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D2 basketball: Northwest boys fall in 2A championship

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Their view: Many solid reasons not to arm teachers

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Of course, Adam Mahler had to set the record straight.</p><p>On his first swim, the Holy Redeemer junior tied a district record. For his encore performance, Mahler broke a district mark by more than a second.</p><p>Mahler twice etched his name in the record books at the District 2 Class 2A Swimming Championships on Saturday at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre. Competition will resume on Monday at 1 p.m. after the schedule was reformatted for a third time this weekend because of weather issues. The top two finishers in each event head to states at Bucknell University.</p><p>Dallas leads both the boys and girls standings. On the boys&#8217; side, the Mountaineers lead Scranton Prep by a 120-106 advantage. Dallas won half of the girls events to lead Wyoming Seminary by a 175-139.5 margin.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve had a target on our back,&#8221; Dallas senior Abby Zolner said. &#8220;It could be our fourth district title. We&#8217;re hoping to bring that home. So far, all of our girls are doing what they&#8217;re supposed to be doing.&#8221;</p><p>Mahler started the day by winning the 200 free. He matched a 33-year old record set by former Bishop Hoban standout Sean McCall, whose son was competing in the next lane, with a time of 1:46.05.</p><p>He followed that by taking down his own school record by 1.19 seconds. Mahler raced to a 50.49-second performance in the 100 butterfly to capture another gold medal around his neck. He touched 3.31 seconds ahead of second-place Michael Durr.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s my best split minus fully shaved and tapered from last year,&#8221; Mahler said of his butterfly. &#8220;You have to keep on going, keep pushing through. I&#8217;m not one of those people that really cares about whether or not I finish in first.&#8221;</p><p>After the 200 IM, the Dallas girls led by a mere 4.5 points over Wyoming Seminary. But a pair of upset bids from two seasoned seniors pushed the Mountaineers ahead of the field.</p><p>Abby Zolner shocked herself by winning the 100 butterfly from the third seed. Trailing Scranton Prep&#8217;s Haley Thier by more than 2.5 seconds on the psych sheet, Zolner pulled ahead in the final 50 yards to clock in at 58.34 seconds for the victory.</p><p>&#8220;Obviously, I was seeded third; I never saw that coming,&#8221; Zolner said. &#8220;She got so much better this year, so obviously it was scary to race against her. The final 25 (yards) I was screaming to myself in my head, &#8216;You cannot lose this. This is your final year. This is your final race.&#8217; I needed to win that.&#8221;</p><p>Her teammate Annalise Cheshire faced the toughest task of all &#8212; a crowded 50 free field that consisted of last year&#8217;s three-time state medalist (Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Margaret Walting), the fastest sprinter this season (Prep&#8217;s Thier), and the most promising freshman (Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Skylar Roerig). Seeded fourth, Cheshire out-touched Roerig by a tenth of a second for first place. Her 24.01-second finish gave her the third 50 free title and eighth gold medal of her career.</p><p>&#8220;Actually, I had no idea,&#8221; Cheshire said. &#8220;I went into my turn, and I didn&#8217;t see anyone next to me. I thought, &#8216;Oh my God, they&#8217;re all so far ahead of me.&#8217; When I finished at the line, I could not see my time. So it was a shock to me.&#8221;</p><p>Dallas sophomore Melissa Leonard notched a long-awaited district title in the 200 free, beating Berwick&#8217;s Sydney Lloyd by 2.2 seconds.</p><p>&#8220;I felt a lot of pressure going into the race because I was seeded first,&#8221; Leonard said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t want to let my teammates down. I knew that all I had to do is stay in my lane, not anyone get into my head, and focus on my race.&#8221;</p><p>The Mountaineers&#8217; Mikail Krochta helped the boys team with another upset victory in the 200 IM. He used a 36.87-second split in the breast to push him ahead to a 1:59.27 winning time.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been competing in this race since I was a freshman,&#8221; Krochta said. &#8220;Last year, I came so close in second. It was really great. I worked really hard and racing (Wyoming Seminary senior) Yonah Wasik was great because he always pushes me.&#8221;</p><p>Dallas received a bit of help in the 200 free relay. Scranton Prep and Tunkhannock &#8212; both of whom were on the Mountaineers&#8217; tail in the team standings all day &#8212; were disqualified for an early exchange. The Holy Redeemer team of Mahler, Mike Williams, Matt Dinh and Colton Smith were deemed the victors.</p><p>The afternoon opened with a stunning finish in the girls 200 medley relay. Both Wyoming Seminary and Scranton Prep tied for first place. In doing so, the Blue Knights&#8217; foursome of Roerig, Madi Federici, Tara Kupsky and Kylee Kolbicka set both district and pool records with a 1:47.8.</p><p>Kolbicka, the anchor for the team, erased a 1.34-second deficit on her leg. The sophomore admitted to not realizing there was a tie until the medal ceremony.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to lie,&#8221; Kolbicka said. &#8220;I was so shocked to look our time at our time that I didn&#8217;t even notice that Prep did it too. I am happy for them. It&#8217;s healthy competition.</p><p>&#8220;But, honestly, it&#8217;s hard to explain, but you have this itch and you want to get into the water and go as fast as you can.&#8221;</p><p>Wyoming Seminary senior Tara Kupsky garnered first place in the 200 IM. She registered a 2:10.6 finish to distance herself from Zolner and her younger sister April.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s really emotional. I really wanted to finish the year with my sister,&#8221; Tara said. &#8220;I had raced that event with my older sister (Paige) and now April. Going into it was really emotional and winning it with her right by my side is amazing.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dallas&#8217; Melissa Leonard claimed gold in the 200 freestyle on Saturday, as both the Mountaineers girls and boys teams led the Class 2A team standings after the first day of the district meet. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim6_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dallas&#8217; Melissa Leonard claimed gold in the 200 freestyle on Saturday, as both the Mountaineers girls and boys teams led the Class 2A team standings after the first day of the district meet. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim5_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Tunkhannock&#8217;s Julien Madus leaves the blocks for the final leg of the 200 medley relay, helping the Tigers finish second. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim5_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Tunkhannock&#8217;s Julien Madus leaves the blocks for the final leg of the 200 medley relay, helping the Tigers finish second. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim3_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Scranton Prep&#8217;s Michael Durr react to winning the 50 freestyle on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim3_faa.jpg</photo2><caption2>Scranton Prep&#8217;s Michael Durr react to winning the 50 freestyle on Saturday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim1_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kylee Kolbicka swam the anchor leg for the Wyoming Seminary 200 IM relay team as she touched the wall at the same time as the Scranton Prep team, tying for gold. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim1_faa.jpg</photo3><caption3>Kylee Kolbicka swam the anchor leg for the Wyoming Seminary 200 IM relay team as she touched the wall at the same time as the Scranton Prep team, tying for gold. </caption3><photoCredit3>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim4a_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Tara Kupsky competes in the backstroke portion of the 200 IM, winning the event for the Blue Knights on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim4a_faa.jpg</photo4><caption4>Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Tara Kupsky competes in the backstroke portion of the 200 IM, winning the event for the Blue Knights on Saturday. </caption4><photoCredit4>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim2_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Adam Mahler tied a 33-year-old record in the 200 freestyle, finishing first with a time of 1:46.05 during Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A meet in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_d2aa_swim2_faa.jpg</photo5><caption5>Adam Mahler tied a 33-year-old record in the 200 freestyle, finishing first with a time of 1:46.05 during Saturday&#8217;s District 2 Class 2A meet in Wilkes-Barre. </caption5><photoCredit5>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jay Monahan</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

D2 swimming: Dallas squads, Holy Redeemer’s Mahler shine in Class 2A