Evans ends girls' drought

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By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor

BUTLER TWP - Despite setting two school records and becoming Butler's first female individual PIAA swim meet qualifier in 11 years, it's all in good fun for Golden Tornado sophomore Molly Evans.
"I'll never take swimming too seriously," Evans said. "To me, this is fun and that's why I do it.
"If I got to the point where I was swimming all the time, constantly striving to break this record or that record, or having to qualify for a certain meet - no thanks. It would stop being fun."
At least in Evans' case, the records and PIAA bid are just along for the ride.
Evans qualified for the state meet in the 200-yard individual medley, placing sixth at the WPIAL championships with a time of 2 minutes, 14.63 seconds. That broke the previous school record of 2:14.79, set by Stacee Jones in 1992.
Evans also qualified in the 500-yard freestyle, placing seventh at the WPIAL meet with a time of 5:18.93. That broke her own school record of 5:19.05, which she set earlier this year.
Julie Morrison had set the previous 500 freestyle record in 1997.
The top three placers in each event at the WPIAL meet received automatic berths in the state meet. Each event at the state meet has 32 participants, 16 of whom received automatic berths.
The other 16 are comprised of the next 16 fastest times throughout the state. The PIAA Class AAA meet is March 18 and 19 at Bucknell University.
"Bucknell has an eight-lane pool, so they take 32 qualifiers," said Butler coach Amber Schmeider. "I'm thrilled that Molly made it. She can use this year to get the nervousness and jitters out, then go after placing at that level next year."
Evans learned she qualified for states Tuesday afternoon.
"I thought I had a chance in the 200 IM," she said. "I was disappointed in my time in the 500 free. I was surprised I qualified there."
Evans is the first Butler female swimmer to qualify for states in an individual event since Sarah Leone did so in 1994.
Her goal at the state meet is a basic one.
"I want to get my time in the (50-yard) breaststroke under 40 seconds," she said. "That's my weakest part of the IM. If I can hit a 39.9 there, I can shave a full second off my time."
A swimmer since age 6, Evans also competed for the Butler YMCA team and the Penn Valley summer swim squad.
"It relaxes me," she said of the sport. "If I had a bad day at school or something, I jump in the pool, start doing laps and I forget about everything.
"I feel so good when I get out of the pool after a practice or workout. I feel so at ease."
While her parents weren't competitive swimmers, Evans' older sister, Emily, swam for 10 years and went on to swim for Carnegie Mellon University.
Evans is one of 15 girls on Butler's squad this season. One is a senior while the rest are freshmen and sophomores.
"I'm hoping Molly's success has a trickle-down effect," Schmeider said. "It (getting to states) happened for her and it can happen for others.
"This is the first time in four years we don't have a boy at the state meet, but this time we have a girl. We're still represented and that's important.
"Our feeder program is sending up a lot of quality freshmen. This is just the start of us sending relay teams and individuals to states for the next five or six years, at least," Schmeider added.
Evans is hoping to swim in college. She plans to keep the same attitude.
"If it's not fun, I'm not swimming," she insisted. "But it will be fun."