Wvw Girls In Good Shape For Title Try
Favored Delaware Valley boys will be challenged by WVW and Abington Heights.
While the Wyoming Valley West girls lost out on a chance to reclaim the Wyoming Valley Conference title from Holy Redeemer earlier this season, you can be sure the Spartans won’t let a fifth consecutive District 2 title slip out of their grasp so easily.
Last season, Valley West scored a 100-point victory in the Class 3A girls meet for No. 4 in a row. Delaware Valley snuck up on the rest of the district to grab the boys Class 3A crown.
This season, though, the competition in Class 3A is especially tough.
Valley West is off to a good start, grabbing six out of 11 possible No. 1 seeds for the two-day district meet. Valley West’s top challengers will be Abington Heights and a resurgent Hazleton Area program.
For the Class 3A boys, last year’s champion Delaware Valley is the overwhelming favorite with seven top seeds. The Bucks will be challenged by WVC Champion Wyoming Valley West and Abington Heights.
Also looking to claim a second consecutive District 2 title in the Class 2A meet will be the Scranton Prep girls. The Classics enter this morning’s competition with six No. 1 seeds. The boys Class 2A meet is a toss-up, with Holy Redeemer and Scranton Prep each holding three-top seeds.
Neither team has much depth to back up its lead swimmers, though.
The Spartan girls’ strength has traditionally been in their relay events, where this season Valley West’s girls have claimed two No. 1 seeds (200 medley relay, 400 free relay) and a second seed (200 free relay). Janelle McDaniels, Lindsay Adams, Ashley Tudgay, Laura Tucker, Amy Labashosky, Alexandra Mazaleski, Sara Labashosky and Sydney Hanadel are all possibilities to swim legs on Spartan relays.
The key matchup in the Class 3A boys meet will be in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races, where Delaware Valley’s Jamie Grennan and Valley West’s Matt Morris square off for the third time this season and the fifth time in their careers.
Morris has been on the losing end of this rivalry every time the two have met, including two meetings at the PIAA Championships last winter when Grennan claimed a fourth-place finish and Morris came in sixth in the 100 free. But Morris has been steadily gaining on the junior.
No matter the result of the two races, both swimmers always put on a close and exciting race.
In the Class 2A girls meet, Scranton Prep is heavy in talent, returning multiple District 2 medalist Nicole Pirella for her senior season. Pirella is the top seed in the 100 fly and 100 back and should anchor the 200 medley relay as well as one of the free relays.
Pirella, along with teammates Norah Wetter, Brigitte Germain, Megan Jones, Emma Blake and Lauren Mayurnick should make life difficult for the rest of the Class 2A girls.
Another key matchup in girls Class 2A will pit Redeemer’s Lauren Barnes vs. Dallas’ Stacey Stepniak. Barnes lost to the PIAA finalist in a regular-season meeting, but has improved her times in the last few weeks of the season.
Redeemer’s Patrick Lee leads the pack in the Class 2A boys meet. Lee is the top seed in the 200-yard individual medley and a close second to Scranton Prep’s Greg Germain in the 100-yard butterfly. Lee won three gold medals last season en route to Bishop Hoban’s District 2 Championship.
(after event No. 1, 1-meter dive)
Class 2A Girls: 1. Dallas, 40.00; 2. Coughlin, 19.00; 3. Holy Redeemer, 17.00; 4. Valley View, 7.00; 5. Wyoming Area, 5.00; 5. Wyoming Seminary, 5.00.
Class 2A Boys: 1. Tunkhannock, 32.00; 2. Lake-Lehman, 19.00; 3. Dallas, 12.00; 4. Hanover Area, 11.00; 5. Elk Lake, 7.00; 6. Valley View, 5.00; 7. West Scranton, 4.00.
Class 3A Girls: 1. Wyoming Valley West, 42.00; 2. Abington Heights, 20.00; 3. Hazleton Area, 18.00; 4. Scranton, 9.00; 5. Williamsport, 3.00.
Class 3A Boys: 1. Delaware Valley, 30.00; 2. Scranton, 26.00; 3. Abington Heights, 13.00; 3. Williamsport, 13.00; 5. Hazleton Area, 6.00; 6. Wyoming Valley West, 5.00.
UP NEXT
District 2 Swimming
at Wilkes-Barre CYC
Class 2A: Swimming begins at noon, today and Saturday
Class 3A: Swimming begins at 6 p.m., today and Saturday
Day-one events:
Day-two events:
