OJR’s Richards golden in 500 free, Perkiomen Valley’s Filzen silver in diving at PIAA Championships
Owen J. Roberts junior Logan Richards’ excellence in the 500-yard freestyle this season was already secured after he claimed championships in the Pioneer Athletic Conference and District 1 in record-setting fashion.
To little surprise, Richards has a great finishing kick, too.
That was on display Thursday when Richards became state champion in the 500-yard freestyle on the second day of the PIAA Class 3A Swimming Championships at Bucknell University.
Richards placed first in a personal-best 4:26.93 – shaving time off his District 1 record 4:28.76 set on Feb. 27 – and solidly ahead of runner-up Ben Gerhard of Gov. Mifflin (4:29.44).
“It still really hasn’t hit me yet, but it’s probably the happiest I’ve ever been,” Richards said Friday. “I raced prelims like I did at districts. At night (in the finals), we did the same thing but I attacked the back half of the race more. The two guys, Ben Gerhard and Takoda (Heckman of Wilson), they (start fastest but) don’t normally close as fast as I can so I felt that was where my strength was. That was where I felt I could make my move.”
Perkiomen Valley’s Jacob Replogle placed third in 4:30.07 – more than five seconds better than his district meet swim – to earn his fifth career PIAA medal.
It was Replogle’s second medal of the meet after scoring silver in the 200 free on Wednesday.
Replogle wasn’t the only Perkiomen Valley student-athlete to earn silver: senior diver Gabby Filzen earned second place in the 3A girls’ diving championships on Thursday.
The District 1 champion’s 424.15 points were one of only three scores in the 400s. North Allegheny’s Christina Shi was champion after scoring 428.45.
Filzen overcame a setback early in the week when she sprained three fingers from hitting her hand on the board on an attempt of what was going to be her most difficult dive of states.
“I usually go for consistency but for this meet I was going to do a bigger dive until I got injured on Monday on that dive,” Filzen said. “It was a reverse 2-1/2 on 1-meter and I pulled in a little close and hit my hand and sprained three fingers. That was a big deal going to states in four days. So I decided to stick with my consistent dives, do what I know how to do.”
It led to the senior three-time PAC diving champion (the event was not held in 2021) needing to handle some impact pain when competing at states.
“It was unfortunate. It did hurt to dive a bit but once you’re in that meet setting I just dove the way I know how even though after every dive I was definitely in pain. But I got through it,” she said.
Even with the hand pain, Filzen still managed to do what she set out to, which was enjoying her experience.
“I didn’t really have any expectations,” she said. “I hadn’t competed in states in two years so I just wanted to go in and have as much fun as possible. I think I did that.”
The atmosphere of the state championships – back at its boisterous best after the mid-meet cancellation of 2020 and pandemic-modified 2021 – were welcomed by Richards for his premier event.
“It was a definitely a lot different. It was finals, and they are always really crazy,” he said. “I had my whole entire team there, all the other nine people, and everybody was screaming. It was really loud and it really helped with the energy and adrenaline.”
Methacton junior Christopher Groff earned a medal by placing seventh in the 100 backstroke (51.66).
Phoenixville sophomore Kenzie Padilla placed sixth in the 500 free (4:58.42). It was her second podium finish of the meet – third of her career – after placing 4th in the 100 butterfly on Wednesday.
Other PAC swimmers who made finals included Spring-Ford junior Ashley Gutshall, who finished 13th in the 100 free after a 52.10 in the B final.
In morning preliminaries Thursday, OJR’s Richards bettered his top-seeded time in the 500 free with a 4:28.42, just shy of a minute better than second place Gerhard of Gov. Mifflin (4:29.39). PV’s Replogle qualified in fourth, his 4:33.72 bettering his seed time by more than two seconds.
OJR freshman Colin Davis finished 20th in the 50 free (47.37).
OJR’s 400 free relay was disqualified in prelims and did not advance.
Spring-Ford’s Gutshall finished 11th in the 100 free (52.39) to make the B final. OJR junior Eliana Crew went 17th in the same event (52.67).
OJR senior Lauren Zelinske finished 25th in the 500 free (5:13.32) and 20th in the 100 back (58.27).
The OJR 400 free relay of Natalie Spencer, Zelinske, Emery Horn and Eliana Crew placed 20th in prelims (3:36.74).
Class 2A
On Friday, Pope John Paul II junior Henry Phillips placed eighth in the 200 free with a 1:44.94. Phillips returns Saturday to compete in the 500 free.
