JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
If you jumped on for my live blog from the first day of the PIAA swimming championships from Bucknell, thanks. If you missed it, it is the (incredibly long) post right under this one. Give it a look, and you’ll get caught up on Wednesday’s events. Two local swimmers won medals on the first day — Cocalico’s Cari Czarnecki and Manheim Township’s Kevin Brazitis (I think I’ve typed their names about 1,000 each over the last two days; hardy-har-har). Here’s my story from Bucknell from Thursday’s New Era:
LEWISBURG – Try as you might, you simply could not wipe the smiles off Cari Czarnecki and Kevin Brazitis’ faces.
You couldn’t pry the medals out of their hands, either.
Czarnecki, Cocalico’s standout senior, and Brazitis, Manheim Township’s star senior, were Lancaster County’s big winners Wednesday on the first day of the PIAA Triple-A Swimming Championships in Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium.
Seeded 13th going into Wednesday’s 100-yard butterfly event, Brazitis set a personal best with a 50.90 in his morning heat to earn the No. 2 seed in the finals. There, he broke the school record with a 50.62, which earned him the silver medal.
Pittsburgh Central Catholic senior Doug Dietrich won the gold in 49.94. He was the No. 1 seed after a 50.77 in his morning heat, edging out Brazitis at the wall.
“Silver is a good color – I’ll definitely take it,” said Brazitis, who also won the silver here last year in the 100 butterfly.
“Finishing second in the state … I can’t complain about that,” he said. “I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished, and how great it’s been to represent my school. This means a lot to me.”
Wednesday’s sixth-place finish in the girls’ Triple-A 100 butterfly meant a lot to Czarnecki, too. Although she didn’t win a gold, silver or bronze, she finally received a medal for efforts in the PIAA Meet.
The 100 fly was Czarnecki’s seventh attempt at an individual medal in state competition. And she came through, taking sixth in 57.54 and making her first trip to the PIAA podium.
“Finally,” Czarnecki said, cradling her medal. “I wanted to do better, but I didn’t finish last. So I really can’t complain.”
Czarnecki, who was seeded seventh in the 100 fly coming into to States, but grabbed the No. 2 seed for the finals after a personal-best 57.34 in her morning heat, said she felt some butterflies for the finale – even though she knew she’d be walking away with a medal for the first time after six previous trips to the consolation finals.
“I guess my nerves got to me,” said Czarnecki, who will continue her swimming career at Towson University.
“I wasn’t as relaxed as I wanted to be, and I didn’t swim the race I wanted to. It was weird. It was nice knowing I was guaranteed a medal … but I still had these butterflies.”
Hershey junior Katie Nolan cruised to the girls’ Triple-A 100 fly title, clocking in with a PIAA Meet record time of 53.42.
“I was just swimming in her waves,” Czarnecki said, smiling. “But it’s been a really good four years. I really can’t complain. I was in a lot of really good races and I’ve improved so much since my freshman year. And I’ve had some incredible drops in my times just since last year. So that’s exciting.”
Brazitis, who has made official college visits to Penn State, Princeton and Washington, and will make two more visits before picking a college in April, was excited to go up against Dietrich in the final, especially after pushing him in the morning prelim.
“The environment in here is so great,” Brazitis said of Kinney Natatorium, which was filled to capacity for every session on Wednesday.
“I thought I could give him a good run. I felt pretty good. But hey, I’ll definitely take the silver.”
No other Lancaster County swimmers advanced to the championship finals on Wednesday. Two swimmers advanced to the consolation finals:
Conestoga Valley senior Joe Jung finished 10th in the 100 fly (52.07) and Warwick junior Colin Schouten finished 11th in the 200 free (1:42.50).
And Township’s boys’ 200 free relay team – featuring Brazitis, juniors Chris Hoke and Spencer McDonald and freshman Dan Leahy — advanced to the consolation finals, finishing 14th (1:28.03).
Czarnecki and Brazitis were back in the pool today looking to add to their medals haul. Czarnecki was seeded seventh in the 100 breaststroke and Brazitis was seeded seventh in the 100 free when the Triple-A Meet resumed at 8 a.m.
The final round of Triple-A championships begin at 5:30, before the Double-A Meet takes over Kinney Natatorium on Friday and Saturday.
