OREFIELD - Nathanael Marino touched the wall, ripped off his cap and quickly looked at the scoreboard.
As a large smile appeared on his face, he turned toward the crowd and pumped his fist into the air three times.
After runner-up finishes the past two years, the third time proved to be the charm for the Blue Mountain junior.
Marino captured a gold medal in the 100 breaststroke during Saturday's District 11 Class AA Swimming Championships at Parkland High School.
Marino pulled away from Pen Argyl's Craig Weeks over the final 25 yards to finish in a school-record 1:00.83, giving him his second gold medal of the weekend and breaking the YMCA national qualifying time.
"It was all mental right there," Marino said. "Up until I got on the blocks and the buzzer went off, I kept thinking what can I do to get better, what can I do in the water to win this race.
"I told myself I'm not afraid of fear, I'm not afraid to hurt. My body hurt, my body ached that last 25, but I kept going. It was one heck of a race."
Marino's gold medal was the cherry on the top of an impressive weekend by Schuylkill League swimmers, who captured 24 top-four medals - 15 individual, 9 relays - and have a bevy of swimmers poised to earn at-large berths to the PIAA Swimming Championships set for March 14-15 at Bucknell University.
It was the most medals the Schuylkill League has garnered at districts since winning 31 in 2008
Marino had qualified for states in the 100 breaststroke as a freshman and sophomore, but placed second at districts to Palmerton's Sawyer Allen both times.
Saturday, he wasn't going to be denied.
Seeded second behind Weeks by just seven-hundreths of a second, Marino got off the blocks fast, swam aggressively and led from start to finish.
Marino gained ground on Weeks in each turn, crediting his watching video of 2012 U.S. Olympian Brendan Hansen's turns for helping him get better in the event and lower his time.
His time was slightly faster than his school record of 1:00.93 that Marino clocked in the state preliminaries last year.
"I've been trying to work real hard on that type of turn," Marino said. "I watched those videos and taught myself how to do it that way. I told myself I had to undulate and get my body out as far as I could and pull as much water as I could.
"I told myself this was my race, I can't look to see who's around me, I just have to put my mind into it, look forward and just go. I did that, and it was awesome."
Marino collected four medals at districts - two gold and two bronze - and broke four school records in the process. So did freshman teammate Mark Boran, who captured a bronze medal in the 100 backstroke Saturday.
Boran, who was second in the 200 IM on Friday, battled ACC's Ethan Stinner and Bethlehem Catholic's Jarod LaSelva throughout the 100 backstroke.
In a near photo finish, Stinner took first in 55.71, LaSelva was clocked in 56.00 and Boran placed third in 56.05.
"I thought I did very well," Boran said. "My last lap, I was circle swimming. I wasn't doing the right thing. I slowed down I guess.
"Since I was swimming Y, I'm used to this environment at a big meet. I'm used to peer pressure and everything, and it's just a great experience."
Other boys' medalists Saturday included Marian freshman Timmy Dando, who became the school's first male district medalist by placing fourth in the 500 freestyle (5:09.69); Tamaqua's Jake Kropp, who was fourth in the 100 backstroke (58.73); Schuylkill Haven's Nick Semanco, fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.24); and the Schuylkill Haven 400 freestyle relay team of Kyle McGarry, Sam Brennan, Billy Sieck and Semanco (3:29.76).
The Hurricanes competed in the first of two heats in the 400 freestyle relay, then had to wait it out through the final heat to see if they medaled. Huddled behind the blocks during the final heat, they let out a gigantic roar as the times went up on the board and they figured out they took fourth.
"I was really focused on the 100 freestyle today," said Semanco, who was seeded fourth but finished seventh in the event. "That race didn't go as well as I planned, because I was hoping to medal and break Austin (Bayliff's school) record.
"I came back to medal in the breaststroke, then the relay ... that was really awesome. We sat back there behind the blocks and watched to see what we would get. When we saw that we beat out Moravian, we went crazy.
"It was even better that it was our last race together as a team."