La Salle High School Swims Down Dream, Follows Tradition
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Few sports dynasties are as impressive as the La Salle boys swim team.
Their run of Philadelphia Catholic League titles has reached a ridiculous 29 straight years.
"I was a swimmer here as part of that Frank Lichtner was our long time coach. I've taken over for Frank and kind of continued that tradition that he set forth," said Coach Steve Duchenskie.
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Lichtner was the men's coach through 25 of those championships before passing away in 2015 after a battle with cancer. But an extension of his legacy can be found in last season's state title, their 5th straight, and the 2016 National swimming championship. This year, the kids just hope to keep the fun going.
"We have a great team this year, we lost a couple of seniors last year but we're really excited to get to Bucknell in a few weeks," said senior La Salle swimmer, Jacob Lubinski. "And I couldn't be more excited to finish off my LaSalle career like this."
And these swimmers are not messing around. They are dedicated to keeping the championship streak alive.
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"Freshman year, you know, you're not really used to doing the two-a-days. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday mornings, and then every afternoon. And then Saturday's, too. But I mean, the more you do it, the more you get used to it," senior Liam Duffy said.
But the coach is not worried about them being ready.
"There's some pressure there's no doubt about it. But again with the young men that we get coming to the school, the caliber athlete that they are student athlete you kind of get them in motion and the rest takes care of itself," Duchenskie said.
