As the first competition of the season, the Schuylkill Sprint Meet offers area swimmers a chance to see where they’re at physically and what things technique-wise they need to work on.
For several of the Schuylkill League’s veteran swimmers, it looked Friday like they were in mid-season form.
Schuylkill Haven’s Mary Zimmerman and Blue Mountain’s Mark Boran each won four events and Marian’s Katie Kurzinsky broke the 50 backstroke record during Friday’s annual event at the Ned Hampford Natatorium.
Millersburg’s Noah Reed and Weatherly’s Jacob Sirkot were each double-winners as swimmers from the league’s five dual-meet teams — Blue Mountain, Mahanoy Area, Pottsville, Schuylkill Haven and Tamaqua — and independent swimmers from Halifax, Marian, Millersburg and Weatherly were all in action.
“It’s exciting to come to meets where everybody in the league is here,” said Kurzinsky, who also won the 100 freestyle. “To come here, and have somebody be next to you and pushing you, it helps a lot. It’s a motivator.”
The Schuylkill Sprint Meet is a smaller version of the Schuylkill League Swimming Championships.
The meet follows a regular dual-meet format, with no diving and shorter distances in the individual medley, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke. No team scores are kept.
Zimmerman, a junior, won four gold medals at last year’s Schuylkill Sprint Meet, took home four more at the league meet and grabbed four medals at districts. She was impressive in her season debut Friday.
First, she teamed with Megan Ditzler, Taylor Felty and Kali Muthersbaugh to
win the 200 medley relay. Zimmerman hit the water with her quartet slightly trailing Tamaqua. The junior then powered past the Blue Raiders’ Rebecca Kanaskie to capture the gold in 2:03.22.
“We’re still just coming out and seeing what we have and seeing what we still need to do,” Zimmerman said. “We lost a little on our team, but our team is still looking good.
“Rebecca is a really great swimmer, and we swim against each other a lot. It was a really good race.”
Zimmerman added victories in the 200 freestyle (2:05.56) and 50 butterfly (28.89), then teamed with Felty, Muthersbaugh and Crystal Reber to win the 200 freestyle relay.
A league champion in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle last year, Zimmerman competed in the 50 butterfly as a change of pace for her original routine.
“It was just something different. I’m trying to mix it up this season, instead of being my usual distance swimmer,” Zimmerman said. “I’m trying to get some new events in there this year.”
Kurzinsky won league titles in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke last year as a sophomore, then was second in the 100 freestyle and first in the backstroke at districts. In her first appearance at states, she placed 12th in the 100 backstroke in 59.93.
Friday, Kurzinsky blew past the field to win in 56.63, five seconds ahead of second-place Sofia Pascuzzo of Blue Mountain. In the 50 backstroke, her time of 29.37 broke the Sprint Meet record of 29.60 set in December 2013 by Schuylkill Haven’s Allison Adams.
“I’ve been training pretty hard for the past couple of months, but we’re slowly getting into things,” Kurzinsky said. “I thought my times were pretty good. They are where they should be. Within the next couple of months, I’m definitely going to drop some time. I’ve already set my goals for this season, and hopefully I’m going to accomplish those. Today was a pretty good meet.”
Blue Mountain’s Erica Donohue (50 free) and Kanaskie (50 breaststroke) added individual victories, while Pottsville’s Sarah Corse-Campion placed first in the 100 IM and anchored Pottsville’s winning 400 freestyle relay team that included Madeline Consugar, Jessica Turnitza and Kylie Tohill.
Corse-Campion’s win in the 100 IM in 1:07.26, where she edged out state qualifier Kanaskie for the victory, was the girls’ upset of the night.
Among the newcomers, Tohill shined the brightest, as the freshman finished second in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100 freestyle while swimming on the Tide’s winning relay.
On the boys’ side, Boran looked poised to take over the reins as the Schuylkill League’s best male swimmer from former teammate Nathanael Marino with four impressive swims.
Boran, a junior, teamed with Nick Yackenchick, Stephen Johnson and Christian Wilson to win the 200 medley relay and with Wilson, Johnson and Jacob Wessner to place first in the 200 freestyle relay.
Boran then won the 200 freestyle in a meet-record 1:50.82, beating a field that included state qualifier Tim Dando of Marian and District 11 medalist Michael Smerlick of Pottsville by seven seconds.
Boran’s winning time of 25.76 in the 50 backstroke broke the meet record of 26.64 set in January 2012 by Schuylkill Haven’s Sean Spotts.
“All my events, I’m just trying to see where I’m at,” Boran said. “I was just trying to see my little things at practice are paying off. Turns off the wall, seeing how many breaths after each turn, bi-level breathing ... all the little small stuff that pays off at the end. That’s what I was looking for.”
Reed won the 100 IM and 50 butterfly, while Sirkot took top honors in the 50 freestyle and 50 breaststroke.
Blue Mountain’s Stephen Johnson added an individual victory in the 100 freestyle, while the Pottsville quartet of Smerlick, Noah Marx, Josh Zelinsky and Ryan Scanlan won the 400 freestyle relay.
Schuylkill Sprint Meet
At Ned Hampford Natatorium
Participating schools: Blue Mountain (BM), Halifax (Hal), Mahanoy Area (MA), Marian (Mar), Millersburg (Mill), Pottsville (P), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Tamaqua (T), Weatherly (Wea)
GIRLS
200 medley relay — 1. Schuylkill Haven A (Ditzler, Felty, Muthersbaugh, Zimmerman) 2:03.22, 2. Tamaqua A 2:04.44, 3. Blue Mountain A 2:06.25, 4. Blue Mountain B 2:08.17, 5. Mahanoy Area A 2:10.25, 6. Pottsville A 2:21.50
200 freestyle — 1. Zimmerman (SH) 2:05.56, 2. Consugar (P) 2:16.35, 3. Bernardyn (MA) 2:19.68, 4. Dubbs (BM) 2:19.84, 5. Sara Zimmerman (BM) 2:21.13, 6. L. Turnitza (P) 2:21.88
100 IM — 1. Corse-Campion (P) 1:07.26, 2. Kanaskie (T) 1:07.55, 3. Felty (SH) 1:10.36, 4. (tie) Muthersbaugh (SH) and Dukmen (BM) 1:11.19, 6. Alexander (Hal) 1:11. 23
50 freestyle — 1. Donohue (BM) 27.14, 2. Tohill (P) 27.35, 3. Alexander (Hal) 28.28, 4. J. Turnitza (P) 28.42, 5. Eckert (P) 28.58, 6. Reber (SH) 28.79
100 freestyle — 1. Kurzinsky (Mar) 56.53, 2. Pascuzzo (BM) 1:01.67, 3. Consugar (P) 1:02.10, 4. Tohill (P) 1:02.33, 5. S. Zimmerman (BM) 1:03.18, 6. Reber (SH) 1:03.93
50 butterfly — 1. Zimmerman (SH) 28.89, 2. Alexander (Hal) 30.39, 3. Muthersbaugh (SH) 30.56, 4. Laughlin (BM) 31.09, 5. Brickler (T) 31.23, 6. Kerstetter (T) 31.43
200 freestyle relay — 1. Schuylkill Haven A (Felty, Reber, Muthersbaugh, Zimmerman) 1:49.00, 2. Pottsville A 1:54.25, 3. Blue Mountain A 1:54.50, 4. Blue Mountain B 1:56.45, 5. Mahanoy Area 1:58.49, 6. Pottsville B 2:04.58
50 backstroke — 1. Kurzinsky (Mar) 29.37*, 2. Corse-Campion (P) 30.74, 3. Dubbs (BM) 30.92, 4. Dukmen (BM) 31.18, 5. Pascuzzo (BM) 32.00, 6. Kerstetter (T) 32.04
50 breaststroke — 1. Kanaskie (T) 34.29, 2. Young (P) 35.23, 3. Donohue (BM) 35.37, 4. Maue (T) 36.05, 5. Felty (SH) 36.76, 6. Miller (Hal) 37.01
400 freestyle relay — 1. Pottsville (Consugar, J. Turnitza, Tohill, Corse-Campion) 4:07.60, 2. Tamaqua A 4:18.95, 3. Blue Mountain A 4:24.92, 4. Mahanoy Area A 4:32.00, 5. Pottsville B 4:48.06, 6. Blue Mountain B 4:54.74.
BOYS
200 medley relay — 1. Blue Mountain A (Boran, Yackenchick, Johnson, Wilson) 1:45.46, 2. Mahanoy Area A 1:49.69, 3. Schuylkill Haven A 1:55.50, 4. Blue Mountain B 1:55.88, 5. Pottsville A 1:58.42, 6. Mahanoy Area B 1:59.94
200 freestyle — 1. Boran (BM) 1:50.82*, 2. Dando (Mar) 1:57.35, 3. Smerlick (P) 1:57.99, 4. Zelinsky (P) 2:15.82, 5. Rabenstein (BM) 2:19.37, 6. Phillips (BM) 2:21.36
100 IM — 1. Reed (Mill) 1:01.33, 2. Antolick (MA) 1:03.22, 3. Wessner (BM) 1:04.57, 4. McGowan (SH) 1:05.58, 5. Boyer (BM) 1:10.31, 6. Letterhouse (T) 1:10.79
50 freestyle — 1. Sirkot (Wea) 24.46, 2. Scanlan (P) 24.48, 3. Wilson (BM) 24.51, 4. Marx (P) 24.89, 5. Crawford (MA) 24.90, 6. Cross (Mill) 24.97
100 freestyle — 1. S. Johnson (BM) 51.88, 2. Dando (Mar) 53.84, 3. Smerlick (P) 53.92, 4. McGowan (SH) 54.39, 5. Sirkot (W) 54.96, 6. Scanlan (P) 55.08
50 butterfly — 1. Reed (Mill) 26.04, 2. Antolick (MA) 26.74, 3. Mansell (MA) 27.30, 4. Cullen (Wea) 27.51, 5. Cross (Mill) 27.69, 6. Turrano (T) 28.26
200 freestyle relay — 1. Blue Mountain A (Boran, Wilson, Wessner, S. Johnson) 1:34.49, 2. Mahanoy Area A 1:38.26, 3. Schuylkill Haven A 1:41.04, 4. Blue Mountain B 1:44.60, 5. Pottsville A 1:54.03, 6.
50 backstroke — 1. Boran (BM) 25.76*, 2. Wessner (BM) 29.15, 3. Mansell (MA) 29.21, 4. Cullen (Wea) 29.84, 5. Roadcap (Mill) 29.96, 6. Marx (P) 31.20
50 breaststroke — 1. Sirkot (Wea) 30.81, 2. (tie) Boxter (MA) and Crawford (MA) 31.26, 4. Snyder (MA) 31.52, 5. Yackenchick (BM) 31.55, 6. Reed (Mill) 31.93
400 freestyle relay — 1. Pottsville A (Smerlick, Marx, Zelinsky, Scanlan) 3:45.40, 2. Mahanoy Area A 4:06.33, 3. Schuylkill Haven A 4:09.74, 4. Blue Mountain A 4:23.30, 5. Pottsville B 4:26.21, 6. Tamaqua A 4:28.15
* Sprint Meet record