Conestoga boys won several gold medals at the PIAA 3A Swimming & Diving Championships at Bucknell University Wednesday.
Conestoga senior Jake Wang, the defending state champion in the boys 200 yard IM, finished first in the 200 IM once again Wednesday with a PR time of 1:44.20.
Pioneer senior Can Yeniay won the boys 200 yard freestyle with a PR clocking of 1:36.66, and the Conestoga quartet of Wang, senior Brick Whitaker, freshman Liam Haas and Yeniay won the 200 free relay with a PR time of 1:22.03, edging out second-place Springfield (1:22.28).
“I thought Jake and Can both swam phenomenal races,” said Conestoga boys swimming head coach Mark Tirone. “And the 200 free relay really held it together in an exciting race. Liam Haas had a PR in his 50 free (segment) and he really turned it up a notch.”
Whitaker also won a medal in the boys 100 butterfly, finishing fifth (49.74).
At the end of the day Wednesday, Conestoga was in fourth place in the 3A boys’ team competition with 94 points. North Penn and Springfield were tied for first with 129 points.
Other local individual medal winners Wednesday were Unionville senior Izzy Iwasyk, who finished fourth in the girls 50 free (23.10); and West Chester Henderson’s Edward Stoltz, who placed fifth in the boys 50 free (20.69). On Thursday morning in the girls 100 free, Iwasyk broke the school record with a clocking of 50.20 in prelims and was seeded second going into the Thursday evening finals.
West Chester Henderson had two medal-winning boys relays Wednesday – the 200 medley relay (fifth, 1:32.84) and the 200 free relay (eighth, 1:25.85).
In the girls 200 medley relay, the West Chester East quartet of Sam Heiland, Taiylor Tegler, Sarah Zeminski and Grace Herlihy finished ninth (first in the B finals) with a clocking of 1:46.71. The Conestoga quartet of Maddie Fox, Hadar Miller, Jena Nowoswiat and Paige Hedlund finished 12th (fourth in the B finals) with a time of 1:47.70.
In the girls 200 free, West Chester Henderson junior Paige Fisher finished 10th (second in the B finals) with a time of 1:51.55, Downingtown West sophomore Elizabeth McNamara was 11th (third in the B final) at 1:52.53, Kennett sophomore Alexandra Scime placed 12th (fourth in the B final) with a clocking of 1:53.38 and West Chester East sophomore Emily Schwarz placed 16th (1:55.86).
In the girls 200 IM, Great Valley sophomore Grace Curtis was 11th (2:08.00) and Downingtown West’s Keira Carmella placed 16th (2:10.54).
Other top finishes Wednesday included Conestoga’s Maddie Fox In the girls 100 fly (ninth, 56.35), West Chester Rustin freshman Claire Roussakis in the girls 50 free (13th, 24.21) and the Downingtown East boys 200 medley relay (11th, 1:36.04).
In the Thursday morning prelims for the girls 100 backstroke, Roussakis finished tied for fourth with a clocking of 56.26 and was seeded in the top five heading into Thursday night’s finals. In the Thursday morning prelims for the girls 100 breaststroke, Tegler was fifth with a time of 1:03.77 heading into Thursday night’s finals.
