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WILKES-BARRE — One noticeable addition to the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center natatorium this year is a red-and-gold Holy Redeemer records board that faces swimmers at the starting block.
Even more catching is that two-thirds of the Royals’ boys records belong to senior Adam Mahler.
A work order will soon need to be put in to replace the records Mahler smashed in the final district championships of his career: Two district records, two gold medals, one pool record.
“I guess it really doesn’t get old,” Mahler said. “Each one is always different. Each one has its one special part as its own special worth to me.”
Mahler set both the 200 free and 100 butterfly district records Friday on the opening day of the District 2 Class 2A Swimming Championships. Competition resumes Saturday at 11 a.m. at the CYC.
One record still stood in the way for Mahler.
Last season, he tied a 33-year old mark, held by Bishop Hoban’s Sean McCall in 1985, in the 200 free. On Friday, Mahler beat the shared standard by nearly four full seconds with a 1:42.14. Dallas’ Shane Szczecinski also outraced the standing mark with a 1:44.84 for second place.
“It means a lot to me,” Mahler said. “I get to say, this is mine. I get to watch was other people come in and want those records. I’m just so happy that I get to be the person they’re chasing after.”
Mahler erased his 100 butterfly district record by 1.31 seconds with a time of 49.18 seconds. Unshaved and untapered, the East Carolina-bound swimmer has lofty expectations of what he can accomplish in two weeks at the PIAA State Championships at Bucknell University.
“It feels amazing honestly,” he said. “It was such a good race for me. I’ve never been 49 except for states — let alone 49 untaped. I’m not as rested as most of the guys here. Power to them: they’re all doing amazing.”
Mountaineers eye district title
The Dallas boys and girls swimming teams are off to a strong start as they both aim to capture their respective team titles.
After the first day of competition, the boys sit in third place and 11 points behind first-place Abington Heights while the girls are in second place and 32 points behind Scranton Prep.
Melissa Leonard claimed the first Wyoming Valley Conference gold medal of the championships with a first-place finish. Leonard earned her second consecutive 200 free title with a 1:55.88 finish.
Leonard trailed Wyoming Seminary’s Aviah Dahlgren by fractions of a second at the midway point of the race. The Dallas junior kept stride with two sub-30 second splits to win the race by two seconds. Berwick’s Sydney Lloyd placed second.
“Honesty, it felt exactly the same as last year because Aviah was with me the whole time, and that happened too,” Leonard said. “It didn’t feel too much different but I had a little bit more pressure on me just because I won last year.”
Dallas sophomore Dennis Dukinas claimed the first gold medal of his career in the 200 IM.
Dukinas jumped out to a half-second lead in the butterfly and held strong through the backstroke. He broke the race open with a 33.98-second split in the breaststroke that separated him from the field. Dukinas won the race with a 2:04.23 that was five seconds quicker than the second-place competitor.
“I didn’t expect it,” Dukinas admitted. “Last year was amazing. But coming from a sixth to a first, I just don’t know how to feel right now. I’m stunned.
“It’s a really hard event. It’s all mental. It’s really why I don’t like this event.”
WVC swimmers take golds
Tunkhannock erased memories of last year’s gut-wrenching disqualification in the boys 200 free relay. The Tigers’ foursome of Davis Tidball, Julien Madus, Dylan Mislevy and Dyllan Henning outraced their opponents for a 1:32.1 to garner first place.
“It’s pretty nice after what happened last year with the disqualification,” Henning said. “It was nice to be back on top.”
The Tigers were third after Tidball’s first leg, and Madus kept stride with Abington Heights to stay a half-second back at the midway point. Mislevy took the lead with a 23.06-second split on the third. Henning, who false-started in last year’s race, anchored Tunkhannock and kept off a creeping Holy Redeemer to reach the top of the podium.
“I knew that we had it if we do the times that we’re supposed to and everything,” Henning said. “With me being the anchor this year and DQing on the false start last year, I had quite a bit of pressure to close it out. I ended up getting the job done. We all knew what we had to do. We all knew it was going to be close.”
Wyoming Seminary junior Kylee Kolbicka won her first individual championship by taking the girls 100 butterfly. She erased two seconds off her seed time to finish in 57.81 seconds in a crowded field. Holy Redeemer freshman Julia Bucknavage claimed second place.
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIPS
H.S. Girls Swimming
200 Medley Relay – 1. SP (APrushinski, Schofield, Their, McNulty) 1:47.3; 2. SEM (Roerig, Federici, Dahlgren, Kolbicka) 1:47.66; 3. HR (Mahler, Walting, Bucknavage, Blaum) 1:48.25; 4. DAL (EThomas, Bittner, HThomas, Kerrick) 1:53.81; 5. TUN (Lynn, Hutchins, Weaver, Rogers) 1:58.68; 6. DUN (Brown, Chiaro, Aydin, Healey) 2:01.53; 7. VV; 8. MEY; 9. COU; 10. WA; 11. WS; 12. BER
200 Free – 1. DAL Melissa Leonard 1:55.88; 2. BER Sydney Lloyd 1:58; 3. SP Corinne McCall 1:58.54; 4. DUN Maddie Healey 1:58.97; 5. SEM Aviah Dahlgren 1:59.84; 6. HR Emily Mahler 2:01.21; 7. SEM Paige Jackett; 8. SP Taylor Newton; 9. DAL Gabby Krochta; 10. WW Grace Hollister; 11. DAL Jennifer Leonard; 12. DAL Kaitlyn VanEtten
200 IM – 1. SP Lauren Schofield 2:08.97; 2. SP Peyton McNulty 2:15.05; 3. DAL Emma Thomas 2:15.96; 4. SEM Saskia Papsova 2:16.1; 5. HR Julia Bucknavage 2:16.84; 6. BER Mia Doll; 7. SP Victoria Wrobleski; 8. DAL Abbey Sutzko; 9. SP Abigail Bowen; 10. VV Nicole Chiricos; 11. HR Emily Duris; 12. SEM Abby Price
50 Free – 1. SP Alison Prushinski 24.17; 2. SP Haley Thier 24.33; 3. HR Margaret Walting 24.48; 4. DAL Gabby Spaciano 25; 5. SEM Noam Wasik 25.16; 6. TUN Camryn Rogers 25.25; 7. HR Caitlin Blaum; 8. SP Erica Prushinski; 9. TUN Taylor Lynn; 10. DAL Gina Kerrick; 11. MEY Elizabeth Livingston; 12. DAL Sydney Bittner
100 Fly – 1. SEM Kylee Kolbicka 57.81; 2. HR Julia Bucknavage 59.01; 3. BER Sydney Lloyd 59.93; 4. SEM Madi Federici 1:00.85; 5. SP Haley Thier 1:01.64; 6. Olivia Turner Havira 1:01.69; 7. DAL Gabby Krochta; 8. DAL Hannah Thomas; 9. DUN Colleen Brown; 10. VV Hailey O’Leary; 11. HR Emma Humm; 12. SP Abigail Bowen
200 Free Relay – 1. SP (Thier, APrushinski, Schofield, McNulty) 1:37.71; 2. DAL (Spaciano, Krochta, Kerrick, MLeonard) 1:40.77; 3. SEM (Wasik, Federici, Papsova, Jackett) 1:41.49; 4. TUN (Weaver, Brown, Lynn, Rogers) 1:46.66; 5. HR (Humm, Dutko, Kern, Duris) 1:48.83; 6. BER (Lloyd, Doll, Turowski, Preston) 1:49.67; 7. VV; 8. EL; 9. COU; 10. MEY; 11. LL; 12. WS
H.S. Boys Swimming
200 Medley Relay – 1. SP (Oven, Cholish, Galko, Thayer) 1:42.49; 2. TUN (Tidball, Henning, Mislevy, Madus) 1:42.96; 3. DAL (Puza, Dukinas, Blockus, Szczecinski) 1:44.28; 4. SEM (Tindell, Salas-Warner, Wang, de Luna) 1:45.38; 5. AH (Frantz, Seid, Pzekop, Ocwieja) 1:47.2; 6. BER (Hess, Hill, Yacuboski, Hubley) 1:56.56; 7. LL, 8. VV, 9. EL
200 Free – 1. HR Adam Mahler 1:42.14; 2. DAL Shane Szczecinski 1:44.84; 3. EL Kale Decker, 1:54.02; 4. DAL Kevin Allen 1:54.42; 5. HR Chris Schell 1:54.51; 6. SP Ethan Haggerty 1:55.24; 7. SEM Thomas Rydzewski; 8. HR Josh Mayerski; 9. AH Jack Wasko; 10. TUN Julien Madus; 11. EL Zach Grosvenor; 12. MV Joseph Slish
200 IM – 1. DAL Dennis Dukinas 2:04.23; 2. LL Logan Kuhar 2:09.8; 3. SP Jospeh Cholishp 2:11.62; 4. AH John Frantz 2:12; 5. SEM Rodriko Salas-Warner 2:12.08; 6. LL Tanner Manzoni 2:15.16; 7. DAL JR Redmond; 8. HR Matt Dinh; 9. BER Alex Hess; 10. TUN Jordon Wagner; 11. TUN Lane Repsher 2:34.74; 12. AH Steven Dong
50 Free – 1. AH Josh Przekop 21.78; 2. TUN Davis Tidball 22.59; 3. SEM Nansen Wang 22.71; 4. AH Jarred Ocwieja 22.76; 5. SP Nathan Thayer 22.92; 6. TUN Dyllan Henning 23.38; 7. SEM Bobby de Luna; 8. HR Mike Williams; 9. MEY Jacob Schultz; 10. MEY Anthony Macko; 11. BER Colin Hill; 12. DAL David Rinehimer
100 Fly – 1. HR Adam Mahler 49.18; 2. AH Josh Przekop 54.36; 3. LAK Peter Kawash 55.86; 4. TUN Dylan Mislevy 56.97; 5. DAL Zachary Blockus 57.64; 6. SP Nathan Thayer 58.23; 7. HR Adam Smith; 8. SP Benjamin Galko; 9. DAL Jack Stout; 10. DAL Jason Puza; 11. LAK Nathan Micknick; 12. TUN AJ Hodge
200 Free Relay – 1. TUN (Tidball, Madus, Mislevy, Henning) 1:32.1; 2. HR (Mahler, Smith, Schell, Williams) 1:32.92; 3. SEM (Wang, Rydzewski, Salas-Warner, de Luna) 1:32.93; 4. AH (Przekop, Frantz, Wasko Ocwieja) 1:33.24; 5. SP (Thayer, Oven, Galko, Cholish) 1:35.61; 6. EL (Noldy, Staff, Mollo, Decker) 1:36.58; 7. DAL; 8. MEY; 9. BER; 10. WS; 11. WA
