Not only was the Concord swimming pool humid, but it was hot. Two Brandywine school district swim teams in the top five in the state and on top of their conference battled in North Wilmington on 2-8. The undefeated Lady Bulldogs of Brandywine high traveled a short distance to take on the host Raiders. The Raiders had four different top ten upset victories to their credit so far this year and with their unique four-lane scoring pool, looked for another.
  The Raider pool area is acoustically challenged and with the rabid swim fans crowded into the small area to watch both the boys and girls teams compete, the decibel levels were off the scale. Brandywines 200 medley relay team quieted the home crowd briefly with a win in 1.55.49. Their B team also scored a point finishing third. Since only the top three finishers scored points, the third place finishes were crucial and loudly cheered. Lori Zaspel won the 200 free for the Dogs in the first individual race. She would later have difficulty in the 500 free due to an illness she had been dealing with all week. She needed to pull out mid-way which allowed a Concord victory and a chance to pull within striking distance two-thirds of the way through the meet.
  Zaspel would return to swim the first leg of the 400 free relay which was the deciding race and the last race of the day to give Brandywine a 51.5-42.5 win. The anchor of the 400 free relay, Laura Mattey, won two individuals (50 and 100 free) along with the two relays. First year Bulldog head coach Sandy Wood said "Mattey is a very driven swimmer. Her and Kathryn Tamblyn both are both of the same mind set." Tamblyn won her 100 backstroke and took a second in the 200 IM. Tamblyn added that "This is one of our best teams ever so we're really excited."
  Brandywine improved to 11-0 overall and 9-0 in the conference. Concord dropped to 9-4 with the four teams ranked ahead of them in our rankings the teams that have beaten them. For the Raiders, Chealsea Ademski won the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke.
  The State Swimming and Diving Championships are February 26th at the University of Delawares Harry S Rawlstrom pool in Newark.

  200 Medley Relay: Brandywine (Tamblyn, DiSaverio, Mattey, Zaspel) 1.55.49; 200 Freestyle- Zaspel, Brandywine, 2.07.36; 200 IM-  Ademski, Concord, 2.12.34; 50 Freestyle- Mattey, Brandywine, 25.46; 100 Butterfly- DiSaverio, Brandywine, 1.02.05; 500 Freestyle- Gee, Concord, 5.50.00; 200 Freestyle Relay- Concord (J. Bonfante, Axsom, Gilbert,V. Bonfante) 1.49.84; 100 Backstroke- Tamblyn, Brandywine, 1.02.80; 100 Breastsroke- Ademski, Concord, 1.07.84; 400 Freestyle Relay- Brandywine (Zaspel, DiSaverio, Tamblyn, Mattey) 3.49.13.

All pictures from the Delaware Sports Video Files