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D2 wrestling: Predictions and analysis for every weight class

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Misericordia’s Kenny, Wilkes’ Metz earn top league honors

<p>While they may not wear the same colored swimsuits, the Holy Redeemer and Dallas divers are teammates in every sense of the word. They practice together. They share the same coach. They even traveled to Lewisburg in a snow storm to root each other on at states.</p><p>But on Saturday, the six girls will become adversaries, gunning for a gold medal and three tickets to the PIAA Diving Championships. </p><p>If all goes right, Holy Redeemer and Dallas will sweep all six Class 2A podium spots at this weekend&#8217;s District 2 Diving Championships at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center natatorium. Competition begins at 10 a.m. for Class 2A, and Class 3A finals resume at 3 p.m.</p><p>&#8220;It seems like the season lasts forever, and finally it&#8217;s like, &#8216;I can&#8217;t believe it&#8217;s here,&#8217;&#8221; Dallas/Holy Redeemer diving coach Paul Mierzwa said. &#8220;I keep hearing them say that they wish the season was two weeks longer.&#8221;</p><p>Mierzwa&#8217;s divers look to replicate last season&#8217;s success of having the seven best scorers. Dallas took the top three spots at the district championships. The Royals finished fourth, sixth and seventh. The Mountaineers&#8217; success on the springboard provided them with a cushion that propelled them to a district team title.</p><p>It will be a different story this season. Dallas was sacked by graduation last year, and the Royals bolster a trio of upperclassmen with at least two district meets under their belt.</p><p>Holy Redeemer features senior Haily Yakimowicz and juniors Bailey Flannery and Mary Strunk. Senior Gianna Leo leads two Mountaineers &#8211; junior Jaelyn Shaver and freshman Mia Reinert &#8211; competing in their first championship.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re fighting for all of the positions,&#8221; Mierzwa said. &#8220;At any given time, at any given meet, they&#8217;ve been within a couple points of each other.&#8221;</p><p>Leo is certainly expected to be the frontrunner in the field. She finished third at last year&#8217;s district championship with a 333.4 score. Leo finished 16th at the state meet.</p><p>Yakimowicz will be looking to get to states after finishing a mere 5.05 points shy of Leo for the bronze medal last season.</p><p>&#8220;All of my divers have the potential to be first place,&#8221; Mierzwa said. &#8220;They were together through the season. They have a camaraderie, but they all want to be district champions in the end.&#8221;</p><p>Because numbers are presumed to be low and there should not be many cuts in each of the three rounds, the divers will have more liberties with their diving order.</p><p>Wyoming Area&#8217;s Kayla Taddei could be an upset pick to get a medal with some high degree-of-difficulty dives.</p><p>Tunkhannock&#8217;s Sawyer Aitken looks to contend in Class 2A boys. The two-time Times Leader all-star jumped up to second place at last year&#8217;s district title. He has finished in 14th in each of the past two state championships.</p><p>&#8220;After Christmas break, I just started picking up the pace and just really started feeling so much better, a lot more confident,&#8221; Aitken said. &#8220;I was just able to start hitting the dives I needed to hit so much better.&#8221;</p><p>Aitken set a pair of school records leading up the district championships. He broke the six-dive pool record on Tuesday against Wyoming Seminary. On Feb. 16, Aitken broke the school&#8217;s 11-dive record at the Les Richards Invitational in Scranton.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s starting to feel great now that I&#8217;m able to break some of these records up there,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Freshman year, I&#8217;m looking up there and I&#8217;m like the goal is one day for me to get up there and now that I&#8217;ve got some of my records up there, it&#8217;s totally awesome. I&#8217;m just so happy.&#8221;</p><p>Wyoming Valley West sophomore Sophia Ginocchetti looks to have her breakout performance at the Class 3A level. She took first place at the Holy Redeemer meet earlier in the season.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Haily Yakimowicz of Holy Redeemer practices her diving at the Wyoming Valley CYC on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022318Swim1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Haily Yakimowicz of Holy Redeemer practices her diving at the Wyoming Valley CYC on Thursday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022318Swim3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer swim coach Jack Port speaks to members of the swim team during practice Thursday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022318Swim3-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Holy Redeemer swim coach Jack Port speaks to members of the swim team during practice Thursday afternoon. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022318Swim2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Bailey Flannery practices diving at the Wyoming Valley CYC on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022318Swim2-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Bailey Flannery practices diving at the Wyoming Valley CYC on Thursday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></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>

Sharing a unique bond: Dallas, Redeemer divers work together to prep for districts