WILKES-BARRE — At the first break, it had already become more than apparent Wyoming Valley West wasn’t fooling around.
The team standings projected on the wall, showing the Spartans girls ahead by three and the boys leading by one, told the story of the boys and girls swimming subregional: the rest of the region was going to make Wyoming Valley West’s quest for a regional title very difficult.
The presumed favorites Wyoming Valley West girls and boys swimming teams survived a mix of close races and surprising upsets to lead the District 2-4 Class 3A subregional after the first day of competition. It resumes Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre.
The Spartans boys team leads Abington Heights by 21 points, and the Wyoming Valley West girls top Delaware Valley by 22 points.
Surely, it was no cakewalk. Wyoming Valley West was upset in four of the eight events it was favored heading into the regionals.
The Spartans started the night strong by sweeping both 200-yard medley relays. The relay of Elizabeth Wood, Alexis Ivanitch, Chelsea Mackiewicz and Felicia Brittain withstood a late Delaware Valley charge to take gold with a 1:54.4.
The boys squad, consisting of Stanley Zaneski, Zac Rosencrans, Logan Fluegel and Josh Zawatski scorched the field for a 1:37.81 finish – defeating the competition by nearly six-and-a-half seconds.
Ivanitch held her own in the 200 IM. She pulled ahead straight off the starting block and touched the wall in 2:16.46. She was neck-and-neck with Hazleton Area’s Hayley Sanko and Wallenpaupack’s Cailin Campbell at the halfway mark before pulling away in the breaststroke. In taking her first 200 IM regional title, she held off Sanko by 3.85 seconds.
“I was confident,” Ivanitch said. “Breaststroke is my normal stroke. I usually try to go out faster than everyone else and finish it off on the breaststroke.”
Leading by just one point over Abington Heights, the Spartans finally received the boost it needed in the 50 free, an event that’s been its bread and butter for the past half-decade. Wyoming Valley West took the top two slots in the race and netted 31 points in the race. Zaneski used his long frame to bulldoze to a 21.87 second finish. Zawatski followed in his brother’s footsteps with a second place showing in 22.75 seconds.
Zaneski started off well, but created distance following the turn.
“My last lap is usually faster than my first,” he said. “It really helps endurance. It helps you move forward more.”
Not only did Hazleton Area’s Jorge Moncayo pull off an upset in the 200 IM, he launched a 4.4-second differential between himself and second-place Fluegel.
Moncayo knocked off over 5.5 seconds off his seed time to touch the wall in 2:00.38 for his first regional championship. Much to the delight of the Cougars fans, his teammates congratulated him with “Jorge! Jorge! Jorge!” chants at the podium.
“I was thinking that (I could win),” Moncayo said. “I’ve been busting my (butt) all season. I wasn’t looking at the race. I was looking at nobody. Just swimming.”
Wallenpaupack’s Kyle Usbeck broke a 31-year old district record in the 100 butterfly. Usbeck downed Bishop Hoban graduate Michael Morgan’s benchmark with a 51.7 second performance. Fresh off his 200 IM win, Moncayo took second place in 52.58 seconds.
With her seed time greater than four seconds slower than the favorite, Williamsport’s Pamela Niditch had the upset of the night, turning out a 200-free win out of the No. 6 lane. Niditch trimmed almost seven seconds off her season best to turn out a 2:00.96 for first.
Districts Class 3A Swimming Championships
Team Rankings
Girls
1. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 160; 2. Delaware Valley (DV) 139; 3. Hazleton Area (HA) 136; 4. Wallenpaupack Area (WA) 96; 5. Williamsport (WP) 86; 6. Scranton (SCR) 70; 7. Pittston Area (PIT) 43.
Boys
1. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 154; 2. Abington Heights (AH) 132; 3. Delaware Valley (DV) 118; 4. Hazleton Area (HA) 112; 5. Williamsport (WP) 105; 6. Scranton (SCR) 86; 7. Wallenpaupack (WA) 48; 8. Pittston Area (PIT) 19.
Girls Results
200 medley relay: 1. WVW (Wood, Ivanitch, Mackiewicz, Brittain) 1:54.40; 2. DV (Sodora, Baranowski, Hutzelmann, Narvarte) 1:55.46; 3. HA (O’Hara, Llewellyn, Sanko, Yannes) 1:59.39; 4. WA (Sarro, Crouthamel, Whitman, Lafave) 2:11.14; 5. SCR (Eckenrode, O’Hearn, Edwards, Paszek) 2:11.30; 6. PIT (Lawler, Hazlet, Senese, Johnson) DQ.
200 freestyle: 1. WP, Niditch 2:00.96; 2. DV, Baranowski 2:01.82; 3. WVW, Brittain 2:02.56; 4. WVW, Winton 2:02.60; 5. HA, Yannes 2:07.34; 6. SCR, Yatko 2:09.20; 7. DV, Lee 2:14. 98; 8. DV, Loihle 2:15.75; 9. SCR, Eckenrode 2:18.08; 10. HA, Miller 2:18.85; 11. HA, Palma 2:18.90; 12. PIT, Dillon 2:21.63.
200 IM: 1. WVW, Ivanitch 2:16.46; 2. HA, Sanko 2:20.29; 3. WA, Campbell 2:20.89; 4. DV, Sodora 2:27.52; 5. WP, Good 2:29.18; 6. HA, Llewellyn 2:30.87; 7. WP, Zeigler 2:36.64; 8. WVW, Rogers 2:39.37; 9. DV, Bogert 2:40.94; 10. WA, Crouthamel 2:42.91; 11. PIT, Boccardi 2:43.23; 12. WA, Harmuth 2:47.74.
50 Free: 1. DV, Navarte 24.95; 2. HA, O’Hara 25.57; 3. WVW, Mackiewicz 25.80; 4. WVW, Lauver 25.95; 5. WA, Hehir 26.49; 6. WVW, Hoffman 26.60; 7. WA, Kryzan 26.98; 8. WP, Rosenow 27.70; 9. PIT, Johnson 27.71; 10. SCR, Brier 27.92; 11. DV, Egan 28.21; 12. WP, Southard 28.56.
100 fly: 1. DV, Hutzelmann 1:00.01; 2. HA, Sanko 1:03.26; 3. WVW, Mackiewicz 1:04.53; 4. WA, Hawkins 1:05.88; 5. WVW, Williams 1:06.59; 6. PIT, Senese 1:08.70; 7. WA, Whitman 1:10.42; 7. DV, Brandt 1:10.42; 9. WVW, Rogers 1:10.70; 10. SCR, Naughton 1:11.18; 11. WP, Zeigler 1:13.85; 12. DV, Cabany 1:14.90.
200 free relay: 1. DV (Narvarte, Baranowski, Cabany, Hutzelmann) 1:43.52; 2. WVW (Hoffman, Wood, Winton, Lauver) 1:46.25; 3. WA (Hehir, Kryzan, Hawkins, Campbell) 1:47.99; 4. WP (Rosenow, Southard, Good, Niditch) 1:49.88; 5. SCR (Brier, Paszek, Yatko, Naughton) 1:52.31; 6. HA (Palma, Lloyd, Miller, Scheider) 1:52.52; 7. PIT (Dillon, Grieco, Connors, Boccardi) 1:53.69.
Boys Results
200 Medley Relay: 1. WVW (Zaneski, Rosencrans, Fluegel, Zawatski) 1:37.81; 2. AH (Conahan, Gromelski, Vale, Clifton) 1:44.27; 3. DV (Naturale, Wihlborg, Deignan, Vaivada) 1:44.58; 4. WP (Schwoyer, Bonoslawski, Cramer, Durand) 1:46.66; 5. HA (Sabatos, Flowers, Alonzo, Gould) 1:51.64; 6. WA (Sarro, Romeo, Usbeck, Vosburg) 1:53.68; 7. SCR (Mundia, Grier, Pitts, Prothero) 1:58.37.
200 freestyle: 1. SCR, Drouse 1:45.67; 2. HA, Platukis 1:48.51; 3. WVW, Kowalski 1:48.94; 4. WP, Serfass 1:54.46; 5. WP, Beard 1:56.22; 6. AH, Jubon 1:57.19; 7. WP, Durand 1:57.22; 8. WP, Schwoyer 1:58.25; 9. DV, Mireau 1:58.37; 10. AH, Frantz 2:04.41; 11. HA, Sabatos 2:06.89; 12. AH, Wasko 2:10.59.
200 IM: 1. HA, Moncayo 2:00.38; 2. WVW, Fluegel 2:04.78; 3. WVW, Rosencrans 2:08.28; 4. DV, Naturale 2:08.82; 5. HA, Flowers 2:10.28; 6. AH, Suh 2:12.91; 7. WVW, Lybolt 2:13.09; 8. AH, Vale 2:13.54; 9. SCR, Ardan 2:18.05; 10. WP, Bonoslawski 2:20.24; 11. SCR, Mundia 2:21.44; 12. WP, Downs 2:23.30.
50 free: 1. WVW, Zaneski 21.87; 2. WVW, Zawatski 22.75; 3. PIT, Petrucci 22.80; 4. SCR, Schaefer 23.02; 5. DV, Dillon 23.04; 6. DV, Wihlborg 23.07; 7. AH, Conahan 23.37; 8. AH, Cummings 23.63; 9. DV, Griger 23.87; 10. AH, Clifton 23.90; 11. WVW, Wilbur 23.91; 12. DV, Ocasio 24.05.
100 fly: 1. WA, Usbeck 51.70D; 2. HA, Moncayo 52.58; 3. WVW, Fluegel 53.49; 4. WP, Cramer 58.68; 5. DV, Deignan 58.82; 6. WVW, Volynets 59.00; 7. PIT, Fritz 1:00.73; 8. AH, Gromelski 1:01.34; 9. SCR, Ardan 1:02.87; 10. HA, Castro 1:03.05; 11. DV, Stuart 1:05.58; 12. AH, Munley 1:05.67.
200 free relay: 1. DV (Vaivada, Naturale, Dillon, Wihlborg) 1:33.02; 2. WVW (Rosencrans, Volynets, Wilbur, Kowalski) 1:33.35; 3. HA (Platukis, Alonzo, Castro, Moncayo) 1:34.28; 4. SCR (Schaefer, Cleveland, Ardan, Drouse) 1:34.33; 5. AH (Suh, Cummings, Clifton, Jubon) 1:34.77; 6. WP (Schwoyer, Bonoslawski, Durand, Beard) 1:36.82; 7. WA (Romeo, Sarro, Vosburg, Usbeck) 1:41.15.
