Michael Jensen & the Upper Dublin boys’ team were winners at the District One AAA meet while the North Penn girls’ captured their fourth consecutive district crown. Check our Suburban One Sports gallery for hundreds of photos captured at the District 1 Championships at La Salle University on Saturday...CLICK HERE!
Michael Jensen crushed it.
The Upper Dublin senior won the 100-yard freestyle at the conclusion of the District One Class AAA meet, held at La Salle University’s Kirk Natatorium.
His time of 44.06 was a meet record, lowering the mark of 44.45 set on March 5, 2011 by Andrew Kosic of West Chester Henderson. He went on to break that record later in the meet, posting a 44.04 in the leadoff split of the 400 freestyle relay.
The Cardinals also won that relay in 3:05.04. Scott Luttmann, Wyatt Amdor and Ogden Leyens were the other swimmers.
Upper Dublin captured the team title with 292 points, the first since 2013 for the Cardinals.
“We’re not tapered so we’re focusing more on states,” Jensen said. “I felt good on Friday and all right today. I got the win in the 100 free and we got the win in the 400 free so I can’t complain. I want to just swim a good race. Time doesn’t really matter as much but I’m concerned with how I swim it. The records are very nice, though.
“I feel like I’m in a good place. This is the least prepared I’ve ever been for districts so I’m looking forward to resting and shaving for states.
“It’s awesome to win the team title. We got it our freshman year and then North Penn got it the next two and we were the runner-up so it was nice to get it back. That was a big goal among the seniors. We really wanted it.
“States is going to be fun. It’s what everyone was working for. I’m looking forward to it and seeing what we can do.”
Jensen also earned the B.J. Howat award for the outstanding swimmer of the meet.
“I wasn’t thinking about that until I saw in Class AA that Owen (Robinson of Calvary Christian) got it and then I thought about it,” he said.
Jensen wasn’t the only district champion in an individual event for the Cardinals.
Leyens also earned a victory in the 500 freestyle (4:33.62) and Amdor in the 100 breaststroke (55.99).
Also for the Cardinals, Jake Easton was fourth in the 100 breaststroke (58.37), Devon Polak was sixth in the 100 breaststroke (58.70) and Alex Flynn was eighth in the 100 freestyle (47.86).
For the Upper Dublin girls, Jenna Johns was fifth in the 100freestyle (51.54).
The North Penn girls won their fourth consecutive district team crown, scoring 343 points.
Megan Zartman was third in the 100 backstroke (56.37), Kailyn Evans was fourth in the 100 freestyle (51.33), Heather Hartmann was seventh in the 500 freestyle (5:07.24) and Erin O’Neill was seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.39).
Aimee Baur, Claudia Thamm, Parker Schulz and Evans were second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:26.44).
“It’s pretty awesome,” North Penn coach Matt Weiser said. “My awesome senior leaders won a district title all four years.
“When you score the amount of points we did and see the depth we have, it all comes down to team, team, team.
“My four senior captains are amazing. The three girls in swimming, Leah Brown, Erin O’Neill and Aimee Baur, they 100 percent led this team to the title and Marie Yacopino does it on the diving end. I don’t know what else you could want out of four senior girls than what those four girls bring to North Penn every single day.”
For North Penn’s boys, Corey Smith was third in the 100 backstroke (52.31), Aiden Daly was fourth in the 500 freestyle (4:35.98) and Harrison Friel was fifth in the 100 breaststroke (58.51).
Daly, Ryan Yocum, Ryan Hartmann and Smith finished fifth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:12.80).
North Penn finished second in boys team scoring with 236 points.
Pennridge girls had three victories for the day. Morgan Scott won the 100 freestyle (50.73), Brittany Weiss won the 100 backstroke (54.78)and Hannah Zurmuhl, Anna Beno, Weiss and Scott won the 400 freestyle relay in a meet record time of 3:24.89, breaking the mark of 3:25.59 set by the same foursome at last year’s district meet.
“I was very excited going into the event,” Weiss said of the backstroke. “It’s kind of a new event for me. I was just excited to see what I could do and it worked out pretty good.
“It was hard to decide what to swim at districts. Every year I struggle with that decision, and this year it was my senior year and I wanted to swim an event that I never swam before and have fun with it and that was a good decision.
“The most exciting part of the meet was the 400 free relay for us. We were right next to North Penn and they’re such a rival of ours. Winning and setting the record gives us a lot of confidence because it’s a second faster than we went last year.”
Zurmuhl was tied for seventh in the 100 freestyle with Abby Kosic of West Chester Henderson (51.96) and Anna Beno was eighth in the 100 backstroke (58.18).
Pennridge took second in girls team scoring with 196.5 points.
Cristian Musterait of Souderton was second in the boys 100 freestyle (45.28). Also for the Souderton boys, Ryan Witoslawski was second in the 100 breaststroke (58.28) and Spencer Nice was third in the 100 breaststroke (58.36).
Storm Krader, Nice, Brendon Loux and Musterait were second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:11.13).
For Hatboro-Horsham’s boys, Andy Thomas took third in the100 freestyle (46.13). Stuart Sumner, John Scully, Thomas and Tim McPoyle were third in the 400 freestyle relay (3:11.18).
For the Hatters girls, Barbara Schmele was seventh in the 100 backstroke (57.91).
Neshaminy’s David Kneiss was fourth in the 100 freestyle (46.48).
For the Wissahickon boys, two swimmers punched tickets to the state meet in the 500 freestyle. Doug Boehme finished third (4:35.70) and Jeff Beyer was fifth (4:37.13).
The Trojans were also seventh in the boys 400 freestyle relay. Jake Berring, David McFarland, Boehme and Beyer clocked in at 3:14.61.
For the Wissahickon girls, Carly Zlotnikoff was fourth in the 500 freestyle (5:04.01).
Amanda Zlotnikoff, Liliana Xu, Carly Zlotnikoff and Kelly Wild were sixth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:34.67).
Collin Villari of Central Bucks East was fifth in the boys100 backstroke (52.64).
Collin Hanlon of Pennsbury was sixth in the boys 500 freestyle (4:38.29).
Central Bucks West’s Dale Johnson finished eighth in the 100 backstroke (53.64).
In Class AA, Springfield’s Jake Corcoran struck gold in the100 freestyle with his time of 48.79.
Also for the Spartans, Ben Van Meter was fourth in the 500 freestyle (4:54.10), Justin Smith was fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.88), Ethan Ford took seventh in the 100 freestyle (50.77) and Jake Cawley was eighth in the 100 backstroke (1:00.36).
Van Meter, Sam del Rio, Ethan Ford and Corcoran were second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:17.36).
For the Springfield girls, Megan Leibfreid was fifth in the100 backstroke (1:00.22), Margrethe Leis was seventh in the 500 freestyle (5:18.45), Alison Currie was seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.23) and Lizzie Nadolski was eighth in the 100 freestyle (54.94).
Leis, Emily Cooney, Alyssa LoRusso and Nadolski were fourth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:41.69).
Upper Moreland ended the meet with a splash, winning the 400 freestyle relay in 3:16.12. Zach Litvin, Jake Matthews, Brennan Coleman and Jake Winter were the victorious quartet.
Litvin was third in the 100 freestyle (49.19), Winter was fifth in the 100 freestyle (50.01), Matthews was fifth in the 500 freestyle(5:00.10), Coleman was seventh in the 500 freestyle (5:09.94) and Devon Pickard was eighth in the 500 freestyle (5:13.05).
Upper Moreland took second in team scoring for the boys with 286 points and Springfield was third (245). Lower Moreland won the boys team competition (381).
For the Upper Moreland girls, Melanie Wittick, Anna MariaStylianou, Johanna Spaeter and Colleen Davis finished sixth in the 400 freestyle relay (4:02.02).
Avon Grove’s Olivia Paoletti was named the most outstanding swimmer on the girls’ side.
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