OREFIELD - Joey McLaughlin saw the swimmers from Salisbury and Southern Lehigh closing in on him.
Thrust in the anchor role for the first time in his career in a big meet, the Blue Mountain junior didn't disappoint.
McLaughlin touched the wall first in the boys' 200 medley relay, giving the Eagles an improbable gold medal at Friday's District 11 Class AA Swimming Championships at Parkland High School.
The victory by Mark Boran, Nathanael Marino, Stephen Johnson and McLaughlin in 1:43.65 ended the Schuylkill League's two-year gold-medal drought and set the tone for a banner day for Schuylkill swimmers, which captured 12 top-four medals - six individual and six relay - on the opening day of the two-day competition.
It also automatically qualified the Eagles' quartet of two freshmen and two juniors for the PIAA Swimming Championships set for March 14-15 at Bucknell University.
"It was awesome," said McLaughlin, still shellshocked as he proudly wore the District 11 gold medal around his neck after the race.
"I knew I had a little bit of a lead going in. When I hit the water I just gave everything.
"When I took my first breath (near the end of the first lap), I saw the kid coming up on me. I wasn't
going to let him pass me. I just put my head down and went."
Blue Mountain coach Sandy Englert changed her medley relay for districts, putting Johnson in the butterfly and McLaughlin in the freestyle portion of the race.
Boran gave the Eagles the early lead with a 26.57 split in the backstroke, and Marino extended that margin to nearly three seconds with a 26.87 split in the breaststroke.
"I knew I needed to take the lead for my relay to be successful in this race," Boran said.
Added Marino: "I was so proud of Mark. He pulled it ahead for us. He's never swam that fast in the 50 backstroke before ever. I knew I had to get my team as far ahead as I could to help us in the second half. I put my head down and put it all in."
Johnson, who doesn't usually swim the butterfly, kept the Eagles ahead, but Salisbury and Southern Lehigh were closing. That left it up to McLaughlin, whose split of 23.21 was enough for the Eagles to grab gold.
"It hasn't hit me yet," McLaughlin said. "It probably will when I'm trying to fall asleep tonight and I can't."
Boran and Marino each collected three medals Friday. Boran placed second in the 200 IM (2:05.59) and Marino took third in the 50 freestyle (22.26), then combined again with Johnson and McLaughlin to take third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.39).
Boran, whose older brother Tommy won the 200 IM in 2011, lead the race after two laps, but got fatigued during the breaststroke portion and finished second to Salisbury's Tim Costantini (2:04.30).
His time was nearly five seconds faster than his seed time of 2:10.30.
"Breaststroke is not my best stroke. I always get caught up in my breaststroke," Boran said. "I always re-constitute my freestyle for my breaststroke.
"I couldn't be any happier with getting second place as a freshman. Dropping five seconds is even better. I haven't gotten under 2:10 ... ever. It was a very good race for me."
Marino broke Blue Mountain's 21-year-old school record of 22.59 set by Paul Klepchick in the 50 freestyle, placing third behind Salisbury's Jon Anderson (district record 20.93) and Moravian Academy's Daniel Weekes (21.65).
He'll try to grab a second goal today in the 100 breaststroke, an event he's qualified for states in the past two years.
"Today was awesome," Marino said. "We worked so hard to get here. I wasn't expecting to get gold in the relay, but we got it. The relay team is super stoked to go to states together.
"In the 50, that's my fastest time and the school record. I'm so happy. Sorry to Paul Klepchick, but I had to get his name off the board. Twenty-one years, that's a little too long for me. It's was a great race, and I put my all into it."
The Schuylkill Haven quartet of Kyle McGarry, Sam Brennan, Billy Sieck and Nick Semanco also medaled Friday, placing fourth in the boys' 200 freestyle relay in 1:34.91.
Class AA action continues at 10 a.m. today at Parkland High School with the 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.