OREFIELD - While Blue Mountain continued to dominate the District 11 Class 2A swimming championships at Parkland High School on Saturday, area swimmers put on strong showings in search of bids to reach the PIAA championships scheduled for later this month at Bucknell University.

In the team competition, Tamaqua finished fourth on the boys side, and seventh among girls teams.

Blue Raider sophomore Lexi Buchala finished fourth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:50.83 to give the school its highest finish on the second day of the event. Classmate Gabby Blasko placed seventh, while freshman swimmer Isabella Jones came in 12th in her first appearance at districts to give Tamaqua three young distance swimmers for the future.

Sophomores Jathan Krall and Alex Zehner give Tamaqua two more young distance swimmers to watch, with Krall finishing eighth in the boys 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:48.39, and Zehner clocking in at 6:22.14 in 14th place.

The Blue Raiders had success in shorter distances as well when junior Brandon Long finished fifth with a time of 1:06.13 in the 100-yard backstroke. Two teammates had good showings in the girls backstroke, with sophomore Lily McNutt (1:17.77) finishing seventh and Blasko coming in 10th at 1:19.52, just .53 seconds behind her nearest competitor.

“We have a lot of young swimmers who have worked very hard this season, and are dedicated to getting better and improving their times,” said coach Jennifer Paisley. “I think that everyone on the team has an idea of what it takes to do well in districts, and they are all working toward getting better, and they all earned their spots here and will likely be back and in even better positions next year.”

In the lone relay event of the day, Long and Krall were teamed with sophomores Stephen Behun and Jack Tharp in the 400-yard freestyle relay and finished fourth, coming in at 3:42.43 in the event. The foursome had come in fourth in Friday’s 200-yard medley relay as well to give them two trips to the medal podium.

The young girls squad of Buchala, Jones, Rylee Wenzel and Maura Walker finished with a time of 4:09.56, good enough for sixth place.

While Tamaqua was the only area school to have a team entered in districts, other area swimmers competed in the two-day event with an eye toward qualifying for the PIAA championships.

Northwestern freshman Hunter Slaski swam in the 500-freestyle and finished fifth with a time of 5:40.02. Another freshman, Panther Valley’s Michael Williams, finished eighth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:12.30.

Northwestern had another freshman, Aidan Braadt, compete in the 100-yard breaststroke where he finished seventh with a time of 1:07.90, after coming in third in the 200-yard IM on Friday. Slaski also swam on Friday and placed eighth in the 200-yard freestyle.

TOP SWIMMERS ... Blue Mountain swimmer Hannah Magdeburg and Pen Argyl’s Danny Hayes were named the Dennis A. McGinley Award winners as the best female and male swimmers in the District 11 championships. Magdeburg had two individual and two relay gold medal finishes, and Hayes reset the district record time in winning the gold in the 100-yard butterfly.

A WAIT FOR STATES ... Gold medal winners are guaranteed spots in states. Other swimmers will wait for bids to compete at Bucknell based on their times at districts. Those bids and the seedings will be released prior to states, which begin on March 18 for 2A swimmers. No area individual swimmers or relay teams won gold, so if there is any local representation at the state tournament it would be based on times.

DISTRICT 11 GIRLS SWIMMING

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Blue Mountain 456, 2. Pottsville 292, 3. Mahanoy Area 204, 4. Saucon Valley 192, 5. Central Catholic 186, 6. North Schuylkill 174.5, 7. Tamaqua 167, 8. Schuylkill Haven 155.5, 9. Moravian Academy 135, 10. Salisbury 67, 11. East Stroudsburg North 50.

EVENTS

(Top 5; plus locals)

100 Freestyle - 1. Hannah Magdeburg (Blue Mountain) 53.24; 2. Victoria Ellex (Blue Mountain) 54.91; 3. Morgan Yuengling (Blue Mountain) 55.79; 4. Julia Balulis (Pottsville) 56.69; 5. Skylar Donaldson (Palisades) 59.13; 500 Freestyle - 1. Katherine Sarnes (Blue Mountain) 5:15.93; 2. Sabrina Yurconic (ACC) 5:30.87; 3. Mollie Sarnes (Blue Mountain) 5:34.93; 4. Lexi Buchala (Tamaqua) 5:50.83; 5. Kayla March (Blue Mountain) 5:53.68; 7. Gabby Blasko (Tamaqua) 6:00.85; Isabella Jones (Tamaqua) 6:21.91; 100 Backstroke - 1. Erika Zimmerman (Schuylkill Haven) 1:00.97; 2. Abby Dudash (Mahanoy Area) 1:01.40; 3. Grace Shucavage (ACC) 1:03.38; 4. Sage Kaplafka (Blue Mountain) 1:06.53; 5. Kaylee Senglar (Mahanoy Area) 1:06.62; 100 Breaststroke - 1. Paige Bensinger (Blue Mountain) 1:08.39; 2. Kenna Wonsock (North Schuylkill) 1:13.34; 3. Tabbatha Ward (Mahanoy Area) 1:14.86; 4. Ella DeFazio (Salisbury) 1:16.53; Jaylen Lesser (Saucon Valley) 1:17.13; 7. Lily McNutt (Tamaqua) 1:17.77; 10. Gabby Blasko (Tamaqua) 1:19.52; 400 Freestyle Relay

- 1. Blue Mountain 3:41.50; 2. Pottsville 3:50.82; 3. Saucon Valley 3:58.14; 4. Mahanoy 3:58.86; 5. N. Schuylkill 4:05.26; 6. Tamaqua (Rylee Wenzel, Isabella Jones, Lexi Buchala, Maura Walker) 4:09.56.

DISTRICT 11 BOYS SWIMMING

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Blue Mountain 358, 2. Moravian Academy 274, 3. Central Catholic 178, 4. Tamaqua 140, 5. Pottsville 123, 6. North Schuylkill 120, 7. Salisbury 119, 8. East Stroudsburg North 113, 9. Schuylkill Haven 102, 10. Saucon Valley 83, 11. Mahanoy Area 74.

EVENTS

(Top 5; plus locals)

100 Freestyle - 1. Noah Powers (Blue Mountain) 47.80; 2. Danny Hayes (Pen Argyl) 47.87; 3. Reese Felty (Schuylkill Haven) 48.23; 4. Jovannie Avila (Notre Dame-GP) 48.43; 5. Nathan Harris (ACC) 49.35; 500 Freestyle - 1. RJ Farina (Notre Dame-GP) 4:45.64; 2. Logan Stein (Blue Mountain) 5:07.29; 3. Torrin Rabenstein (Blue Mountain) 5:20.71; 4. Aidan Rodrigues (Moravian Academy) 5:21.22; 5. Hunter Slaski (Northwestern) 5:40.02; 8. Jathan Krall (Tamaqua) 5:48.39; 14. Alex Zehner (Tamaqua) 6:22.14; 100 Backstroke - 1. Nick Ritter (Moravian Academy) 52.65; 2. Gavin Mentzer (North Schuylkill) 1:03.09; 3. Sebastian Malaver (Moravian Academy) 1:04.23; 4. Nic Murgia (Moravian Academy) 1:04.28; 5. Brandon Long (Tamaqua) 1:06.13; 8. Michael Williams (Panther Valley) 1:12.30; 100 Breaststroke - 1. Francesco D’Avella (Notre Dame-GP) 58.88*; 2. Jake Hillibush (Mahanoy Area) 1:02.44; 3. Taber Perry (Blue Mountain) 1:05.02; 4. Kyler Shapansky (Mahanoy Area) 1:05.16; 5. Jack Lu (Moravian Academy) 1:05.59; 7. Aiden Braadt (Northwestern) 1:07.90; 400 Freestyle Relay

- 1. Central Catholic 3:25.18; 2. Moravian Academy 3:30.90; 3. Pottsville 3:40.53; 4. Tamaqua (Brandon Long, Jack Tharp, Jathan Krall, Stephen Behun) 3:42.43; Blue Mountain 3:45.00.

* - Denotes a District 11 record.