PIAA Swimming Championships: La Salle defends Boys 3A crown
Bringing a climactic finish to a season like no other, the La Salle College High School boys swimming and diving team reached out and grabbed its second straight state title and seventh in the past 10 years on Saturday, in an overwhelming performance at Cumberland Valley High School.
In an evening filled with gold medals and fast times, La Salle compiled 309 points, topping the 162 by second-place Emmaus.
La Salle’s 200-yard medley relay got the evening started, as a team of Paul Brosky, Gavin Brooke, Tim Grossi and Quinn Buck finished in 1 minute, 33.45 seconds to claim the bronze medal.
In the very next event, Zachary Kohm raced to the silver in the 200 free (1:36.63) for the Explorers and the points were beginning to pile up.
Brosky and Connor Goodyear placed third and fourth for La Salle in the 200 IM, with impressive times of 1:51.21 and 1:52.24.
Buck came through with a gold-medal performance in the 50 free, winning the state title with a time of 20.29.
Grossi also made a trip to the medal stand soon after, seizing the silver medal in the 100 fly in 49.33.
Another gold medal for La Salle came in the 500 free, with Kohm racing to a winning time of 4:24.84 in the 500 freestyle.
La Salle also got fourth-place finishes from Goodyear in the 500 free (4:33.26) and Harry Hearn in the 200 free (1:39.98).
The Explorers provided a grand finale with the 400 free relay, winning another gold with a foursome of Buck, Goodyear, Hearn and Kohm finishing in 3:02.87.
North Penn was the state’s best in the 200 free relay, a foursome of Max Bachman, Matt Harkrader, Mason Potts and Nick Clark combining to go an unbeatable 1:23.68 and help the Knights place sixth in the team scoring with 102 points.
Pennridge’s Joseph Hong rose to fourth in the 100 breast, with a time of 56.38.
3A Girls >> North Allegheny climbed to the top spot in the team scoring, with 167 points.
Upper Dublin was sixth with 111 and North Penn ninth with 100.
Upper Dublin’s foursome of Meghan DiMartile, Emma McCarthy, Molly Braun and Korinna Pesti captured the gold in the 200 medley relay, racing to a time of 1:43.92.
DiMartile soon had another gold, as she won the 100 back in 54.31.
Hatboro-Horsham’s Katherine Jia was a bronze medalist in the 200 IM, with a time of 2:03.81, and she came back later to win another bronze, racing to 1:03.32 in the 100 breast.
North Penn’s 200 free relay combined their efforts for the silver, as Maddie Fritz, Charlotte Thamm, Kayla Stressman and Kaelan Daly went 1:35.03.
Daly went on to win another silver, racing to a 50.98 in the 100 free.
Class 2A Boys >> Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt got it done in 2A on Friday, powering to 142.5 points and the team title, topping the 137 by Riverside.
Lower Moreland was fourth with 117 and Springfield-Montco eighth with 88.
McDevitt began the meet in a big way, winning the gold in the 200 medley relay with a team of Patrick Hemingway, Will Brobson, John Haskins and Lucas Hancock going 1:34.92.
The champions also earned silver in the 400 free relay to bookend the meet with stellar relays, as Haskins, Isaac Hancock, Lucas Hancock and Hemingway sprinted to a 3:12.77.
Lower Moreland’s Noah Ferker got the silver in the 200 free, in 1:42.14.
Ferker also teamed up with Jude Blumhardt, Greg Landis and Jaden Feldman to notch the bronze in the 200 free relay, in 1:26.82.
Class 2A Girls >> Villa Maria swam to the team title, racking up 157 points to edge second-place Wyoming Seminary (152).
Springfield-Montco finished seventh with 100 points and GMA was 15th with 54.
Maura Fluehr won the gold medal in the 100 butterfly for Springfield Montco, touching in 54.49.
Fluehr then joined Abby Steinbrook, Emma Mogee and Grace Duncheskie to capture silver in the 200 free relay, in 1:37.03.
Fluehr wasn’t done.
The senior finished off her high career in stellar fashion, winning another gold, a victory in the 100 free in 50.34.
Ella Gross earned the silver in the 200 free for the Monarchs, swimming to a time of 1:53.32.
Gross was also a silver medalist in the 100 fly, in 57.51.
