SWIMMING: Kawash 14th at USA Futures Championships

Joby Fawcett, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·2 min read

Jul. 31—Peter Kawash reached the B final of the 200-meter individual medley at the USA Swimming Futures Championship Meet at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio on Saturday.

Kawash, who finished his freshman year at Lafayette College, finished 14th overall with a time of 2 minutes, 11.37 seconds.

Jed Michaels from Bulldog Swimming in Connecticut won the overall title with a time of 2:05.05 in the A final. Joseph Nadur from Dublin Community Swim in Ohio won the B final in 2:07.43 for a ninth-place finish.

Kawash qualified for the B final by posting the 13th-fastest qualifying time in the morning. He touched at 2:10.91.

"This is pretty cool, because I went last year to this event and didn't do too well," Kawash, 20, said. "It was nice to go out there, make the B final and improve. It seems like at Lafayette I got a lot stronger and a lot more confident in my swims.

"Overall, I did all right. I am still getting used to meters as opposed to being a lot more comfortable with the short course yards. I felt like I worked through every stroke a lot better."

Kawash, a former two-time PIAA Class 2A champion while at Lakeland, also finished 56th in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:08.00 and 56th in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:01.24.

At Lafayette in his freshman season, Kawash set school records in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:49.34 and in the 100 back with a time of 49.14. He had season-best times of 57.40 in the 100 breaststroke, 4:06.51 in the 400 IM, 51.44 in the 100 butterfly, and 21.90 in the 50 free.

"The season was really good," Kawash said. "Now that adds a ton of pressure for next year. The rest of the summer, I am going to swim a little less and lift a little more to build up more strength. We are going to start practicing soon and grind right from the first day.

"I am looking forward to it. It is a big challenge to swim at that level, because every meet is a tough race."

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