The Lions traveled to Loyola University in Baltimore this past weekend to compete in the National Catholic Swimming & Diving Championships. The star of the weekend for the Lions was sophomore Brady Turner who qualified for finals in the 500 Free. Turner won the second heat of finals and placed 9th overall with a season best time of 4:43.13. Turner also just missed out on also making finals in the 200 IM, placing 17th overall with a time of 2:00.53. Senior, Tony Huynh placed 48th in the 50 Freestyle & 39th in the 100 Breaststroke. Junior, Jason Kutufaris placed 28th in the 200 Freestyle and 24th in the 100 Butterfly. Fellow junior, Luca Merkle, bested his seed from 26th to 22nd overall in the 100 Butterfly and placed 59th in the 100 Freestyle. Freshman, Hunter Zimmerman placed 49th in the 100 Freestyle and 33rd in the 100 Backstroke. The relay team of Turner, Huynh, Merkle & Zimmerman placed 17th overall in the 200M Medley Relay just missing out on making finals, while the relay team of Zimmerman, Turner, Merkle & Kutufaris finished with a time of 3:30.84 in the 400 Free Relay. For the ladies, Payton Rush placed 44th in the 200 Freestyle, and 39th in the 100 Butterfly with a career best time of 1:08.72. The Lions return to the pool this week with a matchup against Archbishop Ryan on Tuesday, January 14th. 

Cardinal O'Hara opened their 24-25 swim season on the road against Ridley High School. Performances on the boys team were led by Jason Kutufaris, Brady Turner, and Luca Merkle, all of whom qualified for districts in their individual events. O'Hara's relay team of Hunter Zimmerman, Jason Kutufaris, Luca Merkle, and Tony Huynh also took first place in the 200 Free Relay by narrowly out-touching Ridley at the finish. Junior, Jason Kutufaris, qualified for districts in the 200 Free and 100 Fly, while fellow junior, Luca Merkle, also qualified for districts in the 100 Fly. Sophomore standout, Brady Turner, finished with two first-place victories in the 500 Free and the 200 IM, both of which were district-qualifying performances. As the team, the Lions fell just seven points shy of the Raiders, finishing the meet with 87 points as a team. The girls were led by a strong showing from sophomore, Margaret Monaghan, who finished in first place in the 100 Back. Freshman swimmer and driver, Payton Rush, became the first girl to dive for the Lions since the 19-20 campaign. Rush placed fourth in diving while also participating in the 200 IM. After a strong showing to begin their season, the Lions are excited to continue to build momentum with every passing meet. The Lions will travel to Bensalem High School next Monday, December 9th, to take on Nazareth Academy and Holy Ghost Prep.

Over the last several years, Cardinal O'Hara's swim team has established themselves as one of the most consistent programs within the PCL. Last year marked a season filled with lots of individual and team successes. O'Hara's boys team took home a third straight PIAA District XII Championship in 2023-2024. At District XII Championships last year, Jason Kutufaris and Brady Turner took home first place finishes for the Lions. Kutufaris was the individual champion in the 200 Free, while Turner took home gold in the 500 Free and the 100 Backstroke. These performances at Districts secured them with bids to state championships in their respective individual events. The boys also sent three relays to states as well. At state championships, Brady Turner became the first O'Hara swimmer to place at the state meet in over two decades, with a fourth place finish in the 500 Free. With Turner being just a sophomore, he'll have plenty of time to start shattering some of O'Hara's program records. As a new season approaches, both teams have been working extremely hard to prepare themselves to get back into the pool. While O'Hara's roster size might not be the biggest around, they have new and young talent to go along with a solid core of returning athletes. O'Hara will return over roughly fifteen athletes per team this year. Coach, Cherie Walter, will be back to lead O'Hara from the pool deck for another season. Walters has had one of the more successful coaching careers in recent memory for O'Hara's swim program. During her time in charge, Walters has been able to reestablish a winning culture within the team. Over the last five years, O'Hara has been able achieve numerous feats the program hadn't seen in quite some time. With winter sports being just a week away, the Lions can almost taste that first drop of chlorine. While many teams just claim that they can “walk the walk”, O'Hara has proven that they've walked the walk in recent memory, and this year looks to be nothing but the same for the Lions.