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WILKES-BARRE — Paul Flowers fashioned the most fitting ending to Hazleton Area’s district championship performance.
The Hazleton Area senior came from the underdog position to break a district record in his final swim in the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center pool.
Hazleton Area won three district gold medals and four school records at the second day of the District 2-4 Class 3A Swimming Championships. The Cougars finished in third place in both team standings with 252 boys and 228 girls points.
Flowers entered the 100 breast as the third-seeded swimmer, two seconds behind Scranton’s Aidan Drouse and a quarter-second ahead of two others. Flowers was at equal pace with Drouse and swam a 30.69-second split in the last 50 yards to clock in two seconds ahead of the field.
Flowers broke Wyoming Valley West’s Corey Welch’s 18-year district record with a time of 58.11 seconds. He dropped more than four seconds off of his seed time.
“It was anyone’s race,” Flowers said. “I was just trying to get my hand on the wall first. I knew it would take it a minute to win it. But I would have never have imagined a 59, let alone a 58. It’s so much relief. I’ve been looking at that district record for so long.”
Sophomore Anthony Goulstone claimed his third regional championship of the weekend with a victory in the 100 back. An exasperated Goulstone registered a 54.83-second time that outperformed the competition by nearly six seconds.
“Towards the end, I was really struggling just to get my arms up and going,” he said. “So, yeah, I had a really good weekend through and through. But it was tough at the end.”
Trailing Goulstone was Wyoming Valley West’s Jared Zawatski with a surprise second-place performance.
Zawatski was fourth at the midway point but charged past Hazleton Area’s Brandon DaGrosa and Delaware Valley’s Steven Schermerhorn down the stretch. The Spartan junior touched the wall a hundredth-second ahead of DaGrosa in 1:00.6, eliciting a loud chorus of cheers from the Wyoming Valley West fans and a warm embrace from his parents and teammates at the finish line.
“I was going in there ranked fourth,” Zawatski said. “I was like, ‘you know what, I can do better.’ I can get that second place. I couldn’t believe it. I was really proud of myself.”
A pair of Hazleton Area freshman took the top two spots on the podium in the 500 free. Ryan Kovalick dropped 10 seconds to fall under the five-minute mark at 4:52.64 to earn a gold medal in his first-ever regional championships. He was followed by classmate Antonio Daiute with a 5:01.21.
“It’s breathtaking honestly to come in my first year and be capable of doing that,” Kovalick said. “I don’t really know how to describe it.”
The Cougars broke four school records over the weekend.
For the boys, Goulstone set the 200 IM mark. Flowers took down his school mark in the 100 breast. The girls’ 400 free relay of Bridget Reed, Haley Sanko, Sadie Hungsinger and Marina O’Hara set a new mark of 3:50.05 for third place.
O’Hara was the top Wyoming Valley Conference girls performer.
She broke a 13-year old school record in a second-place performance of 55.39 seconds for third in the 100 free. O’Hara was third in the 100 back at 1:03.53.
DISTRICT 2-4 CHAMPIONSHIPS
H.S. Girls Swimming
Team Standings – 1. Delaware Valley (DV) 352; 2. Williamsport (WIL) 292; 3. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 228; 4. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 136; 5. Abington Heights (AH) 97; 6. Pittston Area (PA) 73; 7. Nanticoke (NAN) 70; 8. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 49; 9. Scranton (SCR) 29
100 Free – 1. WAL Cailin Campbell 52.98; 2. HAZ Marina O’Hara 55.39; 3. WIL Isabelle Griswold 55.73; 4. DV Esther Lee 57.28; 5. DV Julia Weinreb 58.42; 6. HAZ Sadie Hungsinger 58.53; 7. WIL Ella Meckley; 8. HAZ Sarah Lloyd; 9. AH Elizabeth Keisling; 10. DV Taylor Ristaino; 11. NAN Caitlin Lehman; 12. PA Ella Hoban
500 Free – 1. DV Victoria Corcoran 5:30.67; 2. DV Marisa Dambach 5:31.49; 3. HAZ Maggie Yannes 5:36.04; 4. WIL Elisa Dinicola 5:37.99; 5. WIL Amy Jarvis 5:40.83; 6. HAZ Abigail Goulstone 5:41.92; 7. WVW Sydney Bruno-Beck; 8. HAZ Ashtyn Cartwright; 9. WIL Cecilia Fink; 10. NAN Deanna Wadzin; 11. NAN Kaleigh Klein; 12. WIL Zoey Harding
100 Back – 1. DV Miranda Murray 59.47; 2. WAL Kara Campbell 59.99; 3. WIL Mallory Pardoe 1:00.26; 4. HAZ Marina O’Hara 1:03.53; 5. DV Sierra Hartmann 1:03.62; 6. DV Shannon Deignan 1:03.75; 7. DV Hannah Grathwohl; 8. HAZ Stefany Malaga; 9. AH Sarah Bath; 10. WAL Kirsten Kreiter; 11. WIL Kaida Muse; 12. NAN Julia Fritz
100 Breast – 1. DV Sierra Gillan 1:07.17; 2. DV Miranda Murray 1:08.42; 3. AH Abby Brock 1:10.89; 4. WIL Ellie Fisher 1:11.58; 5. DV Alexis Ristaino 1:13.34; 6. HAZ Alissa Platukis 1:14.22; 7. WIL Sarah Waltz; 8. WAL Mary Harmuth; 9. DV Jordan O’Connor; 10. HAZ Haley Sanko; 11. SCR Claudia Pitts; 12. HAZ Alberilus Alcantara
400 Free Relay – 1. WIL (Pardoe, Griswold, Jarvis, Smith) 3:40.37; 2. DV (Murray, Dambach, Weinreb, Gillan) 3:45.88; 3. HAZ (Reed, Sanko, Hungsinger, O’Hara) 3:50.05; 4. NAN (Lehman, Klein, George, Wadzin) 4:07.71; 5. PA (Connors, Norwillo, Grieco, Hoban) 4:08.25; 6. WAL (Desmet, Schmalzle, Kreiter, Elgayar) 4:24.74; 7. AH
H.S. Boys Swimming
Team Standings – 1. Delaware Valley (DV) 296; 2. Williamsport (WIL) 257; 3. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 252; 4. Scranton (SCR) 165; 5. Nanticoke (128); 6. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 109; 7. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 59; 8. Pittston Area (PA) 24
100 Free – 1. SCR Aidan Drouse 46.95; 2. DV Damian Baranowski 47.81; 3. WIL Matt Beard 48.44; 4. SCR Jason Ardan 50.38; 5. DV Evan Dong 50.64; 6. HAZ Tom Polloock 53.05; 7. WAL Hunter Vargo; 8. WIL Ross Flerlage; 9. DV Paul Torres; 10. DV Jon Manning; 11. NAN Mike Marcella; 12. SCR Jeff Norton
500 Free – 1. HAZ Ryan Kovalick 4:52.64; 2. HAZ Antonio Daiute 5:01.21; 3. DV Robert Holderith 5:31.4; 4. NAN Hugo Panecatl 5:42.42; 5. NAN Hector Panecatl 5:58.16; 6. WIL Matt Getgen 6:04.24; 7. WAL Mike Wildenberg; 8. WAL Caleb Fylstra; 9. WAL Anthony Marie
100 Back – 1. HAZ Anthony Goulstone 54.83; 2. Jared Zawatski 1:00.6; 3. HAZ Brandon DaGrosa 1:00.61; 4. DV Steve Schermerhorn 1:01.01; 5. WIL Devon Shank 1:01.95; 6. DV Ryan Mrozinski 1:02.89; 7. NAN Julian Homa; 8. HAZ Cody Manherz; 9. SCR EJ Mundia; 10. HAZ Matt Hartz; 11. DV Joel Loomis; 12. SCR Corey Mayer
100 Breast – 1. HAZ Paul Flowers 58.11; 2. SCR Nick Drouse 1:00.19; 3. WIL Josh Bonislawski 1:01.06; 4. DV Lucas Santiago 1:01.53; 5. NAN Christopher Cabonilas 1:01.55; 6. DV Luke Stevens 1:02.25; 7. WAL Justin Romeo; 8. WIL Riley Hockman; 9. DV Rory Naturale; 10. HAZ Thomas Pollack; 11. NAN Jeffrey DeRocco; 12 SCR Justin Grier
400 Free Relay – 1. WIL (Bonislawski, Beattie, Hockman, Beard) 3:18.32; 2. DV (Baranowski, Santiago, Dong, Stevens) 3:18.57; 3. HAZ (Pollock, Manherz, Daiute, Kovalick) 3:30.71; 4. WAL (Wildenberg, VanWettering, Vargo, Romeo) 3:43.02; 5. SCR (Norton, Dainty, Finnerty, Alexander) 3:56.67; 6. NAN (Mavus, HuPanecatl, Reyes, DeRocco) 3:58.64
