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Two swimmers, Claire Kercheval-Roig and Mollie Westrick, who will have an immediate impact on Penn at the conference level, recently gave their commitment to the Quakers. The two hail from opposite ends of the east coast: Kercheval-Roig is a talented sprint backstroke from Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club, while Westrick competes for Kingfish Swimming in Massachusetts.
Kercheval-Roig has fast 50 and 100 backstroke times that could see her contend for a relay spot for Penn, while her 200 gives her at least two scoring possibilities in the Ivy League:
- 50 backstroke: 26.69
- 100 backstroke: 56.60
- 200 backstroke: 2:04.42
- 100 butterfly: 57.23
Penn’s fastest returning backstroker is junior Rochelle Dong, yet Dong is also their fastest butterflyer, so they could use a backstroker to allow Dong to stay in fly. Kercheval-Roig also swam for Leon High School, where she notched a 3rd place in the 100 backstroke and 5th in the 100 butterfly at last fall’s Florida 3A State Championship. She will join her former club teammate, junior Lea Lombardi, on the squad.
Westrick is another swimmer who could play a role for the Quakers on relays. Their fastest returning sprinter is (you guessed it) Rochelle Dong, who finished second at Ivy’s in the 50 freestyle. Westrick will have good company in the 100 free from two sophomores who managed a B-Final at last year’s meet:
- 50 freestyle: 23.78
- 100 freestyle: 51.20
- 200 freestyle: 1:51.47
- 100 backstroke: 57.14
Westrick would have made the Ivy B-Final in 100 and 200 freestyle with those times, while her 50 would have made the C-Final. While she swims for a Masschusetts club, Westrick actually competes for Cumberland High School in Rhode Island, where she was Rhode Island state champion in both the 50 and 100 freestyle last year.
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