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Mar. 9—As I exited the Parkland High School natatorium Sunday night, several thoughts ran through my head.
Schuylkill League swimmers had a big day at Sunday’s District 11 Class AA Swimming Championships, with Blue Mountain sweeping the team titles and Schuylkill swimmers winning 11 gold medals.
While there were plenty of good thoughts, I was saddened by the idea that Nativity’s Dylan Schreffler’s high school swimming career could be over. The senior standout, who became Nativity’s first male District 11 champion last year, placed third in the two most competitive events of Sunday’s meet, the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 freestyle.
In previous years, with 32 qualifiers in each event, Schreffler easily would have qualified based on time. But with the PIAA cutting the number of qualifiers in each event in half this season due to the coronavirus, I didn’t think the odds of Schreffler getting a chance to compete at states were high.
Not so fast, Leroy.
Or is it … just fast enough?
Schreffler earned a pair of at-large berths to the PIAA Class AA Swimming Championships on Monday when the PIAA announced the six individuals in each event that qualified based on time.
The PIAA cut the number of qualifiers for this year’s state swim meet from 32 to 16 per event due to the coronavirus pandemic. Each district received one automatic qualifier in each event for its champion, with the other six spots in each event filled by the fastest non-winning times from across the state.
Schreffler placed third in both the 50-yard freestyle (21.94) and 100 freestyle (48.05) at districts, finishing behind Pottsville’s Zaidian Van Orden and Saucon Valley’s Milo Whitley in both races.
Schreffler received the sixth and final time spot in the 50 freestyle, with Whitley (21.93) right in front of him in fifth. Van Orden won the 50 freestyle in 21.88.
In the 100 freestyle, Van Orden won in 47.25, with Whitley (48.00) and Schreffler placing 2-3. Whitley and Schreffler got the second and third at-large berths based on time.
Schreffler’s time in the 50 free was faster than three district champions that earned automatic berths, while his 100 free time was faster than five district champions that automatically qualified.
It’s great to see he get a chance to earn a state medal, especially after the long hours of traveling he put in to practice and train with the Bloomsburg YMCA during the season.
Schreffler ups the number of Schuylkill League qualifiers to 14 for the Class AA state meet, slated for Friday, March 19, at Cumberland Valley High School, Mechanicsburg. The girls’ competition begins at 10:30 a.m., with the boys’ events beginning at 4:50 p.m.
Schreffler will join Van Orden (50 free, 100 free), Blue Mountain’s Hannah Magdeburg (50 free, 100 free) and Katherine Sarnes (500 free), Marian’s Maddie Dando (100 back) and Pottsville’s Taleah Ruben (100 breast) as individual event qualifiers.
Blue Mountain will field four relay teams — girls’ 200 freestyle relay, girls’ 400 freestyle relay, boys’ 200 medley relay, boys’ 200 freestyle relay. Morgan Yuengling, Maria Lopez, Paige Bensinger, Sarnes and Magdeburg will compete in the girls’ relays, while Miko Barbe, Taber Perry, Sean Sopko, Derrick Yuengling and Matheson Bair comprise the Eagles’ two boys’ relays.
Here are some other topics of interest as I clean out the notebook from a long day at the Parkland pool:
Why the 50?
Perhaps the most interesting storyline heading into Sunday’s District 11 meet was Van Orden’s decision to compete in the 50 freestyle.
The Tide senior won the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle as a junior, so his decision to race in the 50 came as a surprise. Especially considering his qualifying time of 22.70 was the sixth-fastest entering the meet.
“I was shooting for Pottsville’s varsity record (21.70, set by Bill Gudelunas in 1990). I missed it by two-tenths of a second, but I’m going to try again at states. That’s the main reason why I went in the 50,” Van Orden said. “Plus I was showing better times in my sprints than my distance at practice.”
Van Orden said the final decision for him to swim in the 50 freestyle kind of happened by accident during a brief discussion with Pottsville coach Ned Hampford.
The decision turned into a golden one when Van Orden, despite swimming in Lane 7, won the race in 21.88 seconds.
“We were thinking the 200 the whole year, honestly,” Van Orden said. “Then one day we were walking into practice and coach goes, ‘I think you’re a 50 swimmer.’ I said, ‘Alright, I guess I can try it out and see how it goes.’ And it went pretty well.”
Dando’s decision
Dando competed in just one event at Sunday’s district meet after swimming in the 200 IM the past three years and qualifying for states twice.
With District 11 running all 11 events consecutively, the St. Francis (Pa.)-bound senior thought swimming in the 200 IM would hurt her chances to earn a fourth straight 100 backstroke title.
“When they said that districts was only going to be one day, I didn’t know how many breaks there were going to be,” Dando said. “The 200 IM hurts to do it. The 100 back is natural to me; the 200 IM hurts. It’s not my event, I only do it because I can’t do the 100 free because that’s right before the 100 back.
“I said to myself, ‘What’s more important, coming in third in the 200 IM or killing the backstroke?’ It was a hard decision, because it was hard standing here watching the 200 IM go off, but I think I made the right choice.”
Blue Mtn. girls overcome adversity
Blue Mountain won the girls’ team title for the third straight year with 400 points, winning five gold medals. The Eagles’ Hannah Magdeburg received the Dennis McGinley Award as the girls’ Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet.
It wasn’t a perfect day for Blue Mountain, however, as the Eagles had to overcome a pair of adverse situations along the way.
First, freshman standout Victoria Ellex could not compete due to COVID-19 contact tracing. Ellex was seeded second in the 50 freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle and swam legs on two of Blue Mountain’s relays.
Her absence forced Blue Mountain coach Rob Marra to shuffle all three of his relay teams for Sunday’s meet. Paige Bensinger filled in for Ellex in the 200 freestyle relay, and Katherine Sarnes took Ellex’s place in the 400 freestyle relay.
Since Blue Mountain won both relays, it can change the swimmers in those events for the state meet. It’s possible Ellex could compete at states since her quarantine will end prior to March 19.
Second, in that 200 freestyle relay, third swimmer Lopez had her goggles break as she climbed atop the blocks. With no time to get another pair, she threw the goggles off to the side and dove in, swimming the entire race without any goggles, often pulling her head above the water to see.
Her split time of 26.83 wasn’t too bad considering the circumstances.
(Boyer is sports editor and covers HS swimming for the Republican Herald. Follow him on Twitter @pubsportsboss)
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