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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Adam Mahler&#8217;s father had been constantly reminding him that the record was going to be in his name.</p><p>It took Mahler two tries, but finally, dad&#8217;s sage wisdom proved true. The Holy Redeemer sophomore claimed the district record he had been pining for his whole career.</p><p>Mahler finished the first day of the District 2 Class 2A swimming championships Friday with a pair of gold medals. He took first in both the 200 free and 100 fly at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center.</p><p>At the end of the first day, Wyoming Seminary was on top of the boy standings by a mere nine points over an upstart Tunkhannock squad. The Blue Knights trail Dallas in the girls standings by 17 points. Dallas entered with a 51-point lead over the field, thanks to taking four of the five top spots in diving last weekend.</p><p>Entering the championships with seed times fractions of a second behind the district record, Mahler came short of his goal in the 200 free. He shaved 17-hundredths of a second to finish in 1:46.82 to get his first gold medal of the day.</p><p>&#8220;When I touched the wall and look up, all I can think is, I&#8217;m really happy I did this and I am glad I did it for my team,&#8221; Mahler said. &#8220;We&#8217;re not the biggest team here. It&#8217;s always nice to see when we can put up a win like this.&#8221;</p><p>By the meet&#8217;s end, Mahler outdid himself by coming five-hundredths of a second faster than Crestwood&#8217;s Josh Grzech&#8217;s district record in the 100 fly. Mahler finished ahead of the pack in 51.68 seconds.</p><p>&#8220;I was happy because my dad (Eric) has been telling me about this all year, telling me I am going to break it here,&#8221; Mahler said. &#8220;And I did it, and it made me so happy to finally do that.&#8221;</p><p>Mahler&#8217;s was one of five district records set, three of which came from the Wyoming Valley Conference.</p><p>Wyoming Seminary sophomore Marcos Rico made his district championship debut by setting his name into the district record book in the 200 IM. Rico clocked in at 1:55.62 to down Scranton Prep&#8217;s Nico Lastauskas&#8217; one-year mark by 64-hundredths of a second. The Spaniard&#8217;s 50-yard breaststroke leg was 3.6 seconds faster than any other swimmer.</p><p>&#8220;I basically just went all out,&#8221; Rico said. &#8220;When you swim, you don&#8217;t really think about the struggle. You just swim as fast you can.&#8221;</p><p>The Blue Knights&#8217; 200 medley relay of Matt Bean, Rico, Garrett Pall and Stan Zaneski set a new district benchmark with a 1:36.12 finish. Wyoming Seminary beat a 31-year old record, set by Delaware Valley, by nearly a full second.</p><p>Wyoming Seminary senior Zaneski completed the rare feat of district championships in both classifications with a first place in the 50 free. Zaneski, who had previously won the sprints at Wyoming Valley West last year, pulled ahead with a solid turn and touched the wall in 21.28 seconds.</p><p>&#8220;I am pretty much horrified (on the starting block),&#8221; Zaneski said. &#8220;Because there are so many small things that could go wrong and completely mess it up. With the 50, if you make a single mistake, you&#8217;ll see it. Every single second counts.&#8221;</p><p>On the girls&#8217; side, the Blue Knights received their only gold medal of the afternoon by junior Tara Kupsky. She knocked off 1.48 seconds off her seed time to beat Dallas&#8217; Abby Zolner with a 59.15-second performance. Kupsky earned a second PIAA qualification with a second place in the 200 IM.</p><p>Dallas&#8217; Annalise Cheshire came out on top in Friday&#8217;s most thrilling race. She squeaked past Holy Redeemer freshman Margaret Walting down the stretch and out-touched her by a mere 24-hundredths of a second. Cheshire registered a 24.23-second finish to reclaim the 50 free title she last won as a freshman.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s obviously a really fast event,&#8221; Cheshire said. &#8220;She was ahead of me going into the first turn. I saw her hand, and I yelled at myself, &#8216;You can&#8217;t let this happen. You trained all year and as hard as you can. It&#8217;s coming down to this, and you can&#8217;t let yourself lose.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Other automatic PIAA qualifications include Walting (50 free,), Zolner (100 fly) and Holy Redeemer girls&#8217; 200 medley and 400 free relays. Berwick freshman Sydney Lloyd punched a ticket to states with a silver medal in the 200 free by slashing four seconds off her PR.</p><p>The Tunkhannock boys&#8217; 200 free relay of Dyllan Henning, Davis Tidball, Mitchell Fowler and Alex Bushre wrapped up the afternoon&#8217;s competition with a surprising first-place showing. In a virtual tie at the midway point with Wyoming Seminary, Fowler pulled ahead on the third leg en route to a 1:30.93 finish.</p><p>The final day of competition will resume at noon Saturday at the Wyoming Valley CYC.</p><p><ins>For other sports stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/sports" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Adam Mahler finished first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46:82. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Adam Mahler finished first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:46:82. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Matt Bean swims the backstroke of the first leg of the boys 200-yard medley relay. The Blue Knights recorded a new District 2 record of 1:36.12 along with teammates Marcos Rico, Garrett Pall and Stan Zaneski. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Matt Bean swims the backstroke of the first leg of the boys 200-yard medley relay. The Blue Knights recorded a new District 2 record of 1:36.12 along with teammates Marcos Rico, Garrett Pall and Stan Zaneski. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Ava Baur, of Wyoming Seminary, placed second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:59:8. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Ava Baur, of Wyoming Seminary, placed second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:59:8. </caption2><photoCredit2>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Tara Kupsky took second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:09:37. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Tara Kupsky took second in the 200 IM with a time of 2:09:37. </caption3><photoCredit3>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Marcos Rico, of Wyoming Seminary, recorded a new District 2 record in the 200 IM at 1:46:02. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-6.jpg</photo4><caption4>Marcos Rico, of Wyoming Seminary, recorded a new District 2 record in the 200 IM at 1:46:02. </caption4><photoCredit4>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Marcos Rico propels himself off of the block during at the start of the 200 IM where he swam to a District 2 Class 2A record with a time of 1:55:62 on Friday at the CYC. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_PIAA-Dist.-2A-Swim-5.jpg</photo5><caption5>Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Marcos Rico propels himself off of the block during at the start of the 200 IM where he swam to a District 2 Class 2A record with a time of 1:55:62 on Friday at the CYC. </caption5><photoCredit5>Tony Callaio | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>5 district benchmarks broken in Class 2A action</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jay Monahan</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Record day at District Class 2A Swimming Championships