Freshmen help lead Nordonia girls swimming past Stow
Two freshmen are making quite a name for themselves this season for the Nordonia girls swimming and diving team.
Emily Yorkievitz and Hailey Kaminski have taken the Suburban League National Conference by storm. The two of them have helped the Knights to a 5-1 dual-meet record this winter.
“Emily and Hailey are the two highest point total earners on our team this season,” Nordonia head coach Glenn Yorkievitz said. “Emily has won all of her events in dual meets except two. Hailey has won all of her events in dual meets except one.”
Yorkievitz and Kaminski’s latest exploits came Jan. 12 during the Knights’ 93-77 victory at National Conference rival Stow-Munroe Falls. It was Nordonia’s first win over Stow-Munroe Falls in quite some time if not ever. Both swimmers earned two first-place finishes individually and were each member of the same winning relay teams.
Yorkievitz captured both the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2 minutes, 22.31 seconds and the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:47.23.
“Emily was beat up a little bit, but she pretty much dominated her competition,” said Glenn Yorkievitz. “She won both her races by quite extensive marks.”
Kaminski won both the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.81 and the 100 freestyle with a clocking of 57.39.
“Hailey is our best sprinter,” said Yorkievitz. “Going against Stow, we knew this was going to be an extremely close meet. We knew Stow was going to come at us with everything they had. Hailey stood up to the challenge in both events and beat out both of her opponents.”
Yorkievitz and Kaminski were both members of the winning 200 medley relay (2:01.94) and 400 freestyle relay (3:57.44).
Both Yorkievitz and Kaminski competed three days later, on Jan. 15, in the Northeast Classic at the University of Akron and the C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton. Both swimmers qualified for the finals in the 50-yard freestyle – Kaminski had a finals time of 25.11 and Yorkievitz had a finals time of 25.15.
Yorkievitz also had a personal-best time of 1:02.06 in the 100 butterfly. Kaminski turned in a time of 1:03.96 in the 100 backstroke.
Yorkievitz and Kaminski both were part of the 200 medley relay and the 400 freestyle relay.
“Both Emily and Hailey are expected to compete well in the conference meet and the sectional meet,” the coach said. “The goal for both of them is to get podium finishes at districts, and then we’ll see what happens after that.”
As for the Nordonia boys swimming and diving team, another freshman making a splash this season is Paul Yorkievitz.
In the Knights’ 112-58 defeat to Stow-Munroe Falls (which dropped Nordonia to 4-2), Yorkievitz produced a pair of personal-best times. His second-place time of 5:26.68 in the 500 freestyle was more than 10 seconds faster than his previous best time. He also finished second in the 200 individual medley with a personal-best clocking of 2:16.67.
“We were going against a Stow team that’s one of the tougher teams in the district let alone our conference,” Glenn Yorkievitz said. “They had multiple state qualifiers on their team, so we knew Paul was going up against some really tough competition. He used that to motivate himself in his two races. Both races he was behind early and had to kind of kick it in in the second half of those races to catch and then beat the Stow swimmers to earn second place. Both of those times put him in contention for the district meet, so he’s going to be fighting to try to get a place on that district team.”
In addition, Yorkievitz was a member of both the second-place 200 freestyle relay and fourth-place 200 medley relay (2:06.29).
“Paul had a personal best in the 200 medley relay for his 50 butterfly,” said Glenn Yorkievitz. “He did a real good job in helping the 200 freestyle relay get second place.”
An honors student who also is a member of the cross country team, Yorkievitz is a year-round swimmer and is a student of the sport.
“Paul is going to make a great coach one day,” Glenn Yorkievitz said. “He pretty much has memorized all of his opponents, what their events are, what their times are. He could actually write high school-level workouts. He also studies national level swimmers. He uses his mind in the sport to a higher degree than any swimmer I’ve ever coached before.
“Paul is one of those guys who is great as far as taking on new instructions and new ideas, but he’s also exceptional at being able to communicate with the coach, how he feels and what his body is doing in order for us to make the necessary adjustments.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Freshmen help lead Nordonia girls swimming past Stow
