It was a clean sweep Wednesday for the Central League on Day 1 of the PIAA Boys Class 3A Swimming and Diving Championships.
Springfield’s Jake Kennedy took home a pair of gold medals in a sensational opening day at Bucknell University, helping the Cougars set two Delaware County relay records and capturing the 50 freestyle crown.
Springfield went 1:30.34 in the medley relay to start the meet, routing runner-up North Penn by more than a second. Tristan Ronayne, Alex Chan, Jacob Johnson and Kennedy comprised the foursome. Johnson split an electric 20.49 in butterfly, then Kennedy came home in 19.64.
The swim downs the 2020 county record of 1:30.53 set by Episcopal Academy. It’s Springfield’s second relay title in this outstanding generation, having won the 200 free relay last year.
That relay fell a quarter second behind repeating, thanks to Conestoga, which went 1:22.03. Springfield’s time of 1:22.28 with the same four swimmers clubbed nearly a full second off the Delaware County record of 1:23.16 set in 2018 by Haverford School. Kennedy was even quicker in 19.54, while Johnson joined him in 19.77.
Kennedy grabbed an individual gold, too, the fourth of his career. He went 20.25 in the 50 free to edge Penncrest’s Jonathan Hoole by a hundredth of a second. The Delco duo had tied for the top seed in prelims at 20.30.
Kennedy finished sixth in that event as a sophomore in 2022. He was the runner-up last year to Ridley’s Shane Eckler, who posted the fastest time in the state this regular season but didn’t swim it in states due to a false start at districts.
Kennedy has four career gold medals, having won the 100 back last year.
Hoole, a junior, won the B final in 20.84 last year.
Not to be outdone, Johnson repeated as the state champ in the 100 fly, continuing to plunge the county record to near national depths. Johnson won in 47.58 last year but was nearly two seconds faster this year. He broke the county record at 46.98 at districts then sent that record skyward with a pair of 45.70 swims.
The morning swim obliterated the state record, held since 2020 by Upper Dublin’s Matthew Jensen at 46.58. He did the same at night to win by nearly two seconds and creep within a quarter second of the NFHS record owned by Aiden Hayes of Oklahoma and now NC State (45.47).
The day started with a diving medal for Ridley. Tyler Reeve scored 398.05 points to finish sixth and get on the podium. Teammate Kamren Brown finished 10th.
Ronyane added a second medal by going 1:53.07 in the 200 individual medley, good for fourth place for the Springfield senior.
Haverford finished 13th in the 200 medley relay. Strath Haven’s Gavin Shifflett went 1:41.55 to finish 11th in the 200 free.
Conestoga won the other three events.
Can Yeniyay of Conestoga went 1:36.66 to blow away the field in the 200 free by more than a second. Jake Wang went 1:44.20 to win the 200 IM by 5.6 seconds for the Pioneers. Both were on that 200 free relay, Wang leading off in 20.04.
