At the 2018 Pennsylvania AA high school swimming and diving state championships the Villa Maria Academy girls put together a fairly decisive victory while the Lower Moreland boys scraped together every point they could to win by a narrow margin.<\/p>\n
On the girls side, Villa Maria totaled 178 points for the victory. Dallas finished second with 139 points and Gwynedd Mercy finished third with 126 points.<\/p>\n
The Lower Moreland boys had a total of 207 points, while runner up Cathedral Prep finished the meet with 193, and third place went to Clearfield with 159 points.<\/p>\n
Villa Maria Academy led from the get go.\u00a0Bella Agresti<\/strong>,\u00a0Jasmine Chen<\/strong>,\u00a0Julia Bradford<\/strong>, and\u00a0Sydney Sherman\u00a0<\/strong>stopped the clock in 1:46.10. Springfield Township\u00a0Megan Leibfreid<\/strong>,\u00a0Alison Currie<\/strong>,\u00a0Maura Fluehr<\/strong>, and\u00a0Paris Thompson\u00a0<\/strong>closely followed, finishing in 1:46.37.<\/p>\n Bloomsburg’s\u00a0Hanna Everhart<\/strong> dipped under 1:50 with a 1:49.69 in the 200 freestyle.\u00a0Karen Siddoway\u00a0<\/strong>of Northgate was runner up, stopping the clock in 1:50.45. Nazareth Academy’s\u00a0Kayla Lichtner\u00a0<\/strong>rounded out the podium with a 1:52.19. The same trio topped the 100 freestyle with times of 50.50, 50.88, and 51.37, respectively.<\/p>\n Shamokin sophomore\u00a0Abigail Doss\u00a0<\/strong>ran away with the 200 IM, clocking a 2:00.99. Two juniors were in a tight battle for second.\u00a0Annie O’Dare\u00a0<\/strong>of Gwynedd Mercy got to the wall in 2:03.26, just a tenth ahead of Northern York’s\u00a0Kate Luft\u00a0<\/strong>in 2:03.38. Doss also dominated the 500 free, finishing in 4:51.70. In that event Villa Maria finished second, through fourth with\u00a0Katitlyn Aggger\u00a0<\/strong>(4:58.54),\u00a0Katherine Fronczak\u00a0<\/strong>(5:04.55), and\u00a0Alexa Turco\u00a0<\/strong>(5:07.05).<\/p>\n Emma Wilson\u00a0<\/strong>of Grove City edged\u00a0Heather Gardner\u00a0<\/strong>of Mt. Pleasant 23.30 to 23.43 for the 50 freestyle victory. Schuylkill Valley’s\u00a0Marlee Rickert\u00a0<\/strong>was third in 23.77.<\/p>\n Paige Mikesell<\/strong>, a senior at Clearfield, raced away from the field in the 100 butterfly, winning the event in 55.07. Touching second was sophomore\u00a0Maddie Mcsorley\u00a0<\/strong>from Nazareth Academy with her 56.70. Jersey Shore’s\u00a0Emma Butzler\u00a0<\/strong>finished third (57.15).<\/p>\n Villa Maria’s momentum continued to roll, as the squad of\u00a0Kelly Fessler<\/strong>, Chen, Bradford, and Sherman won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:36.86, ahead of a 1:38.00 from Grove City.<\/p>\n Northern York’s\u00a0Kate Luft\u00a0<\/strong>won the 100 backstroke in a quick 54.59. Rickert touched second (55.72) and Juaniata’s\u00a0Sydney Houtz\u00a0<\/strong>completed the top three (57.94).<\/p>\n The 200 IM runner up, O’Dare was first to the wall in the 100 breaststroke, finishing in 1:02.14. James Buchanan senior\u00a0Rachel Kimmel\u00a0<\/strong>earned silver (1:03.04) and bronze went to Holy Redeemer’s\u00a0Margaret Walting\u00a0<\/strong>(1:04.07).<\/p>\n The top five teams in the 400 freestyle relay all finished within one second of one another, with the top three coming to the wall within three tenths. A 51.96 anchor from\u00a0Lindsey Grune\u00a0<\/strong>powered Shady Side Academy to the victory, stopping the clock in 3:34.05. After leading by two seconds with 100 yards to go, Schuylkill Valley finished second (3:34.31), just holding off\u00a0Wyoming Seminary (3:34.36).<\/p>\n Lower Moreland was a second and a half ahead of the competition in the first relay.\u00a0Ben Aust<\/strong>,\u00a0Chris Kelly<\/strong>,\u00a0Tommy Lutter<\/strong>, and\u00a0Connor Killion\u00a0<\/strong>combined for a 1:34.08 to win the 200 medley. Runner up honors went to Cathedral Prep’s\u00a0Ethan Neff<\/strong>,\u00a0John Paul Stark<\/strong>,\u00a0Robbie Maholic<\/strong>, and\u00a0Thomas Uht\u00a0<\/strong>in 1:35.69.<\/p>\n Two boys were under 1:40 in the 200 freestyle: Bishop McDevitt’s\u00a0Josiah Lauver\u00a0<\/strong>(1:39.24) and Clearfield’s\u00a0Luke Mikesell\u00a0<\/strong>(1:39.91). Lower Moreland’s Killion touched third (1:40.35). Mikesell won the 500 freestyle with a 4:28.28, just edging\u00a0Marian Catholic’s\u00a0Danny Berlitz\u00a0<\/strong>in 4:28.67.<\/p>\nBoys<\/h3>\n