York Suburban girls lead local medalists at state swimming championships

The York-Adams League claimed five podium finishes at the 2024 PIAA swimming and diving championships, highlighted by a trio of medal wins for the York Suburban girls over the weekend.

The Trojans claimed bronze medals in the Class 2A girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay on Friday and the 400 free relay on Saturday, while freshman Pyta Billet placed seventh in Saturday’s individual 100 free. York Suburban piled up plenty of other all-state showings en route to an eighth-place team finish.

State champions were crowned in 52 events during the four-day event at Bucknell University in Lewisburg. Class 3A swimmers and divers filled Kinney Natatorium on Wednesday and Thursday before the 2A championships followed over the next two days. Each morning featured swimming preliminaries, with fields of 32 narrowed to two final heats of eight, before diving meets in the afternoon and swimming finals in the evening.

The York Suburban 200 free relay team of Sarah Koller, Brynn Neidigh, Billet and Chloe Moore secured the bronze medal on Friday evening with a finals time of 1:39.37, while the Trojans’ 400 free relay quartet of Koller, Chloe Chevaux, Billet and Moore raced to the wall in 3:36.37 in the final event of the week. Both squads captured District 3 Class 2A titles at Cumberland Valley during the first weekend in March and entered the PIAA meet seeded fourth.

All five of those Trojans qualified for states as individuals. Billet preceded her seventh-place finish in Saturday’s 100 free (53.18 seconds) with a 15th-place showing in Friday’s 50 free. Moore, a 2023 medalist in the 50 free, finished 11th in that event Friday and took 15th in the 100 backstroke on Saturday. Chevaux was 27th in Friday’s 200 free but made the consolation final in Saturday’s 500 free, finishing 16th. Koller won district gold in the 200 IM before taking 28th at states. 

Neidigh, meanwhile, competed in the 2A girls’ diving championship on Saturday and placed 12th in the 24-diver field with an 11-dive score of 337.75. The senior had claimed a district title two weekends earlier at Dover High School.

Three other York-Adams girls’ swimmers competed over the weekend, although none made it past the prelims. Susquehannock’s Kate Kalmanowicz placed 27th in the 100 butterfly and West York’s Bri Miller finished 31st in the 200 free on Friday, with York Catholic’s Sarah Giesselbach adding a 22nd-place showing in the 100 free on Saturday.

On the boys’ side, Susquehannock’s Tyler Wright took 15th in the 100 fly on Friday and placed 28th in the 100 breaststroke on Saturday. Warriors teammate Jackson Hollinger placed 31st in Saturday’s 500 free prelims, while Susky was 23rd in Friday’s 200 medley relay. 

York Suburban’s Mikey Foremsky added a 31st-place finish in the boys’ 100 fly.

York-Adams League weekend scoreboard for March 15-16

Class 3A: While the York-Adams League had fewer representatives during the first two days of the state championships, the area’s top performers certainly made their presence known. Central York’s Christian Henry led the way on Wednesday with a sixth-place finish in the boys’ 200 IM, while Dover’s Taylor Tuohy took the eighth and final spot on the podium in the girls’ diving meet Thursday.

Henry’s 200 IM showing was the best individual finish by a YAIAA swimmer this week, and the junior followed that effort by placing 15th in the 100 breast on Thursday. He was also part of the Panthers’ 200 medley relay team that finished 17th in prelims and narrowly missed qualifying for the evening session.

South Western’s Owen Cromer placed ninth in the boys’ 50 free by winning Wednesday’s consolation final. The Mustang junior took 13th in Thursday’s 100 free individually after competing for South Western’s 27th-place 200 free relay team Wednesday.

Dallastown senior Julia Havice made the consolation final in both of her events, winning the “B” heat to finish ninth in Wednesday’s 3A girls’ 50 free and taking 12th in Thursday’s 100 free. Central York senior Maddie Buss, meanwhile, placed 23rd in the 200 free and 29th in the 500 free at her final high school meet.

Tuohy, the York-Adams League girls’ diving champion and District 3-3A silver medalist, held her eighth-place position through both the preliminary and semifinal rounds Thursday. The senior posted a final score of 376.70, finishing one spot ahead of Spring Grove senior Cora Keener. Tuohy will compete in gymnastics for West Virginia University next year.

Spring Grove freshman Elijah Henning placed 13th in the 3A boys’ diving competition Wednesday, finishing with a score of 316.15. Northern York’s Zachary Lloyd took ninth, up a spot from last year, in the boys’ meet. Red Land’s Corrine Armes, the District 3 girls’ champion, was fifth on Thursday; teammate Hannah Ely was 18th.

Northern York was also represented at states by junior swimmer Morgan Keefer, who placed 15th in Thursday’s 100 breast.

While the PIAA championships brought several local athletes’ decorated careers to a close, a slew of medalists will look to be back on the podium at this time next year. Henry and Cromer are slated to headline the boys’ swimming contenders, and most of York Suburban’s girls are underclassmen as well. Moore, Chevaux and Koller will all be seniors in 2024-25, while Billet will have three years to add to her first state medal.

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