Conestoga boys finish 2nd in District 1 3A swimming championship

Just one day after Conestoga captured the PIAA District 1 3A girls swimming championship at the York YMCA, the Pioneers placed second in the District 1 3A boys swim meet at the same venue Saturday.

The Pioneers recorded 247 team points, behind champion North Penn (340) and ahead of third-place finisher Owen J. Roberts (169).

“I thought we had a pretty good meet, particularly in the relays,” said Conestoga boys swimming coach Mark Tirone. “[West Chester Henderson AD] Ken McCormick and [Henderson swim coach] Jeff Bott did a great job getting us a location for Districts, and getting us swimming.”

The Pioneers placed first in the opening event, the boys 200 medley relay, with a quartet of Ryan McDonough, Jake Wang, Gary Wang and Stephen Graver (1:34.98), edging out North Penn (1:35.08) for first place.

“We were side-by-side with North Penn, and Stephen Graver really turned it up for the last 25,” said Tirone.

In the final event, the boys 400 free relay, Conestoga finished second (3:09.31) to North Penn (3:07.53) with a lineup of Stephen Graver, Luke Nagel, Raymond Welgosh and Jake Wang.

“Jake did a great job anchoring the 400 free relay,” said Tirone.

Conestoga finished third in the boys 200 free relay (1:27.16), with a foursome of Gary Wang, Raymond Welgosh, Yash Ray and Luke Nagel.

Conestoga senior Luke Nagel finished third in the boys 100 free, with a clocking of 47.65. Teammates Steven Graver placed 11th (48.12) and Yash Ray finished 16th (51.13).

Pioneer junior Gary Wang was third in the boys 100 fly (50.85).

Conestoga freshman Jake Wang finished third in the boys 100 breast, with a time of 57.73. Gary Wang placed sixth in the event (58.58).

Conestoga junior Raymond Welgosh finished fourth in the boys 200 free, posting a time of 1:42.37. Teammate Luke Nagel finished fifth in the event (1:42.94).

Welgosh placed fifth in the boys 500 free, posting a time of 4:39.31.

Pioneer freshman Jake Wang finished sixth in the boys 200 IM (1:54.85). Teammate James Manion placed 16th in the event (2:00.03).

Conestoga junior Stephen Graver placed sixth in the boys 50 free, with a clocking of 21.77. Teammate Yash Ray finished 14th in the event (22.34).

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Among the Ches-Mont teams at the District 1 3A boys swimming championships Saturday, West Chester Henderson finished 10th, Downingtown East tied for 13th, Kennett was 18th, Oxford 25th, Avon Grove 32nd, West Chester Rustin tied for 33rd and Downingtown West 38th.

Here’s a look at how the Ches-Mont teams fared at the PIAA District 1 3A boys swimming championships:

 

West Chester Henderson junior Dylan Smolders had a strong meet, finishing second in the boys 500 free (4:36.39) and placing third in the boys 200 IM (1:53.42).

“Dylan had a phenomenal meet,” said Henderson swimming head coach Jeff Bott. “His 500 free was well-planned out, he hit the splits exactly where he wanted.”

The Warriors finished seventh in the boys 400 free relay, with a quartet of Tie Manuel, Vedant Bedekar, PJ Cronauer and Dylan Smolders.

Henderson senior Tie Manuel placed eighth in the boys 100 back (53.05), and Warrior senior PJ Cronauer finished 11th in the boys 500 free  with a personal-best 4:50.44.

“All of our boys swam well today,” said Bott. “Our 400 boys free relay has been steadily improving the last few weeks, and it was great to see Tie and PJ swim so well in the last district meet of their high school careers.”

 

Downingtown East senior DJ Fechtman had a couple of top-six individual finishes at Districts Saturday. The University of Delaware-bound senior finished third in the boys 100 back (50.82) and placed sixth in the boys 100 fly (51.28).

The Cougars finished sixth in the boys 200 medley relay, with a quartet of DJ Fechtman, Will Thompson, Aidan McIlroy and Aiden Carroll clocking 1:37.58.

 

Kennett junior Liam Simmons was a one-man show for the Blue Demons at Districts, finishing first in the boys 100 back with a time of 50.31, ahead of second-place finisher Dalton Fink of Owen J. Roberts (50.51). Simmons also placed second in the boys 200 IM, clocking 1:53.41.

 

Oxford sophomore Alex Karahalis had two top-eight individual finishes at Districts. He placed fourth in the boys 100 fly with a clocking of 51.00, and finished eighth in the boys 100 breast, posting a time of 58.94.

 

Avon Grove senior Liam Perrin finished 12th in the boys 200 free, with a clocking of 1:47.52; and placed 14th in the boys 500 free (4:53.44).

 

West Chester Rustin junior Adam Khatib finished 12th in the boys 100 fly, clocking a time of 52.68.

 

Downingtown West junior Brandon Ye earning 14th place in the boys’ 100 fly with a clocking of 52.92, which was an improvement over his seed time of 52.95.

 

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In the PIAA District 1 2A swimming championship Saturday, Bishop Shanahan finished fifth, behind Lower Moreland, Springfield Township, Upper Moreland and Holy Ghost Prep.

“I thought we did a good job – we didn’t have a lot of boys at the meet, but all of our swimmers posted PR’s today and dropped a lot of time,” said Bishop Shanahan swim coach Ray Lease. “The boys were pumped and focused today; that’s why we had a lot of PR’s.”

Shanahan senior Nick Scott finished first in two events, the boys 100 back and boys 100 fly. In the 100 back, he posted a PR 51.77, ahead of second-place finisher Bennett Grothusen (52.56). In the 100 fly, he posted a personal-best 52.04, ahead of second-place finisher Fred Li of Holy Ghost Prep (53.74).

The Eagles finished third in two relays – the boys 200 medley relay (a personal-best 1:42.23) and the boys 200 free relay (a PR 1:33.19).

The third-place 200 medley relay team included Nicholas Scott, junior Brady Hendrickson, junior Patrick Taylor and sophomore Matthew Carpenter; and the lineup for the third-place 200 free relay team was Scott, Hendrickson, Carpenter and Taylor.

Patrick Taylor finished sixth in the boys 50 free with a PR 22.95 and placed seventh in the boys 100 free with a personal-best 51.79.