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By STEVE SEMBRAT steves@leader.net
Thursday, March 13, 2003 Page: 1B
PLYMOUTH – There is at least one sport at which Shana Welch does not excel.
“I’ve tried golf a couple of times. That’s real frustrating.”
Thanks in part to a strong competitive fire, the Wyoming Valley West senior
has distinguished herself at just about every other athletic endeavor she has
attempted.
“She hates to lose at anything,” Valley West head swimming coach Frank
Tribendis said of Welch. “She has that gift to do things, and she just hates
to lose. She finds a way to get the job done.”
The task at hand for Welch is to shine during the PIAA Class 3A Swimming &
Diving Championships, which begin today with diving competition at Penn
State’s pool.
Swimming events are set for tomorrow and Saturday. Welch has the best
chance of any District 2 competitor at winning a state medal for a top-six
finish in the 3A portion of the meet. She is seeded ninth going into the
50-yard freestyle and 11th in the 100 freestyle. She she won bronze medals in
those events last year.
The 50 freestyle will be held tomorrow with the 200 medley relay, 200
freestyle, 200 individual medley, 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle relay. The
100 freestyle will open the competition Saturday, and will be followed by the
500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.
Welch also will swim the 200 medley relay (seeded 20th) with Erin Lehman,
Kim Perzia and Sally Kaminski; and in the 400 freestyle relay (seeded 23rd)
with Megan Panowicz, Lehman and Kaminski.
Welch is just as determined to do well in those relays as she is in her
individual events.
“Ever since I’ve been little, I’ve been very competitive,” Welch said.
“I always like to see work turn into something positive. It would be great to
see the 14 years I’ve been in swimming turn into a state championship.”
To have a shot at gold, Welch will have to finish in the top six during
preliminaries. The six fastest entries in each event advance to finals, where
first through sixth places are decided. The next six get into consolation
finals, which is the race for seventh through 12th.
Should Welch reach the finals, winning gold figures to be a daunting task,
as the two swimmers who beat her at last year’s state meet are back. Parkland
junior Jessica Lewis is the top seed in both events, with Hatboro-Horsham
junior Kelsey Morrissy second.
The seed times at states are from performances at districts. While Welch
easily won her two individual events at the District 2-4 Class 3A Swimming
Championship, her times were less than her best. However, she had tailored her
training so that she’d be at her peak at the state meet, and she said she
feels confident heading into the competition.
“When I have a challenge, I kind of step up to it,” Welch said. “This is
the time of year that is really exciting for me.”
Shana is the youngest of the three children of Corey and Ellen Welch of
Plymouth. When Shana was younger, she was the pesky kid who always insisted on
keeping up with her older sister Lynnelle, a Penn State graduate, and Corey, a
sophomore at the University of Florida. That helped instilled in Shana a
competitive spirit that propelled her to outstanding accomplishments in and
out of the pool.
“She was pleased with getting third place at states last year,” Tribendis
said, “but she wasn’t happy with it.”
Back in November, Welch was named the state’s top high school female water
polo player. She is also an All-American in that sport. She plays soccer for
Valley West, and is considered one of the best goalies around.
And then there was her cameo during her freshman year at Valley West at the
Keystone State Games Indoor Field Hockey Tournament. Welch made acrobatic
saves as the goalie for a team in the junior high division, and had observers
asking who was that masked woman. She never played varsity in the fall because
in conflicted with water polo, her sport of choice. Welch has accepted a
scholarship to play water polo for the University of Michigan starting in the
fall, and it’s not a stretch to say that she could have gotten offers in other
sports if she had chose to pursue one of those instead.
Swimming? It’s a way to stay in shape for water polo. Yet it’s comparable
to just about any other endeavor the honor student tries. If you are going to
go for it, why not go for it all.
“Setting goals is a good thing, but at the same time you can be setting
barriers for yourself,” Welch said. “Sometime I set my goals really high so
that I’m not setting any barriers for myself.”
Local entries and schedule of state meet, Page 4B.