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Snow geese stopping over in NEPA

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Distinctive Women: Virginia Rose

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Maxim Kowalski kicked off the wall and emphatically splashed around in celebration.It might not have been a record time (or anything close to that). But the Wyoming Valley West senior, to no one&#8217;s surprise, basked in his moment of glory.Kowalski was one of three Wyoming Valley Conference swimmers to bring home District 2-4 Class 3A regional titles on Saturday at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre. Competition will resume Monday at 6 p.m.All three &#8211; Kowalski, his teammate Josh Zawatski, and Hazleton Area&#8217;s Paul Flowers &#8211; earned a ticket to the PIAA Championships at Bucknell University.Kowalski finished in 54.75 seconds to win the 100 butterfly by a resounding 2.29 seconds.&#8220;I just wanted to win,&#8221; Kowalski said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t taper for this meet because I am swimming the 500 on Monday. It was kind of shaky. It never started swimming this event until a month ago by accident.&#8221;Accident may not be the correct nomenclature but, surely, it does not underscore the feat that Kowalski won an event he just began swimming a month ago. What started off as a dare by his Wyoming Valley West coach to get him out of swimming sprints at practice snowballed into the Bloomsburg-bound distance swimmer competing in the butterfly.&#8220;I was happy because I made the states team,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I was not sure if I was going to do it or not.&#8221;His teammate Zawatski turned in his second-straight 50 free regional championship in his senior campaign. He sprinted to a 21.8-second finish that was shy of his season best but leaves him ample room to improve for states.&#8220;It could have been better,&#8221; Zawatski said. &#8220;I took too many breaths during my race. Overall, it was good on technique off the start. My flip was average. But there are always things to make better.&#8221;Flowers had the widest margin of victory for the day with his 200 IM. For his first district championship, he took more than a second lead following the butterfly and beat the field by nearly seven seconds. Flowers, a junior, touched the wall in 1:57.8.&#8220;It feels awesome. It&#8217;s really nice to know that hard work pays off,&#8221; Flowers said. &#8220;Even through the bad times when you have hope, there is light at the end of the tunnel.&#8221;The WVC did not produce any regional champions on the girls side.Hazleton Area junior Hayley Sanko was perhaps the most hard-working of any individual performer on Saturday. Sanko swam in four of the six events. She dropped four seconds in each of her final two events. Sanko took a bronze in the 100 fly and led off for a 200 free relay team including Megan Llewellyn, Sarah Lloyd and Marina O&#8217;Hara that finished second.&#8220;I feel really tired,&#8221; Sanko said. &#8220;I knew it was going to happen. I&#8217;m not used to swimming four events. It&#8217;s not the same as a regular meet because you&#8217;re using all of your energy. I feel happy with my times. I wish my times could have been better but there was nothing more I could do. I gave it my all.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jay MonahanFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>District 2-4 Class 3A ChampionshipsGIRLSStandings &#8211; 1. Delaware Valley (DV) 163; 2. Williamsport (WIL) 143; 3. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 138; 4. Abington Heights (AH) 101; 5. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 91; 6. Wyoming Valley West (WVW) 64; 7. Scranton (SCR) 47; 8. Pittston Area (PA) 37200 Medley Relay &#8211; 1. DV (Sierra Gillan, Miranda Murray, Shannon Deignan, Karolina Baranowski) 1:53.78; 2. HAZ (Marina O&#8217;Hara, Megan Llewellyn, Hayley Sanko, Sarah Lloyd) 1:57.7; 3. AH (April Sokalsky, Peyton Gualtieri, Lauren Schofield, Sarah Bath) 1:58.99; 4. SCR (Abigail Eckenrode, Claudia Pitts, Claire Brier, Camryn Rathford) 2:06.19; 5. WIL (Ella Meckley, Sarah Waltz, Zoey Harding, Cecilia Fink) 2:08.36; 6. PA (Juliet Lawler, Megan Gromelski, Taylor Maas, Kaitlyn Connors) 2:08.59; 7. WVW200 Free &#8211; 1. WAL Kara Campbell 1:57.09; 2. DV Karolina Baranowski 2:03.14; 3. HAZ Maggie Yannes 2:06.17; 4. AH April Sokalsky 2:07.74; 5. SCR Claire Brier 2:10.64; 6. HAZ Bridget Reed 2:11.05; 7. WIL Cecilia Fink; 8. WIL Zoey Harding; 9. DV Hannah Grathwohl; 10. WVW Sydney Bruno-Beck; 11. WIL Ella Meckley; 12. Pa Kaitlyn Connors200 IM &#8211; 1. AH Lauren Schofield 2:10.96; 2. WAL Cailin Campbell 2:12.31; 3. DV Miranda Murray 2:20.26; 4. WIL Isabelle Griswold 2:21.34; 5. HAZ Hayley Sanko 2:23.15; 6. HAZ Megan Llewellyn 2:26.08; 7. HAZ Alissa Platukis; 8. SCR Claudia Pitts; 9. WAL Mary Harmuth; 10. DV Jordan O&#8217;Connor; 11. DV Laura Bogert; 12. HAZ Alberiluz Alcantra50 Free &#8211; 1. DV Sierra Gillan 24.74; 2. WIL Lydia Smith 25.12; 3. DV Esther Lee 25.85; 4. HAZ Marina O&#8217;Hara 26.24; 5. HAZ Sarah Lloyd 26.68; 6. WIL Annie Rosenow 27; 7. WVW Alba Trilla Izquierdo; 8. WAL Claire Carfora; 9. DV Kelsie Moffa; 10. AH Abby Brock; 11. DV Taylor Ristaino; 12. AH Peyton Gualtieri100 Butterfly &#8211; 1. WAL Kara Campbell 58.65; 2. AH Lauren Shofield 58.73; 3. HAZ Hayley Sanko 1:03.84; 4. DV Shannon Deignan 1:05.04; 5. WIL Elisa Dinicola 1:05.13; 6. WAL Jasmine Elgayar 1:07.46; 7. DV Caroine Toomer; 8. HAZ Alberiluz Alcantara; 9. WAL Madison Schmalze; 10. DV Heather Quadrino; 11. DV Isabella Saski; 12. AH Samantha Wilkerson200 Free Relay &#8211; 1. WIL (Annie Rosenow, Elisa Dinocola, Isabelle Griswold, Lydia Smith) 1:42.41; 2. HAZ (Hayley Sanko, Megan Llewellyn, Sarah Lloyd, Marina O&#8217;Hara) 1:43.54; 3. WAL (Mary Harmuth, Claire Carfora, Kara Campbell, Cailin Campbell) 1:44.7; 4. AH (April Sokalsky, Abby Brock, Sarah Bath, Lauren Schofeld) 1:45.96; 5. DV (Esther Lee, Shannon Deignan, Taylor Ristaino, Sierra Gillan) 1:46.31; 6. PA (Kaitlyn Connors, Taylor Maas, Olivia Norwillo, Kiersten Grieco) 1:52.73; 7. WVW; 8. SCRBOYSStandings &#8211; 1. Delaware Valley (DV) 170; 2. Williamsport (WIL) 169; 3. Wyoming Valley West (116); 4. Abington Heights (AH) 96; 5. Hazleton Area (HAZ) 84; 6. Scranton (SCR) 74; 7. Wallenpaupack (WAL) 44200 Medley Relay &#8211; 1. WIL (Riley Hockman, Joshua Bonislawski, Justin Downs, Matthew Beard) 1:41.6; 2. WVW (Ivan Volynets, Logan Siliekus, Maxim Kowalski, Josh Zawatski) 1:41.64; 3. HAZ (Anthony Goulstone, Paul Flowers, Justin Reyes, Dylan Gould) 1:43.08; 4. DV (Steven Schermerhorn, Daniel Ocasio, Aedan Walter, Evan Dong) 1:49.46; 5. WAL (Michael Wildenberg, Justin Romeo, Owen McCabe, Thomas McCabe) 1:55.16; 6. AH (Josh Graham, Sloan Seid, Cohen Hodge, Brandon Beck) 1:57.5200 Free &#8211; 1. SCR Aidan Drouse 1:43.79; 2. DV Damian Baranowski 1:51.32; 3. WIL Quinn Serfass 1:53; 4. AH Jarred Ocwieja 1:53.13; 5. WIL Zachary Schwoyer 1:56.37; 6. HAZ Brandon DaGrosa 1:56.63; 7. DV Marc Mireau; 8. WVW James DeCosmo; 9. DV Kris Kremsner; 10. DV Jonathan Manning; 11. HAZ Dionel Alonzo; 12. WVW Logan Siliekus200 IM &#8211; 1. HAZ Paul Flowers 1:57.8; 2. DV Luke Stevens 2:04.58; 3. WIL Riley Hockman 2:08.29; 4. DV Lucas Santiago 2:10.9; 5. WIL Joshua Bonislawski 2:11.79; 6. AH John Frantz 2:12.3; 7. WIL Samuel Hillman; 8. DV Steven Schermerhorn; 9. WAL Justin Romeo; 10. AH John Graham; 11. AH Connor Ocwieja; 12. WAL John Keane50 Free &#8211; 1. WVW Josh Zawatski 21.8; 2. AH Josh Przekop 22.33; 3. WIL Matthew Beard 22.4; 4. SCR Nick Drouse 22.63; 5. SCR Jason Ardan 23.23; 6. DV Daniel Ocasio 23.42; 7. DV Evan Dong; 8. SCR EJ Mundia; 9. HAZ Dylan Gould; 10. WVW Jared Zawatski; 11. WIL Devon Shank; 12. WAL Thomas McCabe100 Butterfly &#8211; 1. WVW Maxim Kowalski 54.75; 2. WIL Justin Downs 57.04; 3. DV Liam Naturale 57.2; 4. HAZ Justin Reyes 57.52; 5. DV Aedan Alter 58.34; 6. WIL Devon Shank 58.76; 7. WIL Samuel Hillman; 8. DV Robert Riccio; 9. WAL Owen McCabe; 10. DV Roger Saumure; 11. AH Cohen Hodge; 12. AH Alex Zicolello200 Free Relay &#8211; 1. SCR (Aidan Drouse, Jason Ardan, EJ Mundia, Nick Drouse) 1:30; 2. WVW (Josh Zawatski, Maxim Kowalski, James DeCosmo, Ivan Volynets) 1:31.65; 3. DV (Damian Baranowski, Daniel Ocasio, Liam Naturale, Luke Stevens) 1:32.1; 4. AH (Josh Przekop, John Frantz, Jack Wasko, Jarred Ocwieja) 1:34.42; 5. WIL (Zach Schwoyer, Jack Beattie, Quinn Serfass, Riley Hockman) 1:34.63; 6. HAZ (Dylan Gould, Cody Manherz, Dionel Alonzo, Brandon DaGrosa) 1:38.73; 7. WAL</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

D2-4 3A Swimming Chsmpionships: Kowalski gets a kick out of making state field