Kawash, Schofield have big days at District 2 Class 2A swim meet

Mar. 7—MILFORD — With a determine stare down his lane, Peter Kawash stepped up to the starting block for the 200-yard individual medley.

After two claps to his chest, the Lakeland senior leaped into the water and cut through the choppy waves faster than ever before.

Seizing command with each stroke, Kawash finished with a powerful freestyle into a meet record time, slamming the wall in 1 minute, 54.24 seconds to earn another District 2 Class 2A gold medal and a place in history.

It punched his ticket to the PIAA Championship meet and highlighted a fast Saturday of competition at Delaware Valley High School.

"I listened to music all morning, I did the same warm-up routine that I have been doing all season," said Kawash, who defended his title in the race and improved his time of 1:58.40 from last season. "It's my routine and I am really superstitious about that.

"I had a little bit of a charge in me today, because that district record was all that I have been thinking about."

While Kawash stole the show in the boys meet, Scranton Prep's Lauren Schofield came away with a pair of gold medals. The senior, who is headed to Seton Hall University, defended her title in the 200 individual medley and anchored the Classics to a win in the 200 free relay.

Led by her performances, Scranton Prep built a lead in the team standings after the first day with 160 points. Dallas followed close behind with 138 and Wyoming Seminary, which had swimmers win three races, is third with 134.

"The IM was my biggest race," Schofield said. "It was pretty stacked. When I hit the wall and saw that I was first and the time I pulled up, I was really happy."

In the boys 200 individual medley, Kawash dominated from the start.

He built a comfortable lead in the first 100 yards. By that point, his biggest challenge became the clock. When Kawash touched the wall, the bright red lights of the scoreboard flashed his time as he surpassed the previous record that stood at 1:55.62 by Wyoming Seminary's Marcos Rios (2017).

Now, Kawash sets his sights on Day 2 when he attempts to defend his title in the 100 backstroke, an event he won in a record time of 51.84.

"I want that one bad," Kawash said. "I'll eat some pasta, get some Gatorade in me and a good night's sleep to go after that backstroke and that record."

Scranton Prep's Nathan Thayer also earned an individual title in the 100 butterfly. He entered the race seeded third with a time of 55.45 and faced the challenge of defending champion Nansen Wang of Wyoming Seminary.

In the final, he used a strong final 25 yards to surge to the wall first in a time of 52.97.

"I lost this race last year, so this year, I wanted to finish better," Thayer said. "I went out really fast. I was super determined to win this race, especially after being seeded third. I did my best and I am very happy with how I performed."

Elk Lake's Kevin Noldy sent his coaches into a frantic celebration with his effort.

Seeded sixth and racing in Lane 1, Noldy muscled his way down the home stretch to a stunning victory in the 50 free with a time of 22.17, which bettered his seed time of 22.71.

"I don't even know what to say," Noldy said. "Coming into this meet, I was just trying to get top three. I mean, I was seeded last in my heat. I couldn't tell you how I did this. I came off the turn and saw it was neck and neck. I saw my time and it was amazing. I am really happy."

Holy Redeemer's Chris Schell won the 200 freestyle in 1:50.15, Dallas won the 200 medley relay in 1:40.84 and Wyoming Seminary earned the gold in the 400 free relay in 1:29.72.

Dallas holds the lead in the team standings with 133.5 points, followed by Wyoming Seminary with 115, Scranton Prep with 75 and Holy Redeemer with 72.

Once Schofield had her medal secured in the 200 IM, she took to the deck for the 200 free relay. There the Classics built an early advantage with Nicole Iriza and Olivia Turner Havira getting out to fast starts. Then, Carly Schofield, Lauren's sister, hit the water.

With her older sister cheering loudly as she approached the wall, Scranton Prep had an insurmountable advantage that Lauren brought home in a time of 1:39.73.

"I have never been on a relay with my sister before and the first one we are on, we get a pool record and a district gold medal," Schofield said. "That is so exciting. I think swimming really brought us closer together this year and it was something really special to be on this relay together."

Ryleigh Collins, who competed for Scranton Prep as a freshman and is now at Wyoming Seminary, won the 200 free title. The sophomore received a challenge from Holy Redeemer's Emily Maher and teammate Aviah Dahlgren before pulling away at the finish for a winning time of 1:54.44.

"I was really happy and really excited," Collins said. "Before going up before the race, everyone was just so happy to compete. It's a little weird with COVID and not having the team out there on the deck cheering, but as soon as I came back to the waiting area, they were all there and so happy."

Wyoming Seminary's Skylar Roerig powered her way to a title in the 50 free with a time of 24.31 to finish ahead of Iriza, who clocked in at 24.59, and repeat as champion.

"A 50 free is so short, so you have to be hyped beforehand," Roerig said. "We really needed to be up because our teammates weren't there cheering, so we had to pump each other up and we were all ready to have some great times.

"The competition really pushed me. It was a relief because now I have a guaranteed spot in the states."

Both Collins and Roerig joined Dahlgren and freshman Alyssa Kelly to win the 200 medley relay in 1:47.76. Scranton Prep placed second in 1:49.28.

Holy Redeemer's Julia Bucknavage claimed the 100 fly in a time of 58.95 and Kelly finished second in 59.06.

This season, only champions are guaranteed a spot at the state meet, and there are limited at-large spots available due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Contact the writer: jbfawcett@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9125; @sportsTT on Twitter