Unionville freshman Magness swims through state butterflies; Conestoga duo shines
LEWISBURG >> Matt Magness isn’t exactly a stranger to big swimming occasions. Holding a national age-group record has that way of indoctrinating you to the ways of the sport.
Yet the Unionville freshman still had a sizeable dose of nerves to overcome Wednesday at the PIAA Class AAA Championships at Bucknell University.
Magness surmounted those butterflies, sneaking into finals and taking 15th place overall in the 200 freestyle, a big jump from the 22nd seed he entered with.
“It’s pretty exciting to make it back,” Magness said. “I would definitely say I was overwhelmingly nervous because it’s my first time at a meet this big with this many people watching.”
Magness comes from the USA Swimming realm, where his only opponents with Golden Ram Aquatics in West Chester are swimmers his own age. Still in the 13-14 age group, taking on 15-18s is a relatively new experience. It’s one thing in dual meets for school competition, but on the mano-a-mano stage of states, the proposition is that much more daunting.
“There’s a little bit of intimidation, because there’s older kids,” Magness said. “I’m swimming almost against men, 18-year-old boys. Before this, I was swimming against kids my age and one year older.”
Magness tried to block out those external factors — like wrapping his head around Upper Dublin’s Michael Jensen setting a state record and coming within .07 of Tom Shields’s seven-year-old national record by winning the 200 free in 1:33.90.
In prelims, Magness went from an outside lane in the second heat of four to 13th overall, up from 22nd. He was four tenths of a second quicker in the evening, though he slid back to 15th in 1:42.79.
Times weren’t necessarily the goal for Magness, one of only six freshmen boys to be among the 64 individual finalists Wednesday. His NAG record portends a bright future, and this trip was merely to get acclimated to the pressures of big meets.
“I was pretty happy because this is my first year,” he said. “My club coach mostly said, this year is mostly about getting experience and not getting on the podium. This year is for experience, and the next three years, we’ll focus on getting on the podium.”
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For Conestoga and Upper Main Line YMCA swimmers, states isn’t always the time-dropping extravaganza that pupils of other programs relish in, with training for Y Nationals often taking precedence. That requires on-the-fly flexibility in setting goals.
Whatever the standards, Conestoga Brian McKenrick and Brendan Burns succeeded Wednesday.
Both turned in bronze-medal finishes — McKenrick in the 200 individual medley, Burns in the 100 butterfly — results made more impressive by the lack of taper from which most of their rivals benefitted.
Conestoga’s Brian McKenrick (lane 6, third from top) takes third in 200 IM in 1:51.44 #PIAASwim https://t.co/FFUZSrZuFW
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) March 16, 2016
McKenrick’s altered process required shifting objectives. The stated time goal all season has been to crack 1:50 in his IM. With McKenrick feeling that to be beyond him Wednesday, he resolved to fight for a win in a balanced field.
He came close, leading at the halfway mark before the field caught up. He clocked in at 1:51.44, just over a half-second off the pace set by winner Tre Fissella of Hempfield.
“My club coach texted me and said, ‘Win the IM tonight,’” McKenrick said. “I was like, ‘OK coach.’ I wasn’t sure that was going to happen. My goal this morning was to make ‘A’ final, and at that point, my goal was just to drop time, make sure you go a faster time.”
Burns’ time results were more tangible. The freshman registered a 49.83, four tenths faster than prelims. In the process, he bested McKenrick’s time of 49.94 from states last season.
