Boone’s Guiliano leads area swimmers
Daniel Boone sophomore Chris Guiliano, Boyertown sophomore Gabrielle McKee and Perkiomen Valley freshman Jacob Replogle made finals Saturday on the second day of the PIAA Class 3A Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University.
Guiliano, who placed fifth in Friday’s 200 IM, earned his second medal of the weekend with a time of 45.05 seconds for a sixthplace finish in the 100 free Saturday. McKee advanced to the B final in the 500 free, where she placed 13th with a time of 5:04.73.
In his first state meet, Replogle finished 12th in the B final of the 500 free, swimming a 4:36.57, more than two seconds faster than his prelim time.
Owen J. Roberts had two swimmers just miss out on finals in their respective ends. After medaling in the 50 free Friday, junior Mikayla Niness finished 17th in the preliminaries of the 100 free with a time of 52.77. Junior Meredith Mutter placed 17th in the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.85, a tenth of a second behind the 16th place finisher. Upper Perkiomen’s Kyle Kovalenko (100 breast) also finished 17th in his first Class 3A meet after competing in the PIAA Class 2A Championships during the past two years.
Owen J. Roberts sophomore Dalton Fink finished 26th in the 100 back. Boyertown junior Nolan Benner finished 26th in the 100 breast and 28th in the 100 free. Upper Merion senior Aidan McNally ended the 100 free in 21st.
Upper Merion’s 400 free relay team of McNally, Michael Lemishko, CJ Besz and Andrew Hoy, Boyertown’s 400 free relay team of Benner, Oliver Tye, Noah Vivian and Aaron Keifer, and Perkiomen Valley’s team of Replogle, Ethan Hinz, Dylan Alexander and Addison Collins competed in the 400 free relay. Upper Merion (3:12.65), Boyertown (3:15.40) and Perkiomen Valley (3:16.30) placed 17th, 22nd and 26th respectively, all missing out on the finals.
Upper St. Clair sophomore John Matheny set a national record in the 100 breast in the event final with a 52.52, besting the 52.65 mark of Indiana’s Chandler Bray in 2016.
Daniel Boone sophomore Chris Guiliano, Owen J. Roberts junior Mikalya Niness and Phoenixville sophomore Erini Pappas earned state medals Friday on the opening day of the PIAA Class 3A Swimming and Diving Championships at Bucknell University.
Guiliano placed fifth in the 200-yard individual medley, touching in 1:50.24, dropping significant time from his 8th-place prelim mark of 1:52.27.
Niness placed seventh in the girls’ 50-yard freestyle, touching in 23.75. Gateway junior Olivia Livingston, the state record holder, won the event in 23.00.
Pappas also placed seventh, the Phantom swimmer doing so in the 100yard butterfly. She finished in 56.47.
In the 200 individual medley, PAC participants finished back-toback in the B final. Phoenixville sophomore Erini Pappas touched in 2:06.81 to 12th place while Boyertown sophomore Gabrielle McKee finished in 2:06.83 for 13th.
The Owen J. Roberts’ 200 medley relay of freshman Lauren Zelinske, senior Lilia Crew, sophomore Abbey Malmstrom and junior Niness finished third in the B final (11th overall) in 1:47.17.
The Phoenixville boys’ 200 medley relay of George Pappas, Dominic Sposato, Mitchell Schwartz and Jack Hussin placed 24th in prelims (1:38.28) and did not advance.