State swim meet was big one for records

Unionville's Austin Shane, who won a gold medal and set a record twice in the 100-yard freestyle in the recent PIAA State Swimming and Diving Championships, was disappointed that he didn't go faster.

The junior swimmer won the Class AAA event at Bucknell with a time of 44.51 seconds, 0.04 seconds faster than what he did in the preliminaries. His prelim time broke the old mark of 44.69 set by Cameron Hollinger of Penn Manor in 2003.

"I was hoping for a faster time in the finals," said Austin. He was in Orlando, Fla., last week to compete in the 100 freestyle at the National Club Swimming Association Junior Nationals. The 16-year-old finished eighth, two seconds behind the winner - Matt Belecanech, who swims for St. Joseph's Prep.

"I felt good at both turns, but I was breathing more in laps three and four than I usually do, Shane said of the state race. "My prelim race felt easy. That's why I felt I'd have a faster time" in the finals.

When Paige Whitmire first saw that the PIAA Class AAA 50 freestyle record was 22.80 seconds, she didn't think she had a chance of breaking it.

"That's impossible," the Souderton senior said to herself.

But after going 22.83 in winning the gold medal at Bucknell, her spirits sagged a bit.

"That was the worst part of the whole weekend," Whitmire said, seeing how close she had come to the record.

For Whitmire, taking some of the sting out of not getting the 50 free record was winning the 100 backstroke in a meet-record time of 54.74 and Souderton's finishing second in the team standings behind Emmaus.

"I know that she was disappointed that she missed the 50 free record," Souderton coach Todd Bauer said. "I told her that a record can be broken, but the state championships can never be taken away from her."

Unlike many high-level high school swimmers, Whitmire is not registered with U.S. Swimming, the national governing body. As such, she's not eligible for U.S. Swimming events.

"I'm just a high school swimmer," said Whitmire, who gave up water polo this past season. The Penn State-bound Whitmire explained that she didn't want to be burned out between the two sports. The future nutrition major plans to practice with Bauer before heading to college.

Teammate Angela Severn was going after Souderton's pool record in the 500 freestyle. She was determined to get it before the school closed. The Indians are scheduled to move into a new school, with a pool, this fall. Severn got the pool mark of 4 minutes, 53 seconds in a regular-season dual meet.

After a 4:55.17 to win the PIAA District 1 championship, Severn wasn't thinking record when it came to the state championships.

"I thought maybe I'd win, but I never thought the state record [4:48.3] was within reach," the Indians senior said. She was in the last heat of the prelims and had a chance to observe the field.

When it came to the finals, Severn went out fast and won in a record 4:48.13.

"I was surprised to find I was the top seed," said Severn, who will swim against Whitmire and Penn State next season as a member of the Ohio State team.

St. Joseph's Prep's Belecanech said he's never experienced anything like the PIAA championships.

The junior still can hear the crowd after he set a 500 freestyle mark in his first state meet. The Catholic League, of which St. Joe's Prep is a member, joined the PIAA this school year.

"It was amazing," said Belecanech, who commutes from his New Jersey home to the Prep. "I went to see the New Jersey championships last year, and there was not that much emotion there. Even swimmers from La Salle were cheering for me. They're our biggest rivals."

With a time of 4:22.21 in the finals, Belecanech beat the PIAA record of 4:26.45 set by Martin Schierhorn of Parkland in 1996.

The Hawks and Explorers did well in their first state appearances. Depth carried La Salle to a third-place finish with 205 points. St. Joe's Prep finished ninth with 82 points. North Allegheny was the boys' winner with 243.

Belecanech, who also swims for the Jersey Wahoos, was also in action last week at the NCSA Junior Nationals. In addition to winning the 100 freestyle, the 16-year-old won the 1,000 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, and placed second in the 200 freestyle.