Villa Maria wins 9 events on way to title at North East Girls Swimming Invitational

NORTH EAST ! Megan Maholic was familiar with the two people whose pool records she broke during Saturday's North East Girls Swimming and Diving Invitational.

One was Marie Georger, the former PIAA gold medalist from Mercyhurst Prep also turned laps for the University of Michigan. She also participated in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials.

Maholic, who briefly had Georger as an assistant coach for her youth club team, erased Georger's name from the Grapepickers' record board in the 100-yard backstroke.

The Villa senior lowered the Grapepickers' pool record in her timed final to 55.83 seconds.

Maholic was even more familiar with the other person whose pool record was vanquished. It was her own.

She won the 100 butterfly at 57.35. Her previous mark was 57.84.

Maholic also swam the opening leg of Villa's first-place 200 medley relay (1:49.72) and 400 freestyle relay (3:41.06).

Those collective results were why the University of South Carolina recruit received the meet's outstanding swimmer/diver award.

"It's pretty exciting," Maholic said. "I knew this award was a big thing coming here my freshman year, so this is very humbling to receive as a senior. This meet can be super draining for all the swimmers, so I'm super proud of this."

Haley Palmer was another four-time gold medalist for the Victors, who won nine of the meet's 12 events. Their 458 team points surpassed second-place Fairview by more than 300.

Palmer anchored Villa's 200 medley relay and 400 free relay. Her individual wins were for the 50 freestyle (24.73) and 100 freestyle (53.72).

The Victors' Gracie Girts prevailed in the invitational's distance races, the 200 free (1:59.49) and 500 free (5:21.61). The senior also anchored their 200 free relay (1:43.43).

Renaissance for Rand

A full-time return to athletics wasn't enough for Reagan Rand.

The Harbor Creek senior was District 10's Class 2A diving champion as a freshman and sophomore. She also starred in softball, the sport she'll play upon enrollment this fall at Division I Seton Hall University.

Wrist surgery, though, forced Rand to sit out her junior season of diving. Saturday's victory in that event, which she compiled a gold-medal total of 437.15 points over 11 attempts, helped make up for some of that lost time.

"I'm really doing good," Rand said. "I'm getting all of my dives back, and hopefully I'm going to add some more for the future."

While Rand is returning to diving and softball in her final year as a Huskie, she's also rehearsing to appear in "Suessical the Musical." Harbor Creek is sponsoring the theatrical play, which is based on the children's stories of Dr. Suess.

While Rand expressed excitement for her upcoming appearance during Saturday's meet, she readily warned those who attend the show that her singing voice won't rival her athletic abilities.

"Yeah, I don't really have one," she said.

Harbor Creek teammate Alayna Mosbacher, with 409.27 points, was second to Rand in Saturday's field of eight divers. Fairview's Lauren Stephens (393.15) was third.

McLane has meet winner

General McLane's Catrina Miller and Franklin's Alaina Brown prevented Villa from sweeping the meet's 11 swimming events.

Miller lopped more than two seconds off her seed time for first place in the 100 breaststroke. The junior completed her two laps in 1:09.44, which eclipsed the 1:09.70 by Kyan Snider-Mills of Villa.

Snider-Mills was seeded first at 1:10.02.

"I was really happy about (the time drop)," Miller said. "I've always wanted to do that here, so this is really exciting."

Brown, a junior for the Knights, came through as the 200 individual medley's favorite. She completed one lap of the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle in 2:15.26.

Brown's No. 1 seed time was 2:17.11.

Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNcopper.

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Results from the North East Girls Swimming and Diving Invitational:

Team: 1. Villa Maria (VM) 458, 2. Fairview (Fv) 154, 3. General McLane (GM) 133, 4. Oil City (OC) 133, 5. Harbor Creek (HC) 77, 6. Corry (Cy) 70, 7. Grove City (GC) 69, 8. Mercyhurst Prep (MP) 59, 9. Sharon (Sh) 58, 10. Franklin (Fr) 44, 11. Titusville (Tv) 24, 12. North East (NE) 18, 13. Greenville (Gv) 11, 14. Iroquois (I) 9, 15. Mercer (Mer) 8, 16. Union City (UC) 1

200-yard medley relay: 1. Villa Maria (Megan Maholic, Kyan Snider-Mills, Maria Costa, Haley Palmer) 1:49.72; 2. General McLane 1:55.33; 3. Oil City 1:56.48

200 freestyle: 1. Gracie Girts (VM) 1:59.49; 2. Molly Fehr (VM) 2:01.55; 3. Sarah Sweet (MP) 2:02.67

200 individual medley: 1. Alaina Brown (Fr) 2:15.26; 2. Maria Costa (VM) 2:16.14; 3. Catrina Miller (GM) 2:16.51

50 freestyle: 1. Haley Palmer (VM) 24.73; 2. Abby Zablotny (Fv) 25.48; 3. Zoey Beck (GC) 25.52

Diving: 1. Reagan Rand (HC) 437.15; 2. Alayna Mosbacher (HC) 409.27; 3. Lauren Stephens (Fv) 393.15

100 butterfly: 1. Megan Maholic (VM) 57.35; 2. Mackenzie Spence (Cy) 1:02.52; 3. Kaitlyn Crosscut (GM) 1:03.68

100 freestyle: 1. Haley Palmer (VM) 53.72; 2. Zoey Beck (GC) 56.45; 3. Morgan Stover (OC) 57.05

500 freestyle: 1. Gracie Girts (VM) 5:21.61; 2. Molly Fehr (VM) 5:24.84; 3. Ellie Natemeier (VM) 5:33.63

200 freestyle relay: 1. Villa Maria (Brooke Smith, Ellie Natemeier, Jillian Heinrich, Gracie Girts) 1:43.43; 2. Fairview 1:44.68; 3. Oil City 1:45.28

100 backstroke: 1. Megan Maholic (VM) 55.83; 2. Maria Costa (VM) 1:00.18; 3. Alaina Brown (Fr) 1:00.42

100 breaststroke: 1. Catrina Miller (GM) 1:09.44; 2. Kyan Snider-Mills (VM) 1:09.70; 3. Morgan Stover (OC) 1:11.85

400 freestyle relay: 1. Villa Maria (Megan Maholic, Gracie Girts, Maria Costa, Haley Palmer) 3:41.06

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Maholic, Palmer, Girts lead Villa swimmers at North East Invitational