The District 1 Class 3A Boys Swimming and Diving Championships was a Central League show this week.
While North Penn won the title, Central League schools won every event in a dominant performance that rewrote the record boards.
Springfield got it started in thrilling and fitting fashion at York YMCA Friday. The 200 medley relay of Tristan Ronayne, Alex Chan, Jacob Johnson and Jake Kennedy went 1:32.61 to down the district record and win gold. They edged North Penn by .01 seconds, Kennedy’s 19.85 on the anchor leg making the difference. It also took down the meet record of Conestoga set in 2022.
Kennedy won the 50 freestyle in 20.58 seconds, an event in which top-seeded Shane Eckler of Ridley was DQed. Eckler got gold in the 100 backstroke, going 49.72 to outduel Kennedy, second in 50.06. Penncrest’s Jonathan Hoole took third place in 50.17 to go with a medal for fifth in the 50 free.
Johnson was the star of the meet. He went 46.98 to win the 100 butterfly, taking down the meet record set in 2019 by Conestoga’s Brendan Burns. Johnson dominated the 100 free, winning in 44.51, a margin of a half-second over Mason Potts of North Penn.
Conestoga rounded up the rest of the victories. Cam Yeniay claimed the 200 free in 1:39.93 and the 500 free in 4:32.86. Jake Wang lowered Sean Faikish’s five-year-old district mark in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:47.36 that beat the field by more than six seconds. He also torpedoed the oldest record on the books, going 53.30 to destroy the 55.28 set by Brendan Hansen all the way back in 2000.
Wang and Yeniay were part of Stoga’s winning 200 free relay, which went 1:23.47 to down the 2018 Hatboro-Horsham district record. Springfield’s foursome was second in 1:23.85. Conestoga set the district mark in the 400 free relay as well.
North Penn’s depth saw it score 318 points to edge Conestoga’s 223. Springfield was fourth with 183. Haverford was eighth with 108.
District champions earn a spot in the state meet. The 32 entries in each individual and relay event will be filled by the fastest times among non-district champs statewide (23 for the girls in Class 3A, 24 for the 3A boys and 22 for 2A boys and girls.)
Among those with a great chance on the boys side is Gavin Shifflett. The Strath Haven junior finished fifth in the 200 free in 1:44.12 and fifth in the 500 in 4:41.71.
Ronayne went 1:55.92 to claim seventh in the 200 IM and 51.84 for eighth in the 100 back. Chan was 11th in the IM, a spot ahead of Haverford’s TJ Hayes. Hayes stands a better shot in the 500 free, after he went 4:35.02 to finish eighth. Haverford’s Sam Graaf finished 10th in the 100 fly and 13th in the 100 free. Chan was 14th in the 100 breast.
Haverford’s relay should get there, taking fifth in the 400 free in 3:11.86. Zach Koptyra, Jacob Muntz, Graaf and Hayes composed that quartet. Ridley was ninth.
Springfield produced the best result among the Delco contingent in the girls Class 3A meet, with Addyson Despeaux dropping nearly two seconds to finish fourth in the 100 back. She went 57.31. Radnor’s Alice Lake was seventh in that event, Zoey Rogers of Garnet Valley eighth and Ayva Christie of Springfield 10th.
Christie went 24.38 to finish seventh in the 50 free, which could get her to states. The same is true for eighth-place Kayla Reasons of Garnet Valley. Penncrest freshman Morgan Peterson was 11th.
Radnor’s Annie Lindgren was eighth in the 100 fly in 57.77. Rori Kennedy of Ridley finished 11th, a spot ahead of Strath Haven’s Julia Parker. Mallorie Jeremiah of Garnet Valley finished ninth in the 500 free.
The best Delco relay was Garnet Valley’s 200 free relay, with Reasons, Rogers, Peyton Goetz and Jeremiah. They finished sixth in 1:39.14.
Upper Dublin won the girls title comfortably over Hatboro-Horsham, with 261 points. The top Delco school was Garnet Valley in 13th.
Sun Valley’s Kara Damico won a Class 2A title, going 59.21 to claim the 100 fly. She should also make states in the 50 free, her time of 24.25 earning silver, just behind the 24.09 of Springfield-Montco’s Olivia Igou.
Already qualified for states are Ridley divers Tyler Reeve and Kamren Brown, who finished second and fifth in the 3A boys competition, respectively, and Ava Keller (second) and Mu’Nairah Saleem (eighth) in girls 3A; Haverford’s Jeremy Sheau in sixth; and Interboro’s Kylie Arnott, who repeated as the boys Class 2A champ.
