Three Centre County teams take first place at District 6 swimming championships
State College swimming dominated all weekend in Hollidaysburg at the 2022 PIAA District 6 AAA Championships. The schools boys’ and girls’ teams both left the meet finishing in first place in the overall team standings.
Neither team wasted much time getting going, with the girls’ (Jade Castro, Mackenzie Pagett, Ally Koehle, Madison Watschke) and boys’ (Tyler Uhlig, Shawn Erdley, John Brownstead, Sam Huggins) both winning their 200-yard medley relays to begin the event Friday evening.
The girls’ team kept the top three finishes coming from there, with Castro leading the way. The Little Lion junior won three more golds at the meet in the 200-yard IM, 200-yard freestyle relay (with Kelly Brownstead, Ditta Kowalik and Watschke) and 100-yard backstroke.
Pagett added a gold of her own in the 100-yard breaststroke, while Koehle, Nora Hein, Brownstead and Kowalik combined to earn gold in the 400-yard freestyle relay to close the weekend.
Those golds were supplemented by seven silver medals (Kowalik 200-yard freestyle, Pagett 200-yard IM, Brownstead 50-yard freestyle, Koehle 100-yard fly, Hein 500-yard freestyle, Lily Bang 100-yard backstroke, Watschke 100-yard breaststroke) and five bronze medals (Kate Doucette 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle, Alex Hein 200-yard IM, Watschke 50-yard freestyle, Brownstead 100-yard freestyle).
The boys’ team racked up eight more gold medals on top of its meet-opening win in the 200 medley. The Little Lions won two more relays (200-yard freestyle — Erdley, Todd Siekman, Erik Witt, Ryan Willis and 400-yard freestyle — Huggins, Witt, Uhlig, Brownstead) and seven individual golds. Brownstead won both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle races, while Huggins won the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races as well. Erdley won the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard IM while Uhlig added the 100-yard backstroke.
The Little Lions added four silvers (Witt 200-yard freestyle, Willis 100-yard fly and 100-yard breaststroke, Uhlig 500-yard freestyle) and six bronzes (Trevor Martin 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles, Garrett Flickinger 200-yard IM, Siekman 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles, Witt 100-yard fly) on their way to the overall first-place finish.
Bellefonte girls take home first place
Bellefonte had a big weekend at the pool in the 2022 PIAA District 6 Class AA Swimming Championships. The school’s girls team came home from the meet — which took place in Hollidaysburg — with a first place finish, while the boys finished fourth.
The Raiders girls’ team came out of the gates of the event fast, winning the 200-yard medley relay by almost 8 seconds over second place Westmont Hilltop in the first race of the weekend Friday afternoon. The relay team was made up by Kiaha McCool (backstroke), Finley Musser (100 breaststroke), Katelyn Packer (fly) and Emma Pringle (freestyle).
McCool kept the momentum going, winning gold in the 200-yard freestyle by just over 4 seconds, while teammate Kate Rarrick came in third.
The third girls’ race of the day led to a third gold medal for Centre County, with Penns Valley’s Maggie Delaney winning the 200-yard IM by over five seconds, while Musser came in fifth place. Delaney would also go on to win the 100-yard breaststroke Saturday morning, this time by over 6 seconds.
Bellefonte freshman Addie Pringle won a medal of her own in the 50-yard freestyle, taking bronze, just as Packer did in the 100-yard fly shortly thereafter. The Raider girls’ team closed the day by taking silver in another relay, this time the 200-yard freestyle, with Musser, Emma and Addie Pringle and Rarrick participating.
They weren’t done for the weekend, however, earning a second (Addie Pringle) and fourth (Packer) to open Saturday morning’s session in the 100-yard free. They closed the weekend by finishing in the top five in the 500-yard freestyle (Rarrick, first), 100-yard backstroke (McCool, second), 100-yard breaststroke (Musser, third) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (McCool, Rarrick, Packer, Addie Pringle, first) on their way to first place.
The boys’ team started off well in its own right, taking bronze in the 200-yard medley relay in its first race of the weekend. Cedric Bagwell (backstroke), Jacob Skrzycki (breaststroke), Carter Boone (fly) and Jaydon Malinich (freestyle) earned the third place finish in the race. Boone added two more top-five finishes on Friday, finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle — three spots ahead of Skrzycki — and third in the 100-yard fly.
Bagwell added one more top five on Saturday, finishing fifth in the 100-yard backstroke, before the same relay team took third in the 400-yard freestyle relay to close out the meet.
Penns Valley freshman Liam Quigley impressed in his own right at the meet finishing third in the 200-yard freestyle and second in the 100-yard breaststroke.
