PAC standouts excited for buzz to be back at District 1 Swimming Championships
Those involved with last winter’s District 1 swimming championships did their best to recreate the environment of a normal high-level meet.
Creative tactics like holding up pictures of parents’ faces on popsicle sticks were used, but with mostly empty stands and a field reduced by more than half the typical buzz surrounding southeastern Pennsylvania’s largest meet of the high school swim season was missing.
That should be different this weekend when the District 1 Swimming Championships take place in the Graham Aquatic Center at the York YMCA with the fields resembling the size of years past and fans back in the stands. (Tickets for each session can be found at https://piaad1.hometownticketing.com/embed/all)
The emptiness started to feel normal to some last year, but having greater support this winter is certainly welcomed.
“I guess I didn’t really notice it much last year because that’s pretty much how all my meets were set up that year,” Owen J. Roberts senior Lauren Zelinske said.
“It’s nice before events to see the little section of OJR parents wearing red and I just love that feeling,” she added.
Due to the uncertainty of Friday’s weather forecast, the meet was postponed from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday, still in York for the second straight year after moving from La Salle University last season.
Only the top 16 individuals and top 12 relays at the 3A level participated in last year’s reduced District 1 championships, keeping a number of would-be qualifiers out of the meet. Spectators were also not allowed due to COVID-19 policies.
This weekend there will be up to 40 swimmers in most individual events and 24 teams per relay events in 3A.
“It’s definitely more special just because they’re bringing back more people,” Upper Perkiomen senior Darragh Martin. “Last year, it really stunk with not having as many there. It didn’t feel like districts. But hopefully this year with spectators being allowed and more swimmers it will bring back what it felt like freshman and sophomore year.”
The event was broken into four sessions last season with all the Girls 2A races taking place Friday morning and Girls 3A races taking place in the afternoon/evening with the same setup for Boys Class 2A and 3A on Saturday.
This year, the 200-yard medley relays, 200-yard freestyle relays, 200-yard Individual Medley, 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle relay will take place on Saturday with the Boys 3A and 2A beginning at 10:30 a.m. and the Girls 3A and 2A beginning at 3:45 p.m.
Sunday will follow the same format with the 100 free, 500 free, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 free relay.
“I’m super excited, especially now that it’s two days, a whole weekend kind of thing,” Zelinske said.
Psych Sheets: Boys’ 3A | Boys’ 2A | Girls’ 3A | Girls’ 2A
Martin and Zelinske are both veterans of the District 1 meet, both qualifying for the event for the fourth time this season.
Martin noted recovering from COVID hurt her times last season when she finished fourth in the 100 back and fifth in the 200 IM in the Class 2A field. She enters this weekend seeded second in both the 100 back (1:04.07) and 200 IM (2:18.77) — her highest seeding in four years.
“Just being with my teammates,” Martin said of what she’s looking forward to. “We made a relay that we really weren’t expecting to make it, so that will be fun. And then there’s my other teammate (senior) Mia Hang, who’s also going to be there, so it will be a lot of fun.”
Zelinske is another four-time District 1 qualifier, swimming in the 200 free and 100 back in her first three seasons. She improved each year and had her best finishes in both events last season when she placed ninth in the 200 free and 12th in the 100 back.
The OJR senior will switch things up a little in her last district swim, sticking with the 100 back, in which she is seeded fifth in the Class 3A field, and also adding the 500 free, in which she is seeded 20th.
“From a time standpoint, I haven’t gotten all that faster, but my mindset has definitely changed over the years. I guess I grew to love the sport more,” Zelinske said. “This year, more than in the past, I have never had more fun.”
Martin and Zelinske qualified for states as part of relay teams in the past, but have never made the meet as an individual event. Their chances took a hit last season when the state field was reduced to eight district champions and the next eight fastest times around the state in each event.
Both have making states among their goals heading into this weekend.
“That would be exciting since it’s something I haven’t been able to do yet,” Zelinske said. “Hopefully with them taking more this year, I’m able to make it.”
Back for more >> The Pioneer Athletic Conference has several 2021 district qualifiers back in 2022, including two gold medalists in Pope John Paul II junior Henry Phillips and Perkiomen Valley senior Jacob Replogle.
In 2021, Replogle won Class 3A gold in the 500 free and silver in the 200 free, while Phillips did the same at the Class 2A level. Replogle enters this year’s meet seeded seventh in the 500 free and eighth in the 200 free. Phillips is seeded second in the 500 and fourth in the 200.
Upper Merion senior Jack Larkin (200 free), Methacton junior Chris Groff (100 back) and senior Tommy Gibbs (100 fly, 100 free) and Owen J. Roberts senior Will Cano (50 free, 100 free) are all back again on the Class 3A side. Pottsgrove senior Declan Keener (100 free, 50 free) is a district returner in 2A.
Gibbs is seeded fifth in the 100 fly after a fifth place finish in 2021, and Groff is seeded sixth in the 100 back after placing seventh a year ago.
On the girls’ 3A side, Zelinske and Upper Merion’s Lindsay Yuen are the only other seniors back at the District 1 meet from last season. Yuen finished sixth in the 100 breast last season and is seeded third heading into this weekend — one spot ahead of Boyertown sophomore Tamara Engler, who qualified for districts last season but couldn’t compete due to COVID-19 contract tracing.
Owen J. Roberts junior Eliana Crew (50 and 100 free), Spring-Ford junior Ashley Gutshall (50 and 100 free), Methacton sophomore Madison Wimmer (500 free) and Phoenixville sophomore Kenzie Padilla (100 fly, 500 free) are back at the District 1 meet in the Class 3A girls field, while Martin and teammate Mia Hang (200 IM, 500 free) also return in Class 2A.
Gutshall was the PAC’s highest 3A finisher in 2021, placing fourth in the 50 free. She is seeded sixth in the 50 and fifth in the 100. Padilla comes in seeded third in the 100 fly and fifth in the 500 free, hoping to improve on last seasons’ sixth and eighth place finishes, respectively.
Wimmer is also among the top-ranked PAC swimmers this weekend. She competed in the 500 free as a freshman, finishing 10th but will swim in the 100 and 200 free this weekend. She is seeded 5th in the 200.
Making Strides >> Owen J. Roberts junior Logan Richards has come a long way since a 32nd place finish in the 500 free as a freshman at the District 1 meet in 2020.
Though Richards did not qualify as an individual in last year’s reduced district field, he enters this weekend as the top seed in both the 200 free (1:42.94) and 500 free (4:35.29).
During the course of the season, Richards broke OJR’s pool records in the 200 and 500 free, also setting the new program mark in the 500 free.
In two years, Richards shaved off nearly 21 seconds from the 4:56.42 he posted as a freshman at the 2020 district meet.
Fresh Faces >> There are nine total PAC freshmen set to compete in their first District 1 meet this weekend — three boys and six girls.
Upper Perkiomen’s Nolan McCloskey (200 and 500 free) and Owen J. Roberts’ Colin Davis (50 and 100 free) and Ethan Suessmuth (100 fly) will compete in the Boys Class 3A field.
Davis is the highest seeded PAC freshman, coming in with the sixth best time in the 50 free and 10th best time in the 100 free. Central Bucks West freshman Blaise Hofmann (5th in 100 back) is the only first-year swimmer with a higher seed than Davis on the Class 3A boys side.
Methacton’s Truly Sommer (200 IM, 500 free), Owen J. Roberts’ Olivia Cooper (200 and 500 free) and Kaitlyn McGuire (50 free), Phoenixville’s Maddy Deeney (200 IM and 500 free) and Spring-Ford’s Abby Koehler (100 fly) will compete in the Girls Class 3A field, while Pope John Paul II’s Shae Gonzalez (200 and 500 free) competes in 2A.
