Agnew, Fresa win gold in 50 free

GIRLS: Upper Perk sophomore shines; OJR’s Niness, Phoenixville’s Pappas move on

The First Noel. On second thought, make that The Noel first.

Upper Perkiomen’s Noel Fresa turned heads during the opening day of the District One Swimming Championships on Saturday afternoon at La Salle University.

The sophomore claimed first place in the Class AA 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.20, nearly a full second ahead of Villa Maria senior Nina Smith’s secondplace finish of 25.01. Her time is also a major improvement from her first go at districts last season, when she posted a 24.96 for a fifth-place finish.

Having faced Smith plenty of times throughout her career, Fresa knew she’d be up against a tall task.

“She’s beat me a lot in our careers,” said Fresa of Smith. “I’ve faced her in dual meets, at districts and states (last year) and at nationals.”

Going up against upperclassmen the majority of her scholas-

tic career, Fresa isn’t one to back down from the challenge. Rather, she finds motivation from it.

“It’s a lot more rewarding to go against and beat someone older that I am,” she said. “They’re supposed to be bigger, faster and stronger. So for me, it’s good motivation.”

Fresa will look to keep the medals coming on Sunday. She comes into Day Two as the No. 1 seed in the 100 freestyle with a seed time of 53.49.

“I want to win that for sure,” she said. “Last season I didn’t finish nearly where I wanted to at states (in the 100 back), so I want to get back up there and make up for it this time around.”

With her first-place finish this time around, Fresa

is an automatic qualifier for the PIAA Championships to be held later this month at Bucknell University. In Class AA action, the top finisher advances to states while Class AAA sends the top five qualifiers. Both classifications will also feature timeonly qualifications based on times posted across the state.

Fresa was additionally part of the Tribe’s fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:42.23. The contingent, which included Maddie Modugno, Bailey McCausland and Jayme Fisher, finished a second behind Nazareth Academy (1:41.23).

Phoenixville freshman Erini Pappas and Owen J. Roberts sophomore Mikayla Niness each earned themselves automatic bids to states with individual top-five finishes in their respective Class AAA results.

Pappas posted a 56.69 in the 100 fly, cutting a half a second off her seed time and edging Great Valley’s Mac Sullivan (56.81). Pappas also finished tied for seventh in the 200 individual medley with Strath Haven’s Liz Olszewski at 2:08.19.

Niness finished fifth in the 50 free with a time of 23.99, just barely holding off Upper Dublin’s Molly Braun (24.05) and cutting nearly half a second off her seed time. She was also part of OJR’s 200 free relay, which finished seventh overall with a time of 1:37.81.

Girls action will get underway again Sunday at 4 p.m. following the boys back at La Salle University’s Kinney Natatorium. The day’s races will include the 100 free, 500 free, 100 back, 100 breast and 400 free relay.