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WILKES-BARRE — The Dallas boys made good on their promise to leave the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center natatorium as champions on Saturday.
The Mountaineers delivered by capturing the PIAA District 2 Class 2A Swimming Championship thanks in part to Shane Szczecinski’s win in the 100 Yard Freestyle and a critical second-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.
“This is a newer event for me,” Szczecinski said of his top finish. “The feeling of having an all-out sprint is really nice. It’s been fun to train for and I’ve really grown an affinity for the event.
“I liked my start,” he added. “However, I dove off the board a little too deep than I would have liked to. But I made up for it with my turns.”
Szczecinski’s finish was the lone win for the boy Mountaineers, but others finished in the top three on the podium.
In fact, the relay team of Szczecinski, Zachary Blockus, JR Redmond and Dennis Dukinas finished just a tenth of a second behind Holy Redeemer to take second place in the 400 freestyle relay.
Holy Redeemer’s relay team of Adam Mahler, who set both the 200 free and 100 butterfly district records on opening day, Adam Smith, Mike Williams and freshman Chris Schell fed off the electric energy in the natatorium.
“It was an amazing experience because a lot of freshman don’t get this experience,” Schell said about being his team’s anchor in the 400 freestyle relay. “We competed hard and it was really neck and neck” at the end.
Dallas finished with 207 points to capture the district championship.
Pool record broken
A 7-year-old pool record held by Rebekah Campo was narrowly erased by Holy Redeemer’s Margaret Walting in the 100 breaststroke.
“It’s always an honor to break a record,” Walting said. “It’s a great thing to be able to put your name up and be able to motivate girls after me.
“Records are really something that pushes a lot of swimmers,” she added.
Walting broke the previous pool record of 1:04.23 with a 1:04.21 finish.
“I’m still shocked. It was a great race all around,” Walting said. “All the girls did a phenomenal job.”
Walting’s teammate, Caitlin Blaum, took second place, finishing a few seconds after Walting.
“She was a phenomenal competitor,” Walting said of Blaum. “To go place one and two with a teammate feels like a personal victory. To see someone you love so much do well is great.”
Despite strong showings from Dallas (240), Wyoming Seminary (237) and Holy Redeemer (186), the Classics of Scranton Prep took home the girls 2A district title with 283 points.
DISTRICT 2 CLASS 2A CHAMPIONSHIPS
H.S. Girls Swimming
Team — 1. Scranton Prep – 283; 2. Dallas – 240; 3. Wyoming Seminary – 237; 4. Holy Redeemer – 186; 5. Tunkhannock – 86; 6. Berwick – 81; 7. Valley View – 57; 8. Dunmore – 54; 9. Coughlin – 29; 10. Meyers – 27; 11. Elk Lake – 26; 12. West Scranton – 21; 13. Wyoming Area – 16; 14. Lake-Lehman – 14; 15. Holy Cross – 4
100 Free — 1. SEM Skylar B Roerig 52.34; 2. SEM Kylee Kolbicka 53.13; 3. SEM Noam Wasik 54.73, 4. DAL Abbey Sutzko 54.86; 5. TUN Camryn Rogers; 6. SP Oliva Turner-Havira 55.67; 7. WW Grace Hollister 56.65; 8. HR Emma Humm 58.52; 9. HC Kirsten Van Louvender 59.47; 10. MEY Elizabeth Livingston 1:00.14; 11. EL Reese Warriner 1:00.70; 12. TUN Sage Brown 1:00.98
500 Free — 1. DAL Melissa Leonard 5:12.57; 2. SP Corinne McCall 5:17.89; 3. SEM Aviah L. Dahlgren 5:19.87; 4. DUN Maddie Healey 5:20.74; 5. SP Lauren Schofield 5:20.85; 6. DAL Emma Thomas 5:21.62; 7. BER Mia Doll 5:21.76; 8. SEM Saskia Papsova 5:29.48; 9. SEM Paige Jackett 5:33.21; 10. SP Taylor Newton 5:48.56; 11. SEM Jess Kisbaugh 5:53.07; 12. HR Hannah Kern 5:55.15.
100 Backstroke — 1. SP Alison Prushinski 56.80; 2. SEM Roerig 57.95; 3. SP Peyton McNulty 58.49; 4. HR Emily Mahler 1:01.03; 5. DUN Colleen Brown 1:01.08; 6. SP Victoria Wrobleski 1:01.14; 7. DAL Gabby Spaciano 1:04.54; 8. DAL Hannah Thomas 1:05.66; 9. HR Emily Duris 1:05.98; 10. DAL Jennifer Leonard 1:09.25; 11. LAK Madison O’Donnell 1:08.52; 12. VV Rina Zambetti 1:10.66
100 Breaststroke — 1. HR Margaret Walting 1:04.21; 2. HR Caitlin Blaum 1:07.97; 3. SEM Madi R. Federici 1:08.11; 4. SP Erica Prushinski 1:11.04; 5. DAL Gina Kerrick 1:11.32; 6. VV Nicole Chiricos 1:12.51; 7. DAL Sydney Bittner 1:13.07; 8. VV Charisse Mulherin 1:13.07; 9. DAL Kaitlyn Van Etten 1:13.89; 10. SP Kerry McGrath 1:14.58; 11. TUN Alexis Hutchins 1:16.03; 12. DAL Morgan Sakulich 1:18.92.
400 Free Relay — 1. SEM (Kolbicka, Wasik, Dahlgren, Roerig) 3:34.47; 2. HR (Walting, Bucknavage, Mahler, Blaum) 3:38.33; 3. DAL (Spaciano, Krochta, Sutzko, Leonard) 3:41.03; 4. SP (Turner-Havira, Bowen, Prushinksi, Wrobleski) 3:45.57; 5. BER (Eisenhauer, Turowski, Doll, Lloyd) 4:04.45; 6. TUN (Weaver, Brown, Weaver, Hutchins) 4:06.30; 7. ELK (Lyden, Boscher, Smith, Warriner) 4:09.52; 8. LL (Bartuska, Burgit, Ciaccia, Newman) 4:16.41; 9. VV (Connor, Hubal. Tolerico, Mulherin) 4:40.45; 10. MEY (Staudenmeier, Weghorst, Van, Goodelinunas) 4:45.34; 11. COU (Duffy, Lavelle, Hughes, Unvarsky) 4:52.31; 12. WS (Palauskas, Emick, Hazleton, Bennett) 5:16.93.
H.S. Boys Swimming
Team — 1. Dallas – 207; 2. Tunkhannock – 180; 3. Abington Heights – 165; 4. Holy Redeemer – 158.5; 5. Scranton Prep – 146; 6. Wyoming Seminary – 126; 7. Elk Lake – 89; 8. Lake-Lehman – 68; 9. Meyers – 53; 10. Berwick – 47; 11. Valley View – 37.5; 12. Coughlin – 9; 13. West Scranton – 6; 14. Wyoming Area – 4; 15. Mid Valley – 1
100 Free — 1. DAL Szczecinski 48.49; 2. TUN Davis Tidball 49.76; 3. AH Jarred Ocwieja 50.21; 4. HR Chris Schell 52.12; 4. VV Austin Langel 52.12; 6. DAL Zachary Blockus 52.48; 7. SP Benjamin Galko 52.81; 8. HR Mike Williams 52.88; 9. ELK Kevin Noldy 53.37; 10. MEY Jacob Schultz 53.98; 11. SEM Thomas J. Rydzewski 54.70; 12. ELK Mario Mollo 55.08.
500 Free — 1. SP Ethan Haggerty 5:10.24; 2. SEM Nathan Tindell 5:11.57; 3. DAL Jack Stout 5:12.70; 4. HR Adam Smith 5:12.75; 5. ELK Kale Decker 5:14.51; 6. LL Tanner Manzoni 5:26.31; 7. DAL David Rinehimer 5:35.17; 8. AH Jack Wasko 5:39.21; 9. TUN Julien Madus 5:45.34; 10. AH Kevin Guditus 5:53.99; 11. TUN Jordan Wagner 6:00.21; 12. ELK Noah Staff 6:01.07.
100 Backstroke — 1. LD Peter Kawash 54.24; 2. LL Logan Kuhar 57.80; 3. TUN Dylan Mislevy 59.34; 4. ELK Kevin Noldy 59.61; 5. AH John E. Frantz 59.82; 6. DAL Jason Puza 1:00.32; 7. DAL Kevin Allen 1:00.56; 8. SEM Nathan Tindell 1:00.76; 9. HR Josh Mayerski 1:02.75; 10. HR Matt Dinh 1:03.55; 11. SP Harrison Oven 1:04.92; 12. BER Alex Hess 1:06:53.
100 Breaststroke — 1. SP Jospeh Cholish 1:01.46; 2. DAL Dennis Dukinas 1:01.69; 3. TUN Dyllan Henning 1:03.64; 4. VV Austin Langel 1:06.60; 5. BER Colin Hill 1:08.99; 6. COU Kevin Clarke 1:11.61; 7. TUN AJ Hodge 1:11.68; 8. AH Sloan Seid 1:12.30; 9. DAL JR Redmond 1:13.85; 10. HR Brandyn Rivas 1:16.50; 11. AH Charlie Puksta 1:16.81; 12. DAL Alex DeRome 1:16.85.
400 Free Relay — 1. HR (Mahler, Smith, Williams, Schell) 3:23.38; 2. DAL (Szczecinski, Blockus, Redmond, Dukinas) 3:23.57; 3. SEM (Tindell, Wright, Rydzewski, Wang) 3:34.36; 4. ELK (Noldy, Staff, Mollo, Decker) 3:37.27; 5. MEY (Macko, Yelland, Stadulis, Schultz) 3:49.58; 6. TUN (Keeler, Repsher, Wagner, Hodge) 3:54.19; 7. AH (Wasko, Vale, Guditus, Seid) 3:55.52; 8. LL (Manzoni, Chapple, Walp, Kuhar) 3:56.81; 9. SP (Haggerty, Oven, Redington, Van Pelt) 4:14.76; 10. VV (Fontanella, Walker, Fetcho, Langel) 4:16.36; 11. BER (Kuklis, Ebert, Steber, Carroll) 4:47.47.
