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Certain athletes have a jaw-dropping quality to them. In addition to keeping competitors in the dust, they leave opposing coaches’ and fans’ jaws dropped.
This was District 2’s reaction to Wyoming Valley West’s Eddie Zawatski back in 2012.
Then a freshman, he left Williamsport coach Bill Keiser at a loss for words. Following Zawatski’s scorching of the 50 free field for the first time, Keiser told the Times Leader, “That (Zawatski) is just … wow. It’s the first we’ve seen him. He’s going to be a real guy.”
Three years later, let’s examine what Zawatski has done with his ‘real guy’ potential — six individual district championships, four relay district championships, All-American status, two state medals and one district record.
Zawatski looks to continue wowing the swimming community over this weekend at the District 2 Swimming Championships on Friday and Saturday at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre.
He’ll be aiming for 2008 Delaware Valley grad Jamie Grennan’s 50 free district record of 20.67 seconds. Last year, his seed time was even with Grennan’s record, but he faltered to a 20.8 seconds (still exceptionally fast) to come short.
The Class 2A championships begin both days at noon followed by the District 2/4 Class 3A regionals at 6 p.m.
In Class 3A, Delaware Valley won both district championships last season in easy fashion. While Hazleton Area fell off from being the title contender it was a few years ago, Wyoming Valley West stormed the scene again on both sides. The Spartan boys went undefeated en route to a Wyoming Valley Conference title, and its girls team improved by leaps and bounds by taking second place in the league. Williamsport, out of District 4, is a constant threat to take the crown.
A wide open field awaits Class 2A competitors.
On the boys side, a senior-laded Tunkhannock team won last year’s title, and the Tigers could be an underdog to repeat. Dallas is armed to be the favorite for the team title. The Mountaineer girls went undefeated throughout the regular season to take the WVC title. Both races will hinge on Scranton Prep’s ability to make due with small roster sizes – the lone thing keeping it from winning district championships the past five years.
Here are the stories to watch for at the championships:
Deep Blue Knights
In a matter of just two years, Wyoming Seminary has gone from perennial doormat to a dark horse contender for a district championship.
The Blue Knights will test their inexperience this weekend. Tara and Paige Kupsky, transfers from Germantown Academy, are both dangerously fast additions to the pool. Paige’s 200 IM seed time is nearly a full five seconds faster than the competition. Tara, a freshman, is favored in the 100 breast ahead of Lackawanna stalwarts Sydney Gualteri (Abington Heights) and Bailey Babarsky (Valley View). Nicole Rose Lukesh is poised for her first district title in the 100 fly.
“We’re All Mad Here”
Forgive the feline Alice In Wonderland pun but the local swimming community is mad for Dallas freshman Annalise Cheshire.
In her first year, Cheshire has taken down several school records on her way to being the top seed in the 50 free and 100 back. She is favored in the 100 back (1:02.62) over Tunkhannock’s Morgan Manglaviti, and Cheshire looks to unseat Coughlin’s Carly Ray in the 50 free with a 25.15 second seed.
Pacey Morgan
Tunkhannock junior Morgan Manglaviti, a jack of all trades, races in her fifth different individual event this year. The 100 back will be her first repeat event; she adds the 100 fly to her laundry of list district races.
Manglaviti seeks to return to states for the third straight year. She’s seeded third (1:01.73) in the fly and second (1:03.99) in the back with a favorable shot at her first visit to the top of the awards podium.
Icy waters
Ten of the 11 Class 2A boys races favor Scranton Prep. (Valley View’s Ryan Franchak in the 100 free is the lone aberration.)
Two of the best chances at unseating the Cavaliers rests with a pair of Tunkhannock swimmers. The Tigers’ Stefen Sehne trails by just a quarter of a second in the 50 free, and Jacob Skoronski is 19-hundreths of a second behind Thomas Pfaeffle with his 100 fly seed time. Dallas’ Porter Luksic and Prep’s Ben Evans both come in with 1:02.31 100 breast times. Holy Redeemer junior Connor Thole sits 34-hundreths of a second (57.94) in the 100 back.
Last slice of Nardone’s
Pittston Area senior Mia Nardone continues her illustrious career this weekend with a good shot at a district gold thanks to the Patriots’ reclassification to Class 3A. She has the top seed in the 100 fly with 1:00.65 over 2014 Times Leader Swimmer of the Year Felicia Grego, of Hazleton Area. Nardone is a little more than a half-second (1:03.44) behind Delaware Valley’s Denali Hutzelmann in the 100 back.
Cougar Town
Speaking of Grego, the District 2 Class 3A 200 IM record holder opted out of the event for this year’s championships. She’s favored in a new event, the 200 free, by almost four seconds over Scranton’s Erin Kazmierczak. Grego trails Nardone by just 65-hundreths of a second – no tall task for a swimmer known to shave large chunks of time at districts. Her 200 IM record of 2:10 flat is likely to be undisturbed this year. Her teammate Shelby Sanko prepares for a neck-and-neck battle with WVW’s Clare Winton in the 500 free.
Winters is coming
Pittston Area senior Brandon Winters has come oh-so-close before. Last year, he missed out on a Class 2A championship by a tenth of a second to Crestwood’s Chris Lukasewski in the 50 free. This year, with a move to 3A, he claims the top seed in the 100 back with a 56.94, four-tenths of a second ahead of Wyoming Valley West’s Llyam McGlynn. A stark difference sits between he and Zawatski in the 50 free.
Spartan chances
Zawatski won’t be the only Wyoming Valley West swimmer likely reaping hardware this weekend.
Terry Vrabec, a former 2A breaststroke champion by way of Coughlin and Holy Redeemer, changes colors for the third straight season. The change of scenery has been good to Vrabec, and he is favored in two events. He swam under a minute in the 100 back with a comfortable lead over the field and battles with Williamsport’s Eddie Good in the 200 IM. A blink of the eye is all that separates Llyam McGlynn and Winters in the 100 back.
Clare Winton owns the top spot (5:39.52) in the always-difficult-to-predict 500 free race. Alexis Ivanitch trails DV’s Janel Llewellyn by nine-hundreths in the 100 breast. Chelsea Mackiewicz can take Aspen Narvarte’s district crown in the 50 free.