State College swimming breaks records, dominates on its way to another District 6 crown

Editor’s note: Results from the District 6 Class 2A Swimming and Diving Championships will appear in Monday’s print and eEdition.

It just seems inevitable that year after year, State College swimming will break another record at the annual District 6 Class 3A Championships.

This year a few records were beat Friday at the State College Area High School Natatorium, as the State College boys’ and girls’ teams both dominated their ways to district titles — and it only took one event for the first one to fall.

The girls’ 200-yard medley relay team of Jade Castro, Mackenzie Pagett, Maddy Koehle and Colleen Adams won gold in 1:46.99, beating their previous district record from last season by .36 seconds, but with Adams replacing graduated senior Abbey Whipple as the fourth member this time.

“It feels really great knowing that we’re all improving and we’re all having that trust foundation in our training that we’re able to beat a record that we just broke last year,” Castro said. “I just think (Adams) was a great addition. She fit perfectly with the relay and she did just what we needed her to do and we’re really proud of her.”

The other district record broken was by Pagett, herself, finishing first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.89, which beats out her previous record of 1:05.52 set last year. Finishing right next to her was Koehle at 1:04.16, which also beat Pagett’s record time at the meet one year ago.

“I had a lot of trust and faith in myself and having Maddie next to was awesome,” Pagett said. “She’s a great teammate.”

The last broken record was from the boys’ 400-yard freestyle relay team, which just so happened to be the last event of the night. John Brownstead, Will Ulmer, Zachary Lambert and Tyler Uhlig timed at 3:12.06, which set a new pool record.

Coach Aaron Workman couldn’t have been more proud of his group’s effort and determination Friday night. Although this marks the 43rd consecutive district championships for the boys’ team and 38th for the girls’, Workman still sees something special with the students he has right now.

“We had a talk this morning with the team just about how we build off the tradition that was built before us,” Workman said. “But we’re doing their honor by winning today and we feed off that, and we have a great group of kids with a great support system.”

Class 3A Boys

In the first boys’ event — the 200-yard medley relay — the team of Lambert, Shawn Erdley, Garrick Zheng and Brownstead finished with gold at 1:37.09 and beat their qualifying time by .72 seconds.

Brownstead also took first place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:44.82, and fell just .28 seconds short of the district’s record in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing at 52:21, but still took gold in that event.

His older brother Matt Brownstead graduated with the class of 2020, and holds multiple district records of his own. Brownstead has learned a lot from his brother and it surely translated into his performances Friday night.

“The last two years or so swimming with him, it’s always nice just to have someone you can look over and kind of see what to do and ask for advice,” Brownstead said. “He’s a great influence on us, in the pool and out.”

Erdley took gold in the 200-yard IM, finishing at 1:57.55, and shared a huge embrace with teammate Garrick Zheng, who finished right behind him.

“Garrick is a great competitor and he is just such a wonderful guy to be around,” Erdley said. “Being able to train with such fast people is so enjoyable because you never really know what’s going to happen.”

He also won the 100-yard breaststroke event at 1:00.39.

Ulmer came in first place at the 50-yard freestyle race and completed the event with a 22:46 time, while also finishing first in the 100-yard freestyle at 48.38. He also won gold in the 200-yard freestyle relay with teammates Erdely, Lambert, and Uhlig, who finished at 1:30.27.

Uhlig won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:48.11 and the 100-yard backstroke at 53.53, just edging out Lambert by .15 seconds.

As a whole, the boys’ swimming team won gold in all 11 events in which they participated.

Class 3A Girls

Adams took home gold in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.90 and won the 500-yard freestyle at 5:09.34.

Koehle won the 200-yard IM at 2:08.64, and her younger sister Ally Koehle finished first in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.36, just edging out teammate Kelly Brownstead by .01 seconds. Ally Koehle also won the girls 100-yard freestyle at 55.09.

Castro finished first in the 100-yard butterfly in 57.21 and nearly beat the record set back in 2016 of 56.92 seconds. She also took gold in the 100-yard backstroke at 57.24.

The team of Ally and Maddy Koehle with Pagett and Brownstead won gold in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:41.41.

The girls’ team won 10 out of the 11 events they participated in, the lone exception being the 400-yard freestyle relay in which the team of Castro, Adams, Megan Doucette and Ally Koehle finished second at 3:38.91.

This story was originally published March 6, 2021 at 8:00 AM.