State College, Penns Valley swimmers set records on Day 1 of district championships
State College junior Matt Brownstead usually scouts a pool first, scoping out the board of top times to see if he can place his name among the best.
Well, it was mission accomplished Friday at the District 6 Swimming & Diving Championships at Penn State’s McCoy Natatorium — and Brownstead wasn’t the only Centre County swimmer to break a record either.
Brownstead set a Class 3A meet and school record in the 50 freestyle with a blazing time of 20.07 seconds, a full 2.2 seconds faster than the runner-up — an eternity in that event. Penns Valley’s Sophia Gerhart also made history by breaking the Class 2A meet record in the 200 IM with a time of 2 minutes, 8.51 seconds.
Both swimmers broke their own records, which they set at last year’s district meet.
“He’s a very talented kid,” State College coach Andrew Morrison said of Brownstead. “He always rises to the occasion.”
Said Penns Valley coach Steve Duck: “The girls have been working really hard since last year because they really wanted to win. And the hard work showed off (Friday).”
Team scores were not made available after Day 1 of the two-day event, but State College was once again set up nicely for the boys’ and girls’ Class 3A titles, while Penns Valley was pleased with its performance.
Gerhart was the big county winner Friday with two individual first-place finishes — in her record-breaking 200 IM and in the 100 butterfly (57.21). She also teamed up with three others on the 200 medley relay team — Anna Butler, Audrey Duck and Abigail Gerhart — to swim to a first-place time of 1:54.99.
“Last year, they just missed out on first place by like 0.29 seconds and, (Friday), they took first place,” Steve Duck said. “I’m very happy with the way they performed today.”
Both the Little Lions and the Lady Little Lions spent a lot of time on the winner’s podium Friday. For the boys, both the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay teams came away with the top times, while Noah Witt also won the 200 IM.
Both Witt and Brownstead went home with three gold medals apiece, as they also took part in the two relay teams. Foster Heasley was on both relay teams, while Joseph Mao was in one and Payton Nicastro in the other.
The State College girls placed first in six events — the 200 medley relay (1:48.08), 200 freestyle relay (1:43.18), 200 freestyle (Colleen Adams, 1:57.21), 200 IM (Madelyn Koehle, 2:09.67), 50 freestyle (Abbey Whipple, 24.61) and 100 butterfly (Grace Dangelo, 58.14).
Koehle’s effort proved to be a highlight, as she entered the day with a seed time a tad slower than her senior teammate, Dangelo. But she set a personal best with State College taking 1-2-3 in the event.
“She’s a very modest winner and polite kid,” Morrison added about Koehle. “She knew that she had a great swim.”
Other local winners, in Class 2A, included Bellefonte’s Zoey Cole in the 200 girls’ freestyle (1:56.56) and St. Joseph Catholic Academy’s Reece Bloom in the 200 boys’ freestyle (1:51.40).
The District 6 Swimming & Diving Championships will resume Saturday, with the diving events taking place at 11 a.m. and the swimming at 2 p.m.
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 8:43 PM.
