Veteran Archbishop Wood coach Charlie Stillwell has seen swimmers like junior Tim Miller before, athletes who get a late start to scholastic competition yet immediately show their potential in different events.

“Tim started as basically a summer swimmer as a freshman,” Stillwell said. “Last season as a sophomore he came out for the team towards the end of the year and had his time in the 100-yard breaststroke down around 1 minute, 10 seconds.”

A virus left Miller competing at less than top shape for the team's first Philadelphia Catholic League meet of this season, but he has bounced back and is looking much stronger.

“This year we don't have any freshmen on the squad,” the coach said. “Everyone must contribute so it's good to see Tim getting better each day.

I watched Tim's stroke today and you can see how he's getting a lot stronger and more consistent with his time.

“I'm really going to be pushing these kids hard in practice for about the next two weeks so they'll all be ready to peak by the end of the season and the PCL championships. I think Tim should be down around 1:07 or 1:08 if not better by then.”

 

Bill Keen is a staff writer for The Intelligencer. He can be reached at (215) 957-8158 or bkeen@phillyBurbs.com.