Four swimmers don't count as a team for dual-meet purposes, but Delone Catholic High's quartet does what it can to be a team.

"We've been practicing, like, once a week together just so we're kind of like as a team at the Y (Hanover Area Family YMCA)," Delone's defending PIAA Class AA medalist, Andrea Staub, said. "So we just kind of get together and do a couple of thousand (yards) so we're a team."

As informal as those Sunday sessions might seem, the workouts appeared to pay off Wednesday in the District 3 Non-Swim Schools Meet at Northeastern High School.

Freshman Alyssa Sanders won heats in both the 100-yard butterfly in 1 minute, 10.44 seconds and 100 backstroke in 1:14.16. Senior Chris Gebhart met the District 3 Class AA Championships standards with times of 1 minute, 56.06 seconds in the 200 freestyle and 56.57 in the 100 butterfly, in which he won his heat.

Delone's Sean Fiery took second in his 100 backstroke heat in 1:07.81 and third in his 50 freestyle heat in 26.28.

And then there's Staub, who seems poised to repeat the success which put Delone Catholic on the swimming map in 2009. Just as last year, when she won two PIAA medals, the former U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier made her midseason debut a strong one with a pool record.

Already owning the 200 individual medley record of 2:06.93, Staub added the 100 butterfly mark on Wednesday with a winning time of 59.16 seconds. That broke the mark of 59.67 held by West York's Cookie McIntyre.

"I

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think the 200 IM is kind of geared more (to me), but the 100 fly is just completely out of the blue," Staub, who swims for the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, said. "I can only swim one day this year at districts and states because All-Stars (a club meet) is the same weekend as districts.

"I can only swim one day, so I had to pick two events that are on the same day, so instead of doing the 500 free, I decided to do the 100 fly. So I'm working more on the IM than I am the fly."

Staub posted a time of 2:08.83 to win the 200 IM by 10.96 seconds over Northern Lebanon's Brooke Gehenio in Wednesday's meet.

Meanwhile, Hanover High freshman Zach Miller, who swims out of the YWCA of Gettysburg and Adams County. used Wednesday's meet to continue his season which has included swims at Northern York dual meets.

At Northeastern, he met the Class AA qualifying standards with times of 24.27 in the 50 freestyle and 52.48 in the 100 freestyle.

The other Hanover area entrant in Wednesday's meet continues a long tradition of independent swimmers at Biglerville.

John Taylor placed second to Fleetwood's Jeffrey Mikitka in the boys' 500 freestyle with a time of 5:23.19. Taylor then won his 100 breaststroke heat in 1:12.74.
ccurley@eveningsun.com