Opportunity knocks for hopefuls at PACs
League championship meet to be held at Upper Merion Friday and Saturday
With a long and grueling Pioneer Athletic Conference regular season officially in the books, the league’s top swimmers will descend upon Upper Merion High School this weekend for the PAC Swimming Championship meet. The event represents a litany of opportunities for its participants: some will attempt to qualify for the District 1 meet, while others will look to improve upon their times heading into it. Those who have already qualified might choose to swim in other races to gain practice and progress in their off events, and the swimmers who won’t be participating in districts can use the meet as one final opportunity to compete against their league rivals.
“Every team and coach handles this meet slightly differently,” Owen J. Roberts head coach Kevin Bott said. “For us, some are looking to tune up in their on events, while some others want to swim different events to see how close they are to qualifying.”
The boys will swim on Friday beginning at 6 p.m., while the girls will be in action the following morning starting at 10 a.m. The top three swimmers in each event will receive medals, while fourth through sixth-place finishers will earn ribbons.
“Everyone loves to win, but in swimming it’s not always about that,” Perkiomen Valley head coach Mitchell Zackowski said. “Win or lose, we want them to have fun while improving, which is the biggest accomplishment I can achieve as a coach. What’s exciting about this meet is that all the coaches in the PAC get along well, and the kids enjoy friendly competition amongst one another. There is a great level of support from all swimmers on the deck, and the cheering for one another fuels kids to swim faster.”
On the boys side, head coach Jack Graham’s Spring-Ford squad finished the regular season with an unblemished 10-0 record, with Methacton in second at 9-1 and Owen J. Roberts finished third at 8-2. The regular season title was the first PAC championship for the Rams under the tutelage of Graham, the former head coach at Perkiomen Valley (where he still teaches) who landed at neighboring Spring-Ford after a brief hia
tus from coaching. SpringFord’s league crown ended a two-year run for OJR, a program that has won 12 PAC titles since 2002-03.
The Rams’ 200 medley relay team of Patrick Baganski, Blaise Sadowski, Dylan Dayrit and Nate Reagan is back after winning the event last season. The quartet — which set a pool record at OJR earlier this season — has a good shot at repeat state qualification this postseason. Also in last year’s event, Sadowski won the 200 IM medley and 100 breaststroke, while Baganski won the 50 freestyle. As a team, the Rams finished second to OJR in 2023.
OJR also returns several top-flight swimmers from a year ago, most notably Colin Davis (100 freestyle), Ethan Suessmuth (100 butterfly) and Patrick Bowker (100 backstroke), all of whom won their events in 2023.
Methacton has hopes to medal in the medley and 400 freestyle relays, as well as in the 200 freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke. Eric Zang, John Du and Christian Lebold all medaled last year in the 200 free relay, while Lebold also medaled in the 500 freestyle.
Other swimmers to keep an eye on are Phoenixville’s Nick Darragh, who medaled last year in the 100 freestyle and was also a district qualifier in the 50 free. For Perkiomen Valley, Griffin Crothers, Evan Croy and Andrew Phillips medaled last year in the 200 medley relay and will race again this time around, while Crothers has a good shot to medal in the 100 backstroke.
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For the girls, Bott’s Owen J. Roberts program won its seventh consecutive and 13th overall PAC title. The Wildcats also won this meet a year ago, with SpringFord finishing second and Methacton coming in third. The Rams (9-1) finished second in the league standings in 2023-24, while Methacton was fifth behind Phoenixville (third place) and Perkiomen Valley (fourth).
For OJR, Audrey Schroeder (200 IM, 500 free, 400 free relay), Mackenzie Gorman (200 medley relay, 100 butterfly, 400 free relay), Jane Hummel (200 medley relay, 100 breaststroke), Emma Valbert (200 medley relay), Kaitlyn McGuire (200 medley relay, 50 free, 100 free, 400 free relay) and Kate Spencer (100 free) all medaled in last year’s event and will be back in action on Saturday.
Spring-Ford will return Sydney and Abby Koehler, both of whom had a successful PAC Championship a year ago, medaling together in all three relay events. Additionally, Sydney Koehler finished second in the 50 freestyle race.
Perhaps the top returning swimmer to the event is Phoenixville’s Kenzie Padilla, who won both the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly races a year ago, while also being a member of the second-place 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay squads. Padilla, the Mercury AllArea Girls’ Swimmer of the Year in 2023, earned two PIAA medals last year, including bronze in the 100 butterfly. Maddy Deeney (200 medley relay, 200 freestyle, 200 free relay) medaled in three events in addition to winning the 500 freestyle, while Liza Barbash also swam on the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams that placed second.
“(Padilla) looks to become among the most decorated athletes in school history with her PAC, district, and state medaling achievements,” Phoenixville head coach Dan Weinstein said. “A successful meet would be double gold in the medley and 400 free relays, with Padilla winning gold in her individual events and Deeney and (Brynn) Lewis medaling in their events.
We do expect every single swimmer to drop time.”
Perkiomen Valley doesn’t return any medal winners, but Zackowski said to keep an eye on three of his talented sophomores: Laney Dittmar (200 IM, 200 freestyle relay, 100 breaststroke) Carys Adair (100 backstroke) and Claire Mages (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly), all of whom have a shot to make a strong impression on Saturday.
As for Methacton, Madison Wimmer won last year’s 200 IM, finished second in the 100 backstroke and was on the third-place 400 free relay team. Truly Sommer placed third in the 500 free and led off the 400 freestyle relay team that finished third, while Lucy Michel was the second leg of the 400 free relay.
Upper Merion’s Abby Yuen (50 freestyle), PJP’s Shae Gonzales (50 freestyle), Upper Perkiomen’s Beatriz Santos (100 backstroke), Pottsgrove’s Bayley Richard (100 freestyle) and Boyertown’s Tamara Engler (100 breaststroke) all have favorable seedings in their respective events. Additionally, the Pottsgrove 200 freestyle relay team of Elsa Lucas, Kennedy Krock, Colbie Richard and Bayley Richard have high hopes as the third seed.
“Last year, we had every swimmer but one drop their times,” Methacton girls head coach Tori Rosa said. “This is the finish line for most of them who won’t be moving on to districts, so our goal is for them all to post improved times. We have some new kids on our team who hope to get the experience of a championship meet. It’s what they work for all season.”
PAC Championships
BOYS TOP 3 SEED TIMES 200 medley relay: 1. SpringFord (Baganski, Sadowski, Dayrit, Reagan), 1:37.47; 2. Perkiomen Valley (Crothers, Croy, Keenan, Harris), 1:39.66; 3. Methacton (Pineiro, Lebold, Du, Zang), 1:40.28
200 freestyle: 1. Justin Delp, Spring-Ford, 1:45.30; 2. Kyle