PIAA Swimming: Matheny downs Hansen’s record, has Abrahams in hot pursuit

LEWISBURG – For 19 years, Brendan Hansen’s name has ruled over breaststroke in Pennsylvania. Saturday, that reign ended.

Josh Matheny, still just a sophomore, from Upper St. Clair upended the decades-old standard with his time of 53.64 seconds in prelims of the 100 breast at the PIAA Class 3A Championships at Bucknell University.

“It has been a goal ever since I started swimming high school,” Matheny said. “State champions and state record holders are always kind of glorified, so to be able to take the state record in the morning feels amazing, and I’m really excited to race tonight.”

When Matheny lines up Saturday night to try and put Hansen’s record further in the past, it’s only fitting that he’ll have a Haverford swimmer on his heels.

First, though, some perspective on just how monstrously ahead of its time Hansen’s 53.67 was in 2000. Of the 32 individual states events – eight in each Class 2A and 3A boys and girls – Hansen’s record was by far the oldest. Only four survive from the previous decade: The distance marks of Shady Side Academy’s Trevor Scheid in 2A boys from 2008 and the 3A girls 100 butterfly mark of Kathleen Nolan from 2009, which becomes the oldest 3A standard. Hansen’s record is comparatively ancient.

The Haverford grad would go on to win three individual Olympic medals, three relays golds and seven individual world titles, setting five world records over the 100-meter and 200-meter distances.

So yeah, a bit of cachet behind that record.

“It’s always cool to break a record, especially when it’s held by someone like Brendan Hansen who’s so well-known and probably one of the best men’s breaststrokers ever,” Matheny said. “It does feel really cool to be able to break that record.”

The record seemed inevitable once Matheny won states as a freshman in 54.55. He’s been 52.8 in club competition and wanted to get the record done and dusted before finals.

There, he’ll have a Ford on his tail in David Abrahams. The District 1 champ was superb as the meet’s second seed. He blitzed his heat from the prime positon of lane 4 to set a personal best of 55.06. That earns the honor of a lane next to Matheny for the final, a chance to battle his (sort of) rival.

“Since after districts, I’ve been looking to be the lane next to Matheny, because he’s been kind of like my rival that doesn’t know who I am for the entire year,” Abrahams said. “So I want to be as close to him as possible so I can try to be out with him.”

Abrahams finished fourth at states in 56.57 last year. He has the inside line on the silver medal, finishing more than a second quicker than North Allegheny’s Jerry Chen, last year’s bronze medalist. And Abrahams hopes that following Matheny’s early speed will get him there. Ridley’s Alex Boeckx is also in the A final, finishing sixth in 57.31.

“I think certain people have different tolerances for second-half pain,” Abrahams said. “It’s a lot harder in breaststroke because it’s just a more muscle-oriented sport where some people die in the second 50. So it’s a little different, but I’m confident that if I can go out with him, I’m going to try to be as close as possible.”

* * *

Catherine Weaverling knows the deal by now.

Swimming third in the 400 freestyle relay, she’s going to inherit a deficit. And she knows she’s got the hammer behind her in sprinter Noelle DiClemente. So Weaverling knows her role in the relay script.

Weaverling dragged the Garnet Valley relay from seventh in their heat to fourth, with DiClemente anchoring to grab back another place. With a time of 3:32.28, the team that includes Anastasia Erley and Amy Townend snuck into the A final in eighth.

“For my first 50, I just go out there and then I realize people are near me and I’m like, ‘oh wait, we’ve got to go,’” Weaverling said. “And then I’ll bring us as close as I can and Noelle will finish it off.”

It’s been an outstanding meet for the Jaguars. Weaverling (fourth in the 100 butterfly) and DiClemente (fifth in the 50 free) medaled Friday, while the 200 free relay finished 13th. Saturday, DiClemente landed eighth in the 100 free in 52.02, a rare bit of states luck. Last year, she’d finished ninth in the 50, missing the A final, and was 18th in the 100. Weaverling’s 100 backstroke time of 56.83 earned the 10th seed.

It certainly meets the modest (and half-joking) goal Weaverling set.

“Our goal was not to get DQed this year, unlike last year,” she said, referencing the 2018 200 free relay. ‘We wanted to podium for both, but we’re only going to podium for the 4 free, but that gives us a goal for next year.”

Penncrest’s Claire Walsh joins DiClemente in the A final of the 100 free, finishing third in 51.32.

* * *

A 21st-place finish in the 200 free wasn’t how Sun Valley’s Keeley Durkin wanted to start states. But with time to think, the junior recalibrated.

“Considering that I didn’t make it back last night, I wasn’t really expecting this weekend to go too well,” she said. “But then I was just like, you know what, I have nothing to lose. This is the last meet, this is a big stage and I went for it. I feel really good.”

With Friday as a learning experience, Durkin went 5:06.72 in the 500 free Saturday, improving to the 12th seed in finals. Durkin, who clocked a lifetime-best 5:04.93 at districts, entered as the 13th seed.

Given the journey Durkin has taken, including a three-week hiatus from training due to a rib injury and an unlikely march from the depths of the District 1 seedings to states, a little adversity was unlikely to derail her. With her training disruption, she’s not rested for this meet, so she’s trying to will herself to replicating the districts times.

States are an opportunity she didn’t think she’d have, and she’s not about to squander them.

“Now that I’m here, I’m like, ‘alright, well, what’s the next step? How do I better myself?,’” she said.  

Also in the 500, Sydney Bergstrom continued her stellar states with an A final performance. The Strath Haven freshman cracked five minutes for the first time in high school with a 4:59.93 to grab the fifth seed. Radnor’s Casey Cullen, seeded 27th, jumped up 10 spots with a time of 5:08.80 but finished in the dreaded first-alternate spot.

NOTES >> Radnor’s Patrick Cullen went 46.01 in the 100 free. That lands him 12th and in the B final. The Raiders’ 400 free relay (Cullen, Jack Undercofler, Wil Cosgrove, Nick Mlodzienski) took 13th in 3:11.26 to miss the A final.