Fords frosh Eruslanova off to smashing start at Central League swimming

Katya Eruslanova’s introduction to the high school swimming postseason was an emphatic one Friday.

The Haverford freshman set a Central League Championships and Radnor pool record in the girls 200-yard individual medley, clocking in at 2 minutes, 5.00 seconds. That’s a drop of 3.69 seconds from her previous high school best, and the time undercuts the 2017 record set by Garnet Valley’s Madison Kolessar.

It was one of three records to fall, starting with Conestoga downing its medley relay mark by more than 1.5 seconds from last year via Caroline Famous, Naomi Furman, Allison Yuan and Lily Robinson. Famous won the 50 freestyle, and Conestoga claimed the 200 free relay ahead of Garnet Valley.

GV’s Catherine Weaverling repeated as 100 butterfly champ, slashing her meet record to 54.87 seconds. Strath Haven’s Sydney Borgstrom won the 200 free in 1:52.01.

Radnor had a slew of top-six finishes, with Casey Cullen second in the 200 free and 100 fly, Audrey Collins second in the IM and sixth in the 100 fly and Marina Wang second in the 50 free.

In the boys meet, Friday’s six races were won by representatives of five different schools. Ridley’s Alex Boeckx took the 200 IM in 1:55.66. Garnet Valley’s Aidan Zipf (22.10) was fastest in the 50 free, and Steven Woolery of Penncrest took the 100 fly in 51.78.

The only repeat winners were fashioned by Conestoga, which went 1-2 in the 200 free relay and had Raymond Welgosh win the 200 free.

Garnet Valley had a strong day, with Matthew Hurford second in the 200 free and Griffin Young fourth. The Jags also had the next fastest 200 free relay after the Pioneers.

Radnor won the 200 medley relay with the squad of Jack Undercofler, Jack Lindgren, Rhett Cosgrove and Chase Bentley. The first three took third, fourth, and sixth, respectively, in the 100 fly, while Bentley was fifth in the 50. Matthew Gray of Marple Newtown dropped more than two seconds to 1:58.24 for second in the 200 IM, with Springfield’s Tom Ronayne third. Kevyn Daly of Upper Darby finished third in the 50, with Haverford’s Zach Given third.

Catholic League/District 12 Championships

The first day of the meet yielded one title in each meet for Cardinal O’Hara.

Kathryn Yuknek was crowned the Catholic League champ in the girls 50 free at La Salle University, and teammate Donnie Hunt booked a states trip in Class 2A.

Yuknek clocked in at 27.00 seconds in the morning, touching out six swimmers within .37 seconds. She beat runner-up Paige Columbo of Archbishop Ryan by .08 seconds. O’Hara’s Tiff Moore was fourth.

In the evening’s Class 2A final, Yuknek sped up to 26.78 but slipped to fourth, including behind Moore (26.76). The states berth went to Lansdale Catholic’s Brynn U’Selis (26.36).

Hunt got his state trip in the boys 50 free. He had been 12th in the Catholic League race but was the class of the District 12 2A field, clocking in at 22.57 seconds. Second was Archbishop Carroll’s Jack Goehringer, who was also second in the 100 butterfly. Goehringer was 12th in PCLs in the fly.

The Catholic League championships are in the morning with both classes swimming together; states trips are determined by the evening’s D12 finals, parted into Class 2A and 3A and incorporating Public League swimmers. District 12 receives one automatic states berth in each event. Eight of the 32 states spots are doled out to district champs, and the other 24 swimmers qualify based on time.

The other Delco states berth went to Bonner-Prendergast’s Grace McBlain, who won the 2A 200 IM in 2:19.29. Her sister, Claire, was second in the 200 free by a half-second.

In PCLs, Claire McBlain was second in the 200 free and third in the 100 fly, a spot behind her sister in the latter. O’Hara’s Madison Gibson finished third in the 200 free, and the Lions took second in the 200 free relay (with Yuknek splitting 26.11 on the anchor leg).

O’Hara’s four relays each finished second in districts. The girls’ squads missed states by .55 seconds in the medley relay to Archbishop Wood and .41 in the 200 free to Lansdale Catholic.