West Girls Swimming Into Central A Semis

The Cherry Hill West girls swim team got a bit of a stiffer test from Lenape in the playoffs Sunday than it did in the regular season—but not enough to make the Lions worry about advancing.

The No. 2-seeded Lions, 99-71 winners over Lenape just a little over two weeks ago, were almost as dominant, even in the pressure-packed playoff environment, pulling out a 97-73 victory to advance to the Central A semifinals.

Erin McBride, who won the 50 and 100 freestyle, Maddy Koelsch, who won the 100 breaststroke, and Jenna Brown, who won the 100 butterfly, led the Lions, who also won the medley relay and 200 freestyle relay.

West will face No. 3 Cherokee, a 107-63 winner over Jackson, in the next round, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.

While West and Cherokee didn’t meet head-to-head in the regular season, their scores against common opponents suggests a tight meet—West’s average margin of victory against all common opponents was about 15 points per meet.

Cherokee’s 26-point win over Lenape at the start of the regular season could be revealing, though—the Chiefs beat Lenape by 26 points, exactly the average of West’s two wins over the Indians.

Cherry Hill West 97, Lenape 73

• 200 medley relay: West—Madison Franke, Maddy Koelsch, Jenna Brown, Erin McBride—1:57.49
• 200 freestyle: Lenape, E. Malloy, 2:08.27
• 200 IM: Lenape, N. Shek, 2:16.12
• 50 freestyle: West, Erin McBride, 25.14
• 100 butterfly: West, Jenna Brown, 1:03.92
• 100 freestyle: West, Erin McBride, 55.72
• 500 freestyle: Lenape, E. Malloy, 5:45.25
• 200 freestyle relay: West—Erin McBride, Colleen Clancy, Jamie Robertson, Jenna Brown—1:49.78
• 100 backstroke: Lenape, N. Shek, 1:02.61
• 100 breaststroke: West, Maddy Koelsch, 1:13.22
• 400 freestyle relay: Lenape—S. Avgousti, M. Gallagher, E. Malloy, N. Shek—4:03.63.