O’Hara’s Blewett wins Catholic gold in 50 free

Winning a Catholic League title wasn’t a bad opener for Cardinal O’Hara’s Hanna Blewett Friday. Her encore was even better.

Blewett won the Catholic League title in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.60 seconds in Friday morning’s meet at Widener, then returned in the evening’s District 12 Championships to claim victory in 24.18 to clinch a bid to the PIAA Championships.

Both wins came in 1-2 finishes with teammate Julia Boyle, whose quicker time by .01 seconds came at 26.07 in the morning. Blewett also led off the relay at 24.26 to help the team of her, Boyle, Amanda Devers and Devon Greene win the Class AAA title and head to states with a time of 1:43.68. The team finished second in the Catholic League meet.

In Class AA, Bonner-Prendergast’s Victoria Brooks clinched a states berth with a win in the 50 free in a time of 26.26, with Carroll’s Olivia Synder tying for second in 26.34. Brooks had been fourth in the Catholic League meet.

At Catholics, Devers was third in the 200 free, a spot ahead of Bonner-Prendergast’s Julianna Fanelli. Carroll’s Molly Santoro was fifth in the 200 IM.

BP’s Tara McBlain finished third in the District 12 AA meet in the 200 free, a spot ahead of teammate Colleen King. Devers took third in the Class AAA 200 IM, the same spot Fanelli captured in the AA IM.

The best the Delaware County boys contingent could do against the juggernauts of La Salle and St. Joseph’s Prep in the Catholic League meet was fifth and sixth in the 200 medley and 200 free relays, respectively, courtesy of O’Hara’s team of Connor Hassard, Cullen Boyle, Jack Gibson and Phillip Boyle. That team booked states trips in both relays by winning the District 12 Class AA races. The 200 free relay was decided by four-tenths of a second over Bonner-Prendergast.

BP’s Daniel Dwyer won the Class AA 200 free in 1:59.12, while Jack Ellis advances to states as the only entrant in the District 12 AA meet in the 200 IM with a time of 2:21.81. BP’s Luke McDevitt (24.36) narrowly edged O’Hara’s Gibson (24.44) for the title and AA states berth in the 50 free, while Hassard (56.93) eased past Carroll’s Sincere Gibbs (58.35) to take the 100 fly states berth.