Swimming: Pandas’ McBlain wins two Catholic titles, O’Hara wins team title

Bonner-Prendergast’s Grace McBlain left La Salle University Saturday with an impressive weekend haul, winning two Catholic League titles and earning two swims at the PIAA Class 2A meet via the District 12 Championships.

Cardinal O’Hara repeated as the girls Catholic League champion, which was the morning event. The O’Hara boys squad came out stronger from the evenings’ districts, with five states berths.

McBlain won the 200 individual medley at PCLs in 2:16.59, then captured the 100 backstroke in 1:01.70. Teammate Madeline Reavey was third in both swims.

At districts, McBlain went quicker in the 100 back at 1:00.85 to seal a states berth. The junior cracked a minute in the 100 butterfly in 59.99 to head to states.

O’Hara’s girls came agonizingly close to a states berth in the 200 free relay, finishing second to Archbishop Wood by.19 seconds. Sarah Kelly, who anchored that relay, finished second in the 50 free.

Kelly had earlier won the Catholic League crown in the 50, going 26.34. She also helped the Lions finished second in the 200 medley and 200 free relays and was fourth in the 100 breaststroke. O’Hara’s Madison Gibson finished second in the 100 free at PCLs. Rylie Pellegrino was second in the 100 breast, and Katie O’Hanlon took third in the 500 free.

Archbishop Carroll’s best result was Maddie Formica taking fourth in the 100 butterfly at PCLs.

The split was reversed for the O’Hara boys, who excelled in the District 12 championships after tougher sledding against the Catholic League’s Class 3A powers. Henry Schueren finished third in the 100 breast and ninth in the 50 free, the two best O’Hara finishes at PCLs.

At districts, Schueren assembled two states-worthy swims. He won the 200 IM in 2:03.83 Friday, then claimed the 100 back in 1:01.22 Saturday. Schueren swam breaststroke on the 200 medley relay, where O’Hara edged Bonner-Prendergast by 1.02 seconds for a states trip. The 200 free relay also won in 1:36.03.

Leading off that latter relay was Jon Sandone, who won a thrilling race in the 50 free in 23.88 seconds. He nipped Archbishop Wood’s Andrew Lips to states spot by three hundredths.

Bonner-Prendergast’s Joshua Travers was within a second of states in the 100 fly, falling to Archbishop Ryan’s Rohan Macko. The Friars won the 400 free relay with the squad of Travers, Jeffrey Travers, Liam Wettlaufer and James Bryan.

At the Eastern Interscholastic Championships:

Notre Dame’s Ashley Kolessar won the girls 500 free as the Irish finished fourth in the team standings and nearly downed a long-standing Delco relay record.

The Irish had the best weekend of the Delco contingent with 410 points. Episcopal Academy was ninth in the girls competition, 11th in the boys and seventh in the combined. Haverford School finished eighth in boys competition at Franklin & Marshall Friday and Saturday.

Kolessar, a senior UCLA commit, finished second in the 200 IM Friday in 2:00.24. She got to the top step of the podium Saturday, routing the field in the 500 by nearly seven seconds. Her time of 4:51.31 is an automatic All-American time.

Kolessar joined with Devyn Sargent, Gabi Abruzzo and Tori Abruzzo to finish second in the 200 medley relay in 1:43.38. That is just .08 shy of the Delco record set in 2012 by Episcopal Academy. It’s also an automatic All-America time. The same foursome finished fifth in the 400 free relay in 3:28.45.

The 200 IM was a fruitful event for the Irish. Behind Kolessar, Sargent finished fourth in 2:04.49. Kaitlyn Kolessar (sixth in 2:08.66) and Gabi Abruzzo (eighth in 2:09.56) also made the A final. The younger Kolessar finished sixth in the 500 free.

Tori Abruzzo was the runner-up in the 100 back in 54.02. Like Ashley Kolessar in the IM, she was second to Baldwin’s Anya Mostek. Tori Abruzzo claimed third in the 100 fly in 54.73, where Gabi Abruzzo was 12th.

Natalie Stuart made two B finals, in 16th in the 200 free and 10th in the 500. Sargent finished fourth in the 100 back.

EA’s strength was localized in freestyle. Emma Lunn finished eighth in the 200 free, was ninth in the 100 back and anchored a pair of eighth-place EA freestyle relays. Ashley Tang, on both relays, claimed 12th in the 50 free and 13th in the 100 free. Kelly Fezue Mekoue finished 14th in the 50 and 17th in the 100. Megan Cassidy was 15th in the 200 free and 100 back.

Agnes Irwin finished 16th in the team competition. The Owls got a boost from Natalie Hofer, who took third in the 100 breast in 1:04.62, within a second of the Delco record. Rosa Huffman finished 12th in that event, and Mia Skyman was the top Delco girls diver in 10th place.

Henry Haupt provided the only two individual A-final swims on the boys side. The EA junior finished fourth in the 100 breast (58.30) and sixth in the 200 IM (1:53.46). Mason Kline was 11th in the 50 for EA. Owen McCabe finished fifth in diving.

Haverford’s best result came via diver AJ Rosenberger, who scored 440.15 points for third. Teammate Fisher Bond was seventh.

Max Marr made a pair of B finals, ninth in the 100 fly and 11th in the 100 back. Zach Oswald (200 IM, 100 back) and Henry Newhall (100 fly, 100 breast) added two B finals each. Dylan Kao placed 10th in the 100 breast. The 200 medley relay of Oswald, Kao, Marr and Jake LaRocca (14th in the 50) finished sixth.