PIAA Championships: La Salle suits up for title defense

La Salle College High School will have a tremendous shot at its second straight PIAA-3A Boys Team Title and seventh in the past 10 years as the PIAA Swim Championships get underway at Cumberland Valley High School.

The Class 2A girls will begin at 10:45 a.m. Friday and the boys go at 5:30 that evening.

The 3A girls will race at 10:45 on Saturday morning and the boys go at 5:30 that night.

Perennial power La Salle will be well represented again, led by three relay foursomes.

The Explorers also have a bevy of competitors in individual events.

Harry Hearn (200 free/100 free), Paul Brosky (200 IM/500 free), Connor Goodyear (200 IM/500 free), Dan McBryan (50 free), Quinn Buck (50 free), Tim Grossi (100 fly/100 back), Zachary Kohm (500 free), Samuel Kohm (500 free), Gavin Brooke (100 breast) and August Blatney (100 breast) all are hoping for top-eight finishes.

The North Penn boys have three relays competing following a commanding performance at districts.

Also for the Knights, Max Bachman (200 free/100 free) and Nick Clark (200 IM/100 breast) have a shot at multiple trips to the medal stand.

Also locally, Upper Merion will have a 200 medley relay competing.

Spring-Ford’s Brendan Baganski (50 free), Methacton’s Tommy Gibbs (100 fly), Hatboro-Horsham’s Ji David (100 breast), and Pennridge’s Joseph Hong (100 breast) will all be battling for state medals.

The North Penn girls, vying for their fourth state title in five years, have all three relays in the water.

Kaelan Daly (200 IM/100 free), Charlotte Thamm (100 fly) and Maddie Fritz (100 breast) all represent the Knights in individual events.

Upper Dublin, Co-Champs with North Penn a year ago, will have all three relays competing.

Also from the area, Hatboro-Horsham’s Vivi Vergara (200 free), Katherine Jia (200 IM/100 breast) and Hannah Parker (500 free), Spring-Ford’s Ashley Gutshall (50 free), Upper Dublin’s Molly Braun (100 fly) and Meghan DiMartile (100 back), and Souderton Area’s Jess Burns (100 breast) are in medal contention.

In Class 2A girls, Archbishop Wood and Springfield Montco battle in the 200 medley relay.

Wood’s Alyssa Bean (200 free), Riley Sheehan (50 free/100 free), Teresa Fernandes (100 back) and Brigid Hayes (500 free/100 breast), Gwynedd Mercy’s Ella Gross (200 free/100 fly), Lower Moreland’s Sue Bin Park (200 IM/100 breast) and Sam Becker (500 free), and Springfield Montco’s Maura Fluehr (100 fly/100 free) are poised for good races in individual swims.

GMA will have all three relays competing.

Springfield Montco will race in the 200 medley and 200 free relays, and Wood is represented in the medley and 400 free.

The 200 medley relay will have plenty of local flavor in 2A boys, as Wood, Springfield Montco and Lower Moreland all are qualified.

Lower Moreland’s Noah Ferker (200 free/100 free) and Jaden Feldman (50 free), Greg Landis (200 IM), Wood’s Matthew Smith (200 IM/100 back), Aidan Lynskey (500 free) and Andrew Lips (100 free), Bishop McDevitt’s Patrick Hemingway (50 free/100 back) and Will Brobson (100 breast), Pope John Paul II’s Henry Phillips (500 free), Springfield Montco’s Bennett Grothusen (100 back), Lansdale Catholic’s Ryan O’Rourke (100 breast)

Bishop McDevitt, Lower Moreland and Springfield Montco all have 200 free relay teams racing and there will be a foursome of local squads in the 400 free relay, as Wood, McDevitt, Springfield Montco, and Lower Moreland all give it a go.

Diving in >> The divers got it started at PIAA’s last weekend.

Upper Moreland’s Brandon Bush dove to the gold in Class 2A boys, with a score of 396.35.

Abington’s Conor Gesing was a silver medalist in the 3A boys, scoring a 510.90.

Live coverage >> The PIAA Swimming Championships will air live on PCN on cable and streaming.