Gold rush for area swimmers

POTTSVILLE – On a Saturday afternoon when the lights were shining brightly on Schuylkill League swimmers in the Ned Hampford Natatorium, there were plenty of golden moments for Times News area swimmers.

There was Tamaqua’s Brianna Dumond coming out of nowhere to claim first place finishes in the 50-yard butterfly and the 200 IM.

There was Marian’s junior Maddie Dando capturing first places medals with superb swims in the 100 and 50 backstroke events.

Finally, there was a trio of gold medal performances by Panther Valley swimmers as Emily Newton, Erika Zimmerman and Jacqueline Kokinda all won events.

Double the fun

Probably the most unexpected performance of the meet came from the Raiders’ Dumond. The Tamaqua senior stepped it up when her coach Jennifer Paisley inserted her into two events that she hadn’t been swimming for most the season; 200 and 50 butterfly.

“I just stared swimming in the 200 IM halfway through this season… first time ever,” said Dumond, who was obviously excited and thrilled about her performances. She said she wanted to try something new and was shooting for best times.

“She swam hard all season long,” explained Paisley of Dumond. “Wherever I needed her, she stepped up all season long. I placed her in events during the regular season to give our team a chance for a win. So I really was happy for her. She is so unselfish.”

The Fillies’ Dando was back in the winners’ circle for the second straight year in both of her swims. She was forced to abandon the tech suit that she normally swims in and said her wins were a big confidence boost for her.

“I was anxious to see how I would swim without it,” said Dando of the suit that was not allowed for this meet.

Tim Dando, her father and coach, said he knew right after the turn (in the 100) that Maddie was in control.

“She had a great underwater (turn), and it was fantastic the way she came out of the water. Once she did that, I knew she had the win.”

Panther trio

Like Marian, Panther Valley swimmers travel to different venues to compete during the regular season. But that hasn’t thrown a roadblock up for Dando or three quality PV swimmers — Newton, Zimmerman and Kokinda.

Newton was within a whisker of setting a new meet record in the girls’ 100-yard breaststroke where she won gold, and also placed second in the 100-IM.

Zimmerman beat back a field of 15 swimmers in the 200-yard freestyle to win the event, and just missed out on a win in the 100.

Kokinda held off Blue Mountain’s Maria Lopez to snag the top spot in the 100 butterfly.

“We had an awesome day,” said Newton with a smile as wide as the pool. Newton, a junior, felt coming in that the 100 breaststroke was her strongest event and won it handily with a time of 1:09.64, nearly five seconds faster than her nearest competitor.

Like Dando, Zimmerman had to win her two medals despite having to switch swim suits.

“I did all right without my tech suit,” said Zimmerman who feels that while the suit makes a swimmer faster, it is also a “mind game” having it on. “But I’m good with it all.”

For Kokinda. it was a matter of blocking out everything else and swimming her race.

“I needed to stay focused,” explained Kokinda after taking gold in the 100 fly and second in the 50 fly. “I really didn’t worry about my competition. I just wanted to do my best and stay focused.”

Teri Kokinda, Panther Valley’s coach and the mother of Jacqueline, was excited about the way her three swimmers fared.

“I thought they’d all do well, and they definitely did,” said Teri. “They’re all very competitive as you can see.

“All the hard training has paid off, and as a coach, that’s a very rewarding feeling. I’m so happy for them.”

Silver medals

Tamaqua’s Brandon Long just missed out on a gold medal in the 100 backstroke event. Long, who is a freshman and has a solid future, was beat by Blue Mountain’s Greg Rautzhan, a seasoned vet. Rautzhan was timed in 1:02.35 in the finals after posting a 1;03.40 seed time. Long had a seed time of 108.73, and swam 1:08.94 in the finals.

Nicole Aguero-Ramirez came in second in the girls 50 backstroke with a time of 37.82, losing out to Pottsville’s Taleah Ruben.

The Tamaqua girls 200 relay team also grabbed silver, finishing behind winner Pottsville. Dumond, Madelyn Jones, Maura Walker and Aguero-Ramirez comprised the Raider team.

Meet notes

ALSO COMPETING … Tamaqua’s Jones and Logan Hartney swam through the grueling 500 freestyle. Alex Barron finished fourth in the boys 50 breaststroke and seventh in the 100. Teammate Nate Kovalchick competed in both butterfly events coming in third in the 50 and seventh 100. In addition, Tamaqua’s Joey Lescavage, Ben Hehn and Ethan Amershek along with Panther Valley’s Caleb Knepper also took part in individual events during the meet. The Raiders also fielded a 400 relay team (Amershek, Barron, Kovalchick, Zeno Zukovich).

AND THE WINNER IS … Blue Mountain’s boys and girls were the team champions. The boys, who were the favorites coming in with a league record 10-0, won 10-of-15 events to prevail easily. The Blue Mountain girls set a record in the 400-yard freestyle relay event. Olivia Haas, a sophomore standout, won a pair of individual events and was part of two winning relay events, one of which broke a 14-year-old record.

LET’S DIVE IN … Today at North Schuylkill the league will hold the diving championships which get underway at 4 p.m. The Blue Mountain boys have two of the favorites in the event. Tamaqua’s best chance for a medal is probably Madelyn Jones.

Schuylkill League Swimming Results

GIRLS

200 medley relay - 1. Pottsville A (Rakus, Ruben, Mettam, Balulis) 2:03.39, 2. Tamaqua A 2:08.06, 3. Blue Mountain A 2:15.66, 4. Mahanoy Area B 2:20.72, 5. Tamaqua B 2:20.89, 6. Pottsville B 2:35.27.

200 freestyle - 1. Zimmerman (PV) 2:01.39, 2. Sarnes (BM) 2:03.90, 3. Martinko (P) 2:09.92, 4. Aguero-Ramirez (T) 2:17.90, 5. S. Magdeburg (BM) 2:19.75, 6. March (BM) 2:19.82.

200 IM - 1. Dumond (T) 2:26.79, 2. Yuengling (BM) 2:27.08, 3. Rothermel (Hal) 2:28.29, 4. Walker (T) 2:48.63.

100 butterfly - 1. Kokinda (PV) 1:04.39, 2. Lopez (BM) 1:04.45, 3. Sponsler (Hal) 1:06.39, 4. O’Boyle (MA) 1:10.93, 5. Laughlin (BM) 1:14.24, 6. Snyder (Hal) 1:14.96.

50 freestyle - 1. Haas (BM) 25.16, 2. H. Magdeburg (BM) 26.00, 3. Dudash (MA) 26.19, 4. Quick (MA) 26.61, 5. Balulis (P) 26.67, 6. O’Boyle (MA) 27.32.

100 backstroke - 1. Dando (Mar) 1:00.04, 2. Dudash (MA) 1:04.43, 3. Sponsler (Hal) 1:08.57, 4. Lang (SH) 1:09.44, 5. Zeplin (BM) 1:16.57, 6. Gutekunst (MA) 1:20.81.

50 breaststroke - 1. Ruben (P) 32.54, 2. Aguero-Ramirez (T) 37.82, 3. Toth (T) 38.05, 4. Ward (MA) 38.24, 5. Biddle (P) 43.76.

200 freestyle relay - 1. Blue Mountain A (Yuengling, H. Magdeburg, Lopez, Haas) 1:43.30, 2. Mahanoy Area A 1:47.10, 3. Pottsville A 1:51.53, 4. Blue Mountain B 1:54.40, 5. Tamaqua A 2:02.66, 6. Pottsville B 2:06.08.

500 freestyle - 1. Sarnes (BM) 5:22.64, 2. Martinko (P) 5:56.29, 3. March (BM) 6:09.98, 4. M. Menuchak (NS) 6:11.09, 5. S. Magdeburg (BM) 6:11.41, 6. Ma. Jones (T) 6:17.78.

100 IM - 1. Ruben (P) 1:03.26 (league and meet record), 2. Newton (PV) 1:05.32.

50 butterfly - 1. Dumond (T) 28.98, 2. Kokinda (PV) 29.34, 3. Mohl (P) 29.73, 4. Mettam (P) 30.15, 5. Fetco (MA) 49.08.

100 freestyle - 1. Haas (BM) 54.75, 2. Zimmerman (PV) 56.25, 3. Lopez (BM) 56.47, 4. Yuengling (BM) 56.90, 5. H. Magdeburg (BM) 57.23, 6. Quick (MA) 58.76.

50 backstroke - 1. Dando (Mar) 28.25, 2. Hartney (T) 35.91, 3. Mia Jones (T) 36.03, 4. Wenzel (T) 36.04, 5. Wolfgang (NS) 36.09, 6. P. Mitchell (NS) 38.57.

100 breaststroke - 1. Newton (PV) 1:09.64, 2. Rothermel (Hal) 1:14.02, 3. Ma. Jones (T) 1:17.63, 4. Snyder (Hal) 1:17.84, 5. Walker (T) 1:23.97, 6. Ward (MA) 1:24.17.

400 freestyle relay - 1. Blue Mountain A (H. Magdeburg, Lopez, Yuengling, Haas) 3:44.88 (league and meet record), 2. Pottsville A 3:59.88, 3. Blue Mountain B 4:11.47, 4. Tamaqua A 4:13.42, 5. Mahanoy Area A 4:57.85, 6. Pottsville B 4:58.71.

BOYS

200 medley relay - 1. Blue Mountain A (Powers, Keith, To. Perry, Yuengling) 1:46.21, 2. Blue Mountain B 1:53.24, 3. Pottsville A 1:58.13, 4. Tamaqua A 1:58.85, 5. Pottsville B 2:15.66.

200 freestyle - 1. Evert (NS) 1:55.85, 2. Stein (BM) 2:00.77, 3. Rautzhan (BM) 2:02.84, 4. Albertini (P) 2:05.98, 5. Hepler (NS) 2:08.20, 6. MacDonald (BM) 2:11.93.

200 IM - 1. Yuengling (BM) 2:12.60, 2. To. Perry (BM) 2:22.48, 3. B. Sisko (SH) 2:28.46, 4. Beam (BM) 2:31.94, 5. Lescavage (T) 2:33.38.

100 butterfly - 1. Van Orden (P) 53.58, 2. Stanitis (NS) 57.01, 3. Reedy (P) 57.92, 4. Felty (SH) 1:01.30, 5. Lecher (P) 1:06.92, 6. Kalinich (P) 1:07.03.

50 freestyle - 1. Powers (BM) 22.40, 2. Schreffler (Nat) 22.45, 3. Felty (SH) 23.10, 4. Sopko (BM) 23.31, 5. Barbe (BM) 23.77, 6. Rinda (P) 25.12.

100 backstroke - 1. Rautzhan (BM) 1:02.35, 2. Long (T) 1:08.94, 3. Turner (SH) 1:16.50, 4. Michel (P) 1:23.15, 5. Rehrig (BM) 1:23.25, 6. Duncan (P) 1:28.58.

50 breaststroke - 1. Keith (BM) 29.80, 2. Ta. Perry (BM) 30.41, 3. Hudepohl (BM) 31.13, 4. Barron (T) 32.61, 5. Seiger (P) 32.83, 6. Ott (P) 34.19.

200 freestyle relay - 1. Pottsville A (Rinda, Albertini, Reedy, Van Orden) 1:35.18, 2. Blue Mountain A 1:35.19, 3. Blue Mountain B 1:39.92, 4. Schuylkill Haven A 1:42.71, 5. Pottsville B 1:45.77, 6. North Schuylkill A 1:47.69.

500 freestyle - 1. Evert (NS) 5:13.62, 2. Stein (BM) 5:26.09, 3. Hepler (NS) 5:39.91, 4. Beam (BM) 5:46.34, 5. MacDonald (BM) 5:55.77, 6. Fry (BM) 5:58.92.

100 IM - 1. Yuengling (BM) 1:00.60, 2. Kalinich (P) 1:07.75, 3. Brennan (P) 1:16.11.

50 butterfly - 1. Sopko (BM) 24.94, 2. Reedy (P) 25.63, 3. Kovalchick (T) 29.20, 4. Lecher (P) 29.44, 5. Yeager (P) 30.22.

100 freestyle - 1. Van Orden (P) 48.94, 2. Powers (BM) 49.09, 3. Schreffler (Nat) 49.20, 4. Stanitis (NS) 51.47, 5. B. Sisko (SH) 54.42, 6. Albertini (P) 55.79.

50 backstroke - 1. Barbe (BM) 27.54, 2. Long (T) 30.60, 3. Zukovich (T) 34.02, 4. Raess-Sausser (P) 36.19, 5. Duncan (P) 37.64, 6. Michel (P) 37.79.

100 breaststroke - 1. Keith (BM) 1:07.15, 2. Hudepohl (BM) 1:09.62, 3. Ta. Perry (BM) 1:09.69, 4. Shapansky (MA) 1:11.51, 5. To. Perry (BM) 1:12.47, 6. Hillibush (MA) 1:13.58.

400 freestyle relay - 1. Blue Mountain A (Yuengling, Barbe, Sopko, Powers) 3:29.31, 2. Pottsville A 3:36.73, 3. Schuylkill Haven A 3:57.41, 4. North Schuylkill A 3:58.76, 5. Tamaqua A 3:58.88, 6. Blue Mountain B 4:02.09.