Three up and three down.
The Quaker Valley girls swim team splashed its way to an undefeated 3-0 record in Section 2-2A.
The Quakers are propelled by senior captains Alexa Westwood and Kendra Hines, along with two other senior swimmers in Margaret Burns and Makenna Kamnikar.
“Alexa has a growing roster of MAC (Midwestern Athletic Conference) cut events and has helped reign in the team’s WPIAL relays,” QV coach Mercedes McCarthy said. “Kendra is a distance swimmer and is the true definition of a team leader. She steps up to swim any event to help the girls retain their section champ title.
“Margaret is a MAC cut swimmer in the 100 backstroke and Makenna is knocking at the door of MAC cut events. Both are a contributing factor for the girls’ section wins so far.”
Top junior competitors on the girls team include Lydia Kilpela, Anna Fiedler, Harper LaLomia and Arianna Batina.
“Lydia has her MAC and WPIAL events sealed,” McCarthy said. “Anna and Harper have earned MAC cut time standards. And Arianna is a distance swimmer who walks away from every meet with points for the team.”
Amelia Suhayda is a standout sophomore swimmer who was a PIAA qualifier for the Quakers last year.
“She has a nice collection of MAC and WPIAL cuts to her name,” McCarthy said.
Cali Murawski is a sophomore sprint specialist who has attained MAC cuts in the 50 and 100 freestyles. McCarthy also indicated that sophomore Charlotte Chappell helps out in any event asked of her.
QV has a talented group of newcomers on this year’s girls team consisting of freshmen Halle Myers, Abby Sinclair, Claire Weinberg, Greta Faulkner and Kristen Fiedler.
“They have all punched their ticket to the MAC meet or are extremely close to the time cut,” McCarthy said. “All of them are contributing factors in scoring points at meets and building relays for the team.”
Burns, Hines, Kamnikar, Westwood, Batina, Fiedler, Kilpela, LaLomia, Chappell, Murawski and Suhayda all competed for the Quakers last season. Kamnikar is a top golfer at QV as a WPIAL medalist and PIAA qualifier.
Quaker Valley’s boys squad suffered its first section loss last week against Blackhawk to drop to 2-1.
“We were missing two boys for that meet,” McCarthy said. “With only 12 team members on the boys side, it’s all-hands-on-deck at every meet.”
Austin Young and Marcus Zhan, both high-end competitors, are senior captains.
Young was a PIAA sprint qualifier in 2024-25 and will be swimming the 50 and 100 freestyles at the MAC tournament.
“And he has helped the team earn WPIAL cuts in the relays,” McCarthy said.
Zhan is working on his collection of WPIAL cuts in all of the individual events again this season.
“We expect amazing swims at the WPIAL championships from Marcus in his senior year,” McCarthy said.
There are no juniors on the boys team but two sophomores, Zach Sharara and Ian Benson, have joined a returning state qualifier, sophomore Augustin Zhan.
“Zach is an open water distance swimmer who thrives in the distance events, earning an MAC cut in the 500 free and quickly coming up on the 200 free time standard,” McCarthy said. “Ian excels in the shorter races with an MAC time cut in the 50. He can contribute in any event he swims.
“Augustin is setting himself up for another trip to states. He has multiple time standards for both the MAC and WPIAL meets.”
Similar to the girls, there are several freshmen on the boys squad in 2025-26.
“We have a good turnout of freshmen competitors this year,” McCarthy said.
Freshmen Henry Topol and Rimba Sudiarta are diving as well as swimming specialists for the Quakers, while Michael Fuener and Luke Monyok have been racking up MAC cuts in multiple events and helping the relays reach WPIAL time standards.
“Luke will be swimming in the 100 breast at WPIALs, as well,” McCarthy said.
Drew Young, Nathan Iliff and Kilian Rodmeyer round out the group of freshman athletes on the boys team.
“They have been adding points to the meets and helping us build extra relays,” McCarthy said.
Marcus Zhan, Augustin Zhan and Young also competed for the Quakers a year ago.