Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Locals make waves on Day 1
Downingtown East boys, Conestoga girls and boys exceed expectations at Bucknell
LEWISBURG » The goals and practices throughout a long winter season culminated Wednesday as Downingtown East’s DJ Fechtman slammed into the wall at Bucknell’s Kinney Natatorium in Lewisburg.
It was the opening day of the PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships and Fechtman was attempting to reach the championship swim in the 100 fly, 200 medley relay, and the 200 freestyle relay. He qualified in all three along with his fellow relay swimmers as he finished eighth in the 100 fly with a 50.33. He came in with a seed time of 51.42 and posted a personal best in the morning swim. He wasn’t able to top that in the night swim, but he was able to hold on to his eighth position with a final of 50.52.
He also posted a personal best time in the opening lap of the 200 medley relay. His split in the backstroke was a personal best, but it also kicked off the meet with a positive showing for Downingtown East. The quick start seemed to help him as he opened the 100 fly strong, which then carried over to the 200 freestyle relay.
The group of Jack Inman, Aiden Carroll, Fetchman, and Ben Doyle posted a 1:27.34. The time qualified them for the night swim in the consolation group that will open the event. Downingtown East went on to finish tenth with a final of 1:27.51.
Downingtown East qualified for the consolation swim in the 200 freestyle relay, but Conestoga, which entered with the seventh fastest seed time, qualified for the championship swim as the group of Gary Wang, James Hughes, Raymond Welgosh, and Matthew Pawlow posted a 1:25.95 for a fifth overall finish. The placed sixth overall with a championship swim time of 1:25.32.
“We were practicing several relay starts the last few practices,” Hughes said. “We wanted to make sure we were really accurate with the starts. Then we practiced our sprinting work and tapering all week.”
Doyle also had a good showing in the early portions of the meet. He qualified for the consolation swim of the 100 fly. He posted a 51.16 to take a 15th overall finish in the morning swim to reach the consolation race. He raced a similar race in the consolation to hold his position for 15th with a time of 51.26.
The extra work paid off for Conestoga as it jumped out with top teams in the field and made the morning race much closer than anticipated. It all added up to a solid finish on the first day of the two-day event.
The group has remained close and Wednesday was the culmination of an entire season worth of work pouring out in the pool. Each swimmer was excited by the results, but the journey to reach States was one that brought them closer throughout the year.
“I wouldn’t have gone nearly as fast without these guys backing me up and cheering me on,” Welgosh said. “It helps knowing I have to hold up my end, because these guys are going to hold up their end. It’s really awesome having a good group of guys to work with.”
Welgosh also reached the consolation swim of the 200 free. He finished with a 1:42.02 to slot an 11th overall finish in the prelims and when to place 11th with a 1:41.08.
State College’s Matt Brownstead set the night on fire when he topped a national record in the 50 free with a final time of 19.24. He broke Vladimir Morozov’s 2010 record time of 19.43. Upper Dublin’s Matthew Jensen set a state record with a time of 46.58 in the 100 fly.
West Chester Henderson’s Dylan Smolders placed 16th in the prelims of the 200 IM with his final time of 1:56.26. It was a little slower than his seed time of 1:55.33, but it was enough to reach the consolation swim of the event. He finished 15th overall with a final swim time of 1:55.74.
The boy’s side of the event was delayed nearly 25 minutes in the mourning when one of the starting blocks broke loose. The officials moved all the swimmers off the deck and rigged up the block with ties that would hold for the day. It was repaired overnight.
For the girls, Great Valley’s Mac Sullivan entered Wednesday’s opening day with the hopes of reaching the night swim in the 100 fly. Unlike most swimmers at the event, she didn’t taper for the leadup. It made an already difficult challenge that much tougher as most swimmers went through some sort of taper for the event.
“Preparing to get here is a lot,” Sullivan said. “It’s an intense meet and it takes a lot of energy and effort to wake up every day and go to practice and then do strength training. Our team didn’t taper for this is it was hard to come down and try to make best times.”
Sullivan saved her taper for the later in the year when she swims for her YMCA program at nationals. That didn’t stop her from competing against the best the state has to offer.
She went out in the fourth heat of the 100 fly. It was the quickest heat of the day and Sullivan placed 15th to reach the consolation race of the event. She dropped a little time from her seed going from 56.98 to 56.61. She went on to place 16th with a final of 57.74.
“I tried to improve my time without having that rest and that boost,” Sullivan said. “It’s really hard. There are always club teams who want to save their tapers. It’s definitely differing. You can tell a lot of people have energy for this and some people are more tired.”
Conestoga’s 200 medley relay team of Caroline Famous, Naomi Furman, Allison Yuan, and Lily Robinson placed fifth for the championship swim with a final of 1:45.33. The group placed third with a 1:44.24.
The first individual event of the night featured a couple of local swimmers as West Chester Henderson’s Krista Marlin and Downingtown West’s Sarah Manthorp both reached the consolation swim of the 200 free. Marlin placed ninth with a 1:52.33 and Manthorp was just behind with a 1:52.81 for a 12th overall finish for the night swim. Marlin finished ninth with a 1:50.80 and Marthorp was 13th with a 1:53.11.
Izzy Paoletti topped field with a 2:01.72 for win in the 200 IM prelims. It was the closest race of the morning as Paoletti beat out North Allegheny’s Torie Buerger, who finished with a 2:01.75. Grace Bousum (Downingtown East) and Sydney McCracken (Kennett) both qualified for the consolation swim in the event.
Paoletti continued her run into the night swim as she finished third as both Cameron Gring (Muhlenberg) and Torie Buerger (North Allegheny) tied for first with a 1:59.50. Paoletti was right behind them with a 2:00.13.
Alexa Fulton (Downingtown East) and West Chester Henderson’s Katie Simpson both reached the championship finals of the 50 free. Fulton entered the finals as the fourth seed thanks to her morning time of 23.53. Simpson reached the final swim with eighth fastest time in the prelims with a 23.84.
Fulton placed third with a 23.16 and Simpson elevated herself to sixth with a 23.50 in the final swim.