Henderson squeezes by Boyertown

West Chester Henderson won the meet's final event in record time yesterday to best Boyertown for the PIAA District 1 Class AAA boys' swimming championship at La Salle University.

The Warriors took the 400-yard freestyle relay in a meet-record time of 3 minutes, 7.93 seconds to finish with 231.5 points, six more than the second-place Bears and 23.5 more than defending champion Upper Dublin.

The other district championships didn't end quite so dramatically. Springfield of Montgomery County won the boys' Class AA title with 334 points to easily outdistance Harriton. Villa Maria Academy won its seventh Class AA girls' crown, scoring 434 points to runner-up Radnor's 319. Souderton won its first Class AAA title in 15 years, rolling up 298.5 points to 192 for second-place North Penn.

It was the first district championship for the Henderson boys, surprising even coach Jeff Bott.

"I don't do [projected] scores before meets," Bott said. "It's not my style. It's just so exciting for the kids."

Sophomore Andrew Kosic, who won the 100 backstroke, teamed with senior David Baldino, junior David McCormick, and another soph, John Maza, for the big relay win. Their time beat the old record of 3:09.27 set by North Penn in 1990.

"We knew we had to win the race to win it [the championship] outright," Baldino said. "I had a lot of trust in them. The group does well under pressure."

Souderton ended its championship drought by sweeping the three relays, including a record-setting performance in the 400.

"We were disappointed we didn't win last year," said senior Paige Whitmire, a member of two relay teams. "We were just too nervous. This time, we were motivated."

Whitmire and William Tennent's Melanie Bush helped push Upper Dublin's Megan Lafferty to a record in the AAA 100 backstroke. Lafferty broke Whitmire's 2007 mark of 57.44 with a time of 55.96.

In the Class AA 100 freestyle, Nazareth Academy's Victoria Gillespie won her second gold medal and picked up another record.

The Results

BOYS' CLASS AAA

Team scoring: West Chester Henderson 231.5, Boyertown 225.5, Upper Dublin 208, North Penn 199, Downingtown West 133, Central Bucks East 128.5, Radnor 113, Downingtown East 110, Unionville 89, Wissahickon 84.

100-yard freestyle: Shane Austin, Unionville, 44.64 (new record, old record 45.83 by Mike Grube, Upper Darby, 1999). 2, Shane Ryan, Haverford, 46.76. 3, Tyler Early, Garnet Valley, 47.24. 4, David Baldino, West Chester Henderson, 47.60. 5, Calvin Starosta, Upper Dublin, 47.72. 6, Matt Duffy, Boyertown, 47.84.

500 freestyle: 1, Wesley Trumbauer, Boyertown, 4:37.75. 2, Jordan Hartman, Boyertown, 4:37.94. 3, Stephen Miller, 4:39.05. 4, Parker Baisden, West Chester Henderson, 4:22.12. 5, Matt Salig, Downingtown East, 4:41.64, 6, Robbie Norton, Radnor, 4:43.10.

100 backstroke: 1, Andrew Kosic, West Chester Henderson, 50.52. 2, Dan Fitzgerald, Upper Dublin, 51.07. 3, Calvin Starosta, Upper Dublin, 51.75. 4, Patrick Dougherty, Downingtown West, 52.15. 5, Alec Francis, Boyertown, 53.45. 6, Quinn Bartlett, Conestoga, 53.58.

100 breaststroke: 1, David McCormick, West Chester Henderson, 57.39. 2, Ryan Westhafer, West Chester Rustin, 59.46. 3, Andrew Seiler, Spring-Ford, 59.49. 4, Nick Ortlieb, North Penn, 59.51. 5, David Brown, Council Rock North, 59.94. 6, Colson Ferrari, Central Bucks East, 1:00.67.

400 freestyle relay: 1, West Chester Henderson (Andrew Kosic, John Maza, David Baldino, David McCormick), 3:07.93 (new record, old record 3:09.27 by North Penn, 1990). 2, Upper Dublin, 3:09.05. 3, North Penn, 3:10.80. 4, Boyertown, 3:11.06. 5, Radnor, 3:12.62. 6, Downingtown West, 3:12.65.

BOYS' CLASS AA

Team scoring: Springfield (M) 334, Harriton 268, Strath Haven 240, Springfield (D) 218, Bishop Shanahan 181, Upper Merion 175, Upper Moreland 174, Upper Perkiomen 137, Pottsgrove 113, Holy Ghost Prep 89.

100 freestyle: 1, Hugh Pedley, Springfield (M), 47.86. 2, Patrick Dignazio, Strath Haven, 48.84. 3, Hunter Harrison, Harriton, 48.96. 4, Patrick Mannion, Devon Prep, 49.52. 5, Michael Kramer, Christopher Dock, 49.60. 6, Damien Kahmer, Strath Haven, 50.37.

500 freestyle: 1, John Hauser, St. Pius, 4:40.42. 2, Stephen Rowland, Upper Moreland, 4:52.40. 3, Will Schlosser, Harriton, 4:54.23. 4, Rob Wagner, Harriton, 5:00.66. 5, Jason Lamoreaux, Upper Merion, 5:13.15. 6, John Hacking, Springfield (M), 5:18.48.

100 backstroke: 1, Matt McCarthy, Bishop Shanahan, 54.05. 2, John Quagliariello, Springfield (D), 54.14. 3, Liam Smith, Upper Perkiomen, 58.42. 4, Jacob Boylan, Pottsgrove, 59.35. 5, Rob Lowery, Delaware County Christian, 59.76. 6, Nick Eppinger, Upper Merion, 1:00.03.

100 breaststroke: 1, Matt Heverly, Phoenixville, 1:00.65. 2, RJ Langlois, Springfield (M), 1:03.20. 3, Mike O'Hanlon, Springfield (D), 1:03.36. 4, Jon Maltz, Harriton, 1:03.55. 5, Tyler Gross, Pottsgrove, 1:03.62. 6, Jeremy Emata, Strath Haven, 1:04.58.

400 freestyle relay: 1, Springfield (M) (Hacking, Sal Giordano, Jake Oscheger, Pedley), 3:18.18. 2, Strath Haven, 3:19.16. 3, Harriton, 3:19.41. 4, Springfield (D), 3:21.15. 5, Upper Merion, 3:26.81. 6, Upper Moreland, 3:27.96.

GIRLS' CLASS AAA

Team scoring: Souderton 298.5, North Penn 192, West Chester Henderson 158, Conestoga 157, Upper Dublin 142, West Chester Rustin 134, Owen J. Roberts 123, Pennsbury 116, Council Rock North 115, Great Valley 109.

100-yard freestyle: 1, Danielle Siverling, Downingtown East, 51.93. 2, Hillary Yarosh, Unionville, 51.94. 3, Rachel Gadzicki, Owen J. Roberts, 52.43. 4, Missy Doll, Souderton, 52.43. 5, Catherine Shaughnessy, Great Valley, 53.34. 6, Kaci McIlmoyle, Avon Grove, 53.85.

500 freestyle: 1, Angela Severn, Souderton, 4:55.17. 2, Lauren Baiden, West Chester Henderson, 5:02.61. 3, Mariel Kush, Souderton, 5:04.76. 4, Megan Happ, Spring-Ford, 5:05.42. 5, Kate Dillione, Council Rock North, 5:06.81, 6, Madison Meyer, Council Rock North, 5:06.96.

100 backstroke: 1, Megan Lafferty, Upper Dublin, 55.96 (new record, old record 57.44 by Paige Whitmire, Souderton, 2007). 2, (tie) Whitmire, Souderton, and Melanie Busch, William Tennent, 57.30. 4, Ashley Kichline, Souderton, 1:01.98. 5, Delaney Fox, Kennett, 59.66. 6, Anna Connolly, Conestoga, 59.69.

100 breaststroke: 1, Laura McLaughlin. West Chester Rustin, 1:03.61 (new record, old record 1:04.63 by Heather Holtom, Wissahickon, 2006). 2, Kelly Carroll, Great Valley, 1:05.49. 3, Emily Schon, Conestoga, 1:06.95. 4, Alli Ludwick, Pennsbury, 1:06.98. 5, Carlyn Evans, Downingtown West, 1:07.39. 6, Kandall Somers, Haverford, 1:07.74.

400 freestyle relay: 1, Souderton (Doll, Chloe Thomas, Ashley Kichline, Severn), 3:31.11 (new record, old record 3:32.86 by Council Rock, 2002). 2, Upper Dublin, 3:34.34. 3, West Chester Henderson, 3:35.72. 4, North Penn, 3:36.66. 5, Council Rock North, 3:36.97. 6, Downingtown East, 3:37.28.

GIRLS' CLASS AA

Team scoring: Villa Maria Academy 434, Radnor 319, Mount St. Joseph 255.5, Nazareth Academy 218, Springfield (M) 174.5, Upper Merion 164, Merion Mercy Academy, 142, Upper Moreland 138, Springfield (D) 100, Gwynedd Mercy Academy 65.

100 freestyle: 1, Victoria Gillespie, Nazareth Academy, 53.07 (new record, old record 53.34 by Katie Pulos, Radnor, 2008). 2, Galen Fisher, Radnor, 53.09. 3, Julia Wisler, Villa Maria Academy, 55.75. 4, Julianna Rava, Villa Maria Academy. 5, Sarah Hirschfeld. Radnor, 56.29. 6, Brigid Clark, Springfield (M), 56.49.

500 freestyle: 1, Kerry Borbidge, Springfield (D), 5:17.48. 2, Megan Garvey, Villa Maria Academy, 5:19. 3, Sam Conard, Upper Moreland, 5:19.93, 4, Diana Harkness, Villa Maria Academy, 5:21.73. 5, Lizzie Manning, Merion Mercy, 5:24.53. 6, Elizabeth Metz, Radnor, 5:28.53.

100 backstroke: 1, Kathryn Greskoff, Villa Maria Academy, 1:01.27. 2, Dana Cinque, Mount St. Joseph, 1:01.95. 3, Morgan Luzzi, Villa Maria Academy, 1:02.10. 4, Taylor Mateja, Upper Merion, 1;02.37. 5, Allie Smith, Radnor, 1:04.55. 6, Orla Cole, Mount St. Joseph, 1:04.60.

100 breaststroke: 1, Jamie Kane, St. Pius, 1:06.59. 2, Danielle Kouch, Mount St. Joseph, 1:07.76. 3, Colleen McMahon, Villa Maria Academy, 1:08.81. 4, Borbidge, Springfield (D), 1:08.88. 5, Suzy Lawlor, Mount St. Joseph, 1:10.57. 6, Allie Manning, Merion Mercy, 1:12.92.

400 freestyle relay: 1, Villa Maria Academy (Wisler, Rava, Megan Garvey, Christine Garvey), 3:40.85. 2, Nazareth Academy, 3:43.86. 3, Radnor 3:44.02. 4, Springfield (M), 3:46.2. 5, Upper Merion, 3:51.92. 6, Merion Mercy Academy, 3:51.98.