A diverse pool of winners
Central Catholic swimmers, Moravian freshman, Saucon Valley lacrosse star snag medals
“Definitely, I was nervous. I knew the girls swimming against me so that was nerve-wracking. But I know how to swim it and I had to focus on myself.” — Mimi Norris, Central Catholic swimmer
Some promising young swimmers strolled out of Parkland High School on Sunday afternoon with smiles on their faces and gold medals hanging from around their necks.
And one of the area’s top lacrosse players showed she can swim pretty fast, too.
Central Catholic’s Sabrina Yurconic, a junior, and Mimi Norris, a sophomore, each secured individual titles at the District 11 Class 2A girls swimming championships and teamed up for a relay title, as well.
Moravian Academy freshman Cece Traub showed she was ready for prime time with a winning performance in the 200 individual medley.
And Saucon Valley senior Maria Donahue,
who plans to attend the University of Pittsburgh to play lacrosse, earned two relay silvers, an individual bronze and a fourth-place medal in her aquatic farewell.
Those were the top Lehigh Valley storylines at this year’s COVID-19 altered championships. Blue Mountain of the Schuylkill League three-peated as the team champion with 400 points and Coal Region rival Pottsville placed second with 242.
The 2A girls’ session started off superbly for Central Catholic.
Seeded third, the Vikings easily cruised to the finish line first with Grace Shucavage, Samantha Mikosky, Yurconic and Norris outswimming their seed time by 5-plus seconds. Saucon Valley placed second and Moravian Academy third.
“For all of us, that got our hopes up,” Yurconic said. “We were not expecting the first place in the medley. That really set the tone.”
Norris was back in the water several minutes later and she defended her district title in the 200 freestyle. She clocked 1:58.92.
Last year, Norris won in 1:57.98. “Definitely, I was nervous,” she said. “I knew the girls swimming against me so that was nerve-wracking. But I know how to swim it and I had to focus on myself.”
Yurconic returned to the pool for her signature event, the 100 butterfly. She and Shucavage went 1-2, with Yurconic clocking 1:00.30 and Shucavage at 1:02.15.
The two golds were the first of Yurconic’s scholastic career.
“Honestly, I didn’t have many expectations because I prefer to have an open mind,” she said. “I was very happy and surprised with the results. The 100 fly, I was seeded first, and that was really good. Then, the 500 hurt a little but I
made it through.”
Yurconic and Norris placed 2-3 in the 500 freestyle behind champion Katherine Sarnes of Blue Mountain. Sarnes prevailed in 5:13.59. Yurconic and Norris also were part of Central Catholic’s third-place 200 free relay team.
“It was a really crazy year,” Yurconic said, “but I think this is what we all needed at the end to make it all worthwhile.”
It was a worthwhile district debut for Traub, who won the 200 IM in 2:12.13.
Traub trailed for most of the race but rallied over the last 50 yards with a 30.83 split. (Taleah Ruben of Pottsville, who was second, timed 32.55 over the final 50.)
The Lions ninth grader knocked four seconds off her seed time.
“I’m pretty happy,” said Traub, who lives in Allentown and trains
with the Parkland Aquatic Club. “I didn’t really have any expectations. I didn’t know what it was going to be like.”
Traub was Moravian Academy’s lone champ.
That most certainly would not have been the case had senior Pepper Ritchey been healthy and able to compete. Ritchey, who was out with an illness according to coach Shannon Danaher, won four gold medals at last year’s meet and is one of the top swimmers in the state. She has committed to Villanova University.
Still, Ritchey left her mark. “Pepper has been really helpful giving me motivation and she’s really helped me through this year,” Traub said.
The Lions also were without another district champ, senior Anna Shoudt, who was out with an injury.
There’s no question who the top lacrosse player was at the swim championships.
Donahue has starred on Saucon Valley’s team since her freshman year and is a two-time district champion in that sport. On Saturday, she came close to setting another school record in swimming, this one in the 100 freestyle, as she timed 56.79 seconds to take third. She already owns the 50 free record.
“I’ve been swimming since I was 5,” Donahue said. “I grew up swimming with my brother, my sister and all my cousins. Swimming was always a sport to fall back on to keep in shape. I didn’t swim last year. I had some shoulder issues and I wanted to focus on recruiting for lacrosse. I didn’t know how this season was going to go but I’m definitely happy with how it turned out.”
Blue Mountain’s Hannah Magdeburg won the Dennis A. McGinley Award as the meet’s most outstanding swimmer.
District 11 champions qualified for the PIAA swimming champi
onships,scheduledforMarch19-20 atCumberlandValleyHighSchool.
Michael Blouse is a freelance writer for The Morning Call.
District 11 Swimming Championships At Parkland HS CLASS 2 A GIRLS Team standings
1. Blue Mountain 400, 2. Pottsville 242, 3. Moravian Academy 232, 4. Central Catholic 230, 5. Saucon Valley 218, 6. Tamaqua 153, 7. Salisbury 145, 8. Mahanoy 119, 8. North Schuylkill 119, 10. Schuylkill Haven 59, 11. Panther Valley 55, 12. Palisades 33, 13. East Stroudsburg North 32, 14. Marian 20, 15. Notre Dame-GP 6.
Individual results
200 medley relay: 1. Central Catholic (Grace Shucavage, Samantha Jo Mikosky, Sabrina
Yurconic, Mimi Norris) 1:54.19; 2. Saucon Valley 1:59.27; 3. Moravian Academy 2:00.33; 4. Blue Mountain 2:02.17.
200 freestyle: 1. Mimi Norris (ACC) 1:58.25; 2. Katherine Sarnes (BM) 2:00.92; 3. Julia Graver (Sal) 2:02.61; 4. Emily Welna (NS) 2:06.57.
200 IM: 1. Cece Traub (MA) 2:12.13; 2. Taleah Ruben (Pot) 2:12.51; 3. Maria Lopez (BM) 2:18.66; 4. Maggie Chi (SV) 2:21.16. 50 freestyle: 1. Hannah Madeburg (BM) 24.92; 2. Morgan Yuengling (BM) 25.27; 3. Julia Balulis (Pot) 25.44; 4. Maria Donahue (SV) 25.49.
100 butterfly: 1. Sabrina
Yurconic (ACC) 1:00.30; 2. Grace Shucavage (ACC) 1:02.15; 3. Jacqueline Kokinda (PaV) 1:03.95; 4. Kassie Ritter (MA) 1:05.80.
200 freestyle relay: 1. Blue Mountain (Morgan Yuengling, Paige Bensinger, Maria Lopez, Hannah Magdeburg) 1:42.24; 2. Saucon Valley 1:44.87; 3. Central
Catholic 1:45.12; Pottsville 1:45.72. 100 freestyle: 1. Hannah Magdeburg (BM) 53.94; 2. Morgan Yuengling (BM) 55.72; 3. Maria Donahue (SV) 56.79; 4. Julia Balulis (Pot) 57.00.
500 freestyle: 1. Katherine Sarnes (BM) 5:13.59; 2. Sabrina Yurconic (ACC) 5:21.33; 3. Mimi Norris (ACC) 5:28.83; 4. Mollie Sarnes (BM) 5:42.23.
100 backstroke: 1. Maddie Dando (Mar) 59.85; 2. Abby Dudash (Mah) 1:02.55; 3. Julia Graver
(Sal) 1:04.03; 4. Grace Shucavage (ACC) 1:04.61.
100 breaststroke: 1. Taleah
Ruben (Pot) 1:07.56; 2. Tabbatha Ward (Mah) 1:09.79; 3. Emily Newton (PaV) 1:10.53; 4. Cece Traub (MA) 1:10.71.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Blue Mountain (Morgan Yuengling, Katherine Sarnes, Maria Lopez, Hannah Magdeburg) 3:42.49; 2. Pottsville 3:52.50; 3. Salisbury 4:00.71; 4. Moravian Academy 4:01.32.4