomore Morgan Wellenzohn finished first at the ECIC diving championships. File photo / James Goller

Sophomore Morgan Wellenzohn and senior Amanda Saeli helped Orchard Park capture the 2012 ECIC diving championship held at Sweet Home on Tuesday, Oct. 24.

Wellenzohn finished in first place while Saeli finished fourth.

Orchard Park will compete in the swimming portion of the ECIC championships at Clarence High School on Friday and Saturday.

The Section VI championships are scheduled at the Burt Flickinger Center in Buffalo on Thursday, Nov. 1 and Friday, Nov. 2.

Andrea Ernst swims during Orchard Park’s girls swim meet versus Williamsville East on Tuesday.

The Orchard Park girls swim team lost its season and home-opening meet versus Williamsville East on Tuesday, 93-90.

Despite the loss, Coach Linda Sherry was pleased with the results of her swimmers, who lost by over 20 points to Will East last season.

“We are on better track this year than we were last year,” Sherry said after the meet. “We have more sectional cuts already in our first meet than we did halfway through the season last year. We’re on an awesome track.”

Carolyn McCune (back), Grace Coyle (breast), Andrea Ernst (fly), Amanda Ernst (free) started the meet off for the Quakers with a win in the 200 medley relay. Andrea Ernst, a freshman, followed with a win in the 200 free event.

Junior Amanda Ernst earned a top finish in the 50 free with a time of 25.87 seconds, which qualifies her for sectionals. She needs to cut her time down to 24.84 to qualify for the state meet.

Sophomore Morgan Wellenzohn qualified for sectionals with her first place finish in diving.

Orchard Park’s 200 free relay team of Ernst, Ernst, McCune, and Sarah Badagliacca earned first place with a time of 1:45.33, which puts them just four seconds off the pace for state qualification.

The meet versus Williamsville East came down to the final heat where the Quakers needed to capture both first and second place in the 400 free relay, but were edged for second by half a second.

“I’m not disappointed, said Sherry, who is in her second year coaching varsity with assistant Jillian Meister. “The way they swam tonight takes away any disappointment from the loss. They swam so well and so hard.”

The Quakers are captained this season by seniors Sara Gura and Grace Coyle, and juniors Amanda Ernst and Morgan Doyle.

Orchard Park will host Clarence this Friday, Sept. 21 at 5 p.m.

View the entire photo gallery from Tuesday’s meet

SECTION CHAMPS... Orchard Park's medley relay team of (left to right) Spencer Bray, Andrew Duszynski, Mike Sutz and Alex Moore celebrates the team's section championship at Clarence on Saturday, Feb. 19.

Orchard Park’s boys swim team saw impressive results at the Section VI Championships at Clarence on Saturday, Feb. 19.

The team lead off the event with a win in the medley relay with a time of 1:40.24; just 0.01 seconds ahead of second-place East Aurora.

Andrew Duszynski won the 200 individual medley event (1:58.02) with Spencer Bray and Mike Sutz finishing fourth and sixth, respectively.

The 400-yard free style team of Zach Healy, Bray, Duszynski and Sutz finished second behind Clarence with a time of 3:18.09.

Phil Aronica, a 2010 graduate of OPHS and freshman on the University at Buffalo swim team, was in attendance to show support of his alma mater's swim team at the sectional championships.

Alex Moore

Check out photos of Orchard Park’s swim meet versus Clarence from Friday, Jan. 28.

Here is a link to some photos I shot of girls swimming.

Cassie Kaczmarek