Owen J. Roberts’ Richards wins gold to lead PAC swimmers at District 1 championships

Owen J. Roberts junior Logan Richards entered Saturday’s District 1 Class 3A championships with the top-seeded time in the 200-yard freestyle.

When he touched the wall and checked the scoreboard at York County YMCA, that’s where he still found himself, earning his first district gold medal.

“I actually had no clue that I finished first,” Richards said. “When I came off the last wall, I think I was in fourth. The last 25 I just put my head down and went into the wall. Then I looked at the scoreboard and saw first.”

“It was definitely a goal of my mine that I had for a long time,” he added.

Richards came from behind and posted a time of one minute, 40.56 seconds to narrowly edge North Penn’s Mason Potts (1:40.63) and Conestoga’s Raymon Welgosh (1:40.82).

“It’s definitely a different feeling when you have somebody or a bunch of people who are right next to you or right ahead of you because it puts you in a different kind of gear and it makes you really unleash everything that you have inside of you,” Richards said.

Richards was the PAC’s lone gold medal winner Saturday. The other medalists in Boys 3A included Perkiomen Valley senior Jacob Replogle (4th 200 free, 1:41.43), Methacton senior Tommy Gibbs (5th 100 butterfly, 50.87), and Owen J. Roberts freshman Colin Davis (T-5th 50 free, 21.35).

Warriors junior Chris Groff just missed the podium with a 10th place in the 200 free, but set a new school-record time of 1:44.13.

“I was super happy,” Gibbs said. “My goal for today was just to get back on that podium, and it happened again and I was super excited afterwards.”

In Class 2A, Pope John Paul II junior Henry Phillips earned a silver medal in the 200 free (1:45.22), and Pottsgrove senior Declan Keener finished fifth in the 200 free (1:53.88).

Gibbs also teamed with Groff, senior Dylan Phan and sophomore Christian Lebold,to set a new team record in the 200 medley relay (1:36.03) and finish third, breaking the previous school mark of 1:37.1. Richards, Davis, junior Eskander Bierman, and senior Will Cano swam a 1:27.29 to finish sixth in the 200 free relay.

“Dropping that much time caught us by surprise,” Gibbs said. “We knew we had the ability to get that record, but getting it by over a second just blew our minds.

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Methacton sophomore Madison Wimmer had her eye on the record-board at the high school since eighth grade.

In her just her second season with the Warriors’ swimming program, Wimmer ensured her name will be up there with other top times.

Wimmer swam a school-record time of 1:51.80 to finish third at the District 1 Class 3A championships at York County YMCA on Saturday.

“I looked at the clock and saw the time at 1:52, but I was kind of shocked I went that time,” Wimmer said. “It was overwhelming happiness. All my hard work paid off.”

Wimmer was one of three Class 3A girls medalists on Saturday. Phoenixville sophomore Kenzie Padilla won a silver medal in the 100 fly (55.63), and Owen J. Roberts junior Eliana Crew finished eighth in the 50 free (24.27).

“It was kind of nerve wracking, but at the same time it was just relieve,” Wimmer said of standing on the podium. “It was something I’ve been waiting for for a while.”

In Class 2A, Upper Perkiomen’s Darragh Martin (2:21.91) and Mia Hang (2:26.67), finished third and sixth, respectively in the 200 IM. Pope John Paul II freshman Shae Gonzalez placed 5th in the 200 free (2:06.51).

The Owen J. Roberts 200 free relay team earned a bronze medal in 3A with a time of 1:37.25. Spring-Ford’s 200 medley relay team of Sydney Koehler, Abby Koehler, Maris Sadowski and Gutshall finished fifth (1:47.69), breaking the school mark they just set at the PAC championships.

In Class 2A, Pope John Paul II’s 200 medley relay (2:05.58) and 200 free relay (1:51.63) both finished eighth. Upper Perk finished seventh in the 200 free relay (1:50.98).