Oakland Catholic Women Win Pennsylvania Class AA State Meet

By Brian Savard

LEWISBURG, Pennsylvania, March 23. THE Oakland Catholic women trailed the entire meet at the Pennsylvania AA Championships until the last relay. After that relay, however, Oakland Catholic came out in front.

Team Results

Oakland Catholic totaled 165 points and placed first overall. Panther Valley, which led for the majority of the meet, placed second with 158 points. Muhlenberg rounded out the top three teams with a 142 point third-place finish.

Individual Results

200 medley relay

Springfield Township High School upset top-seeded Panther Valley in the first event of the meet, touching out the Panther Valley relay in a time of 1:48.43. The Springfield Township quartet included Alex Stoddart, Monica Wolgast, Dana Hills and Monica DeStefano. The relay rallied behind DeStefano's anchor leg that propelled the relay from two seconds down.

"It felt so good," DeStefano said. "We've been trying to win it since freshman year. We lost our butterflyer to graduation last year, and we had a junior step in this year."

Panther Valley took second with a 1:48.44 while Oakland Catholic rounded out the top relay teams with a 1:49.97 third-place finish.

200 freestyle

Lindsay Vrooman, an Ambridge Area freshman, gained ground off of every 50 en route to a 1:50.98 win in the 200 freestyle. The seven other girls in the final heat battled out for second place. Just .65 second separated second through eighth place.

Michelle Johnson of Nazareth Academy came out of lane seven to win the fight for second with a 1:54.14 time. Jen Beatty from Indiana Area High School placed third with 1:54.28.

200 I.M.

Alyssa Vavra lowered her 2006 state and pool record in the 200 I.M., crushing the field in a 2:01.48 time. Vavra's former mark stood at 2:01.94. Stephanie Kinsey of Trinity fended off a comeback by Sami Vavra of Panther Valley. Kinsey placed second in the event with a 2:09.12 time while Vavra settled for third with a 2:09.96 time.

50 freestyle

Kristen Shickora of Marian Catholic earned a National Federation Honor Roll time of 23.50 with her victory in the 50 freestyle. Mary Moser of Wyomissing touched second with a 23.73 time while Muhlenberg's Megan Bauer placed third in 24.10.

100 butterfly

Cookie McIntyre of West York edged out Montour's Katie Matuszewski in the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 57.38. Matuszewski tailed close behind, claiming a second-place finish in 57.43. Nazareth Academy's Victoria Gillespie took the bronze medal in a final time of 57.67.

200 freestyle relay

Springfield Township's Cinderella run at the relays ended with Muhlenberg's 200 freestyle relay. Muhlenberg's contingent of Bauer, Amanda Frees, Allison Fies and Jena Marrinucci finished first in 1:38.02. Springfield Township placed second with a 1:38.99 time while Nazareth Academy finished third with a final time of 1:39.44.

100 freestyle

Bauer split a 26.77 in her second 50 before winning the event in 52.06. Moser took second with a 52.62 while Blue Mountain's Kristen Caldarella clocked 52.62 and finished third.

500 freestyle

Vrooman swam out in front after the opening 100, pacing the field in 4:53.22. Greensburg Central Catholic's Katherine Cutrell fell behind after a fast first 100 and finished second with a 5:01.35. Johnson touched out Oakland Catholic competitor Katherine Cutrell with a 5:07.45 time for third.

100 backstroke

Another state record fell after Shickora swam a 55.30 100 backstroke. Shickora sprinted her first 50 and held onto her lead during the second half of the race. Shickora set the former mark at last year's championship meet in 55.64.

"Girls on both sides both pushed me," Shickora said. "I changed into a Fastskin tonight and took out the first 50 a little bit faster."

Stoddart, while settling for second place, earned herself a National Federation Honor Roll time of 56.93. Amanda Terray from Panther Valley placed third with a 57.34 time.

100 breaststroke

Alyssa Vavra notched her second victory of the meet with a win in the 100 breaststroke. Vavra picked up her second National Federation Honor Roll time with a 1:03.29. Vavra's sister, Sami, touched second in 1:05.07. McIntyre placed third with a 1:05.66 time.

400 freestyle relay

Muhlenberg's quartet of Frees, Bauer, Fies and Marrinucci notched their second win of the meet as a relay team with a time of 3:34.14. Trinity stuck with Muhlenberg most of the race, but Marrinucci pulled ahead of Trinity's Ashlyn Stumpf on the anchor leg. Trinity finished second in 3:36.97 while Oakland Catholic improved upon its eighth-place seed coming into finals, capturing a 3:37.83 third-place finish.

Diving Results

Riverside's Kayla Kelosky racked up 396.30 points in the diving competition, which allowed her to pick up the gold. Ilana Zeises from Lower Moreland finished second with a score of 373.15, and Hampton's Amy Langnecker placed third with 366.40 points.

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