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District gold for three YAIAA swimmers


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MECHANICSBURG – By the time Friday’s District 3 swimming championships concluded, Dallastown’s Jacob Stoner could barely speak.

The Wildcats senior had already lost his voice when friend and teammate Logan Brockway placed third in the 200-yard individual medley with a 1:53.73.

But Stoner had his own race, and he made the most of it. Stoner swam a 49.85 100 butterfly to capture the Class 3A district gold at Cumberland Valley.

“That represents a whole season’s worth of work," a hoarse Stoner said, "getting up every other morning, going to morning practice, coming after school with blood, sweat and chlorine.

“I went up to Logan after and said, 'This is 50 percent you.' He’s been my training partner. He has pushed me all season and really molded me into the swimmer I can be.”

A huge start put Stoner in the driver’s seat throughout his race, a year after he finished third in the district.

“I could never negative split a race. If I come out in the first 50 slow, my race is going to be slow,” he said.

Stoner and Brockway finished the two-day competition in great style too, teaming with Joel Dunnigan and Seth Schuler to swim 1:27.64 and earn a bronze medal – and an automatic PIAA berth – in the 200 free relay.

Also in boys’ Class 3A action, the South Western foursome of John Gill, Todd Jones, Ben Shoul and Alex Yokem earned a sixth-place medal in the 200 medley relay.

And Central York’s Brynn DuRand, Sarah Minnich, Sarah Spinney and Gabby Miller won an eighth-place medal in the girls' medley relay.

YAIAA comes up huge in 2A

The YAIAA won 30 medals during the first day of the Class 2A championships.

Seven of those medals belonged to the West York girls’ squad that leads the team standings after the first day. The Bulldogs have 155 points, six ahead of Schuylkill Valley and 31 in front of York Suburban.

West York senior Courtney Harnish earned gold by nearly four seconds with her 1:47.74 in the 200 freestyle.

“I am not tapered at all, so I was just going out there, staying loose, and seeing what time I could do to set myself up for states,” Harnish said. “I am really excited to finish it off strong with these girls, and right now I am enjoying it all.”

Harnish opened the meet by swimming the butterfly portion of the 200 medley relay, combining with Claudia Keller, Tesia Thomas and Maddi Stoner for a silver medal in 1:49.44, only .31 out of first.

Suburban closed the 2A girls’ meet with silver medals in the final two events. Jenna Hufnagle took second in 1:00.49 in the 100 butterfly. And Keelie Walker, Cara Zortman, Megan Hunt and Havannah Suarez, who combined to go 1:40.00 in the 200 free relay.

The Trojans medley team of Maddy Abel, Walker, Hufnagle and Zortman scored a fourth-place medal, which provided momentum right from the start.

“Kicking off with a medley relay that drops six seconds set a tone that this was going to be a fast meet for York Suburban and it just kept going,” said Trojans coach Craig Brennan.

YAIAA schools took the top five spots in the 200 free. Eastern York’s Madison Nalls was second, Hunt earned bronze from the middle heat, Dover’s Lindsay Brenneman was fourth and Meghan French of West York rounded out the top five.

Keller was third in the 200 individual medley, and independents Jessie McMurray (York Catholic) and Caroline Dudenhoffer (Delone Catholic) placed seventh and eighth respectively.

Dover’s Grace Beierschmitt was third in the 50 free, going 24.44 and West York’s Thomas was fourth. Dover was sixth and West York seventh in the girls’ 200 free relay.

Herr leads 2A boys' medal charge

On the Class 2A boys’ side, Gettysburg junior Jared Herr was trailing heading into the second half of his 200 freestyle. He closed the gap in the next 50, then bounced off the wall in his final turn to pass and win gold with a time of 1:43.16.

“When I was coming off the last 50 I could see it was close,” Herr said. “Coming off that (turn) I realized how close it was and knew I had to keep going. I knew that would set me up for a strong finish.”

Herr also swam on the Warriors’ 200 medley relay that kick-started the day by earning a fifth-place medal. He teamed with Nico DeAngelo II, Logan Hyde and Zach Kiick. DeAngelo took fifth in the 100 butterfly.

“It was kind of a nice way to get the nerves out. It was great to get that medal with the team, especially working together with all those guys,” Herr said.

The Suburban’s boys’ squad ended the day second in the 2A points standings, 19 behind Boiling Springs.

Like their female counterpart, the Trojan boys’ 200 medley relay got things started the right way when Karl Schmittle, Matt Peters, Aidan Fryar and Charles Rogers swam 1:39.48 for silver, only .27 from the top spot.

It was the first of two silver medals for Fryar, who swam a 21.29 to place second in the 50 free, by a mere 0.09 seconds. Peters went on to place sixth in the 200 IM and Schmittle did the same in the butterfly. The Trojans also took sixth in the 200 free relay.

Susquehannock put a relay on the medal stand when the medley took seventh. Justin Reed scored a bronze in the butterfly, and Logan McFadden earned bronze in the 200 IM.

York Catholic freshman Miles Cox was fourth in the fly.