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PIAA basketball: Hazleton Area boys advance to Class 6A semifinals

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PIAA swimming: Dallas boys relay team wins state medal

LEWISBURG &#8211; The Dallas girls team clearly had an impressive first day at the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships, but when Friday&#8217;s action ended, the team scoring sheet provided a pleasant surprise.&#8220;We looked at it (Friday) at the end of the day and we were like, &#8216;we&#8217;re in second?&#8217;&#8221; senior Abby Zolner said, her voice rising to indicate the shock. &#8220;We were like &#8216;no way&#8217;. Then, it kept going (Saturday).&#8220;The divers dove well and the rest of us swam well. It&#8217;s insane that we could even do that.&#8221;Although the team above them changed at the same time the Lady Mountaineers were passing first-day leader Villa Maria from Erie, Dallas held on to second place throughout the second half of the competition in Class 2A girls for the best team swimming finish in school history.Another successful day for Wyoming Valley Conference swimmers ended with Holy Redeemer sophomore Margaret Walting and the Wyoming Seminary 400-yard freestyle relay team each placing third.Wyoming Seminary and a Scranton Prep team with Luzerne County influence placed eighth and ninth.Villa Maria Academy from the Philadelphia suburbs wound up outscoring Dallas, 178-139, for the team title.Zolner led the way, earning four medals on the weekend at Bucknell University&#8217;s Kinney Natatorium.Fellow senior Annalise Cheshire and sophomore Missy Leonard each earned three medals and scored points in a fourth event.Those three were joined by freshman Gabby Krochta on two medal-winning relay teams and Emma Thomas, another freshman, joined Leonard in scoring points in the 500 freestyle.The divers did their part with senior Gianna Leo and junior Jaelyn Shaver, a newcomer to state competition, scoring points by placing 10th and 12th.&#8220;Second place in the state is pretty incredible, especially with only five girls swimming and two divers,&#8221; Zolner said. &#8220;Whoever thought seven people were going to get runner-up in the whole state?&#8220;That&#8217;s just crazy.&#8221;Dallas was the only public school in the top five and one of only two in the top nine of the team standings.&#8220;To finish second against schools that always finish first is not a loss to me at all,&#8221; Dallas coach Romayne Mosier said. &#8220;We gave them a run for their money.&#8220;As a coach, this is stuff that you dream of. It&#8217;s a reality.&#8221;Cheshire and Zolner made a big impact as freshmen when Dallas posted its previous best state finish, taking seventh in 2015.&#8220;Looking at those results and seeing that we were second in the state was absolutely amazing and even took our breath away a little bit when we saw it,&#8221; Cheshire said.The weekend included only one mild disappointment for the Dallas girls.The 400 freestyle relay team came in as the top seed and led qualifying Saturday morning. It finished fourth in a race where the top four teams were separated by 65-hundredths of a second.Leonard finished sixth in the 500 freestyle.Walting had the top individual finish by a WVC girls in the two-day meet, placing third Saturday in both qualifying and then the finals for the 100 breaststroke.&#8220;It&#8217;s such a great feeling, but there&#8217;s a lot of hard work ahead,&#8221; said Walting, who also medaled in a relay Friday. &#8220;You have to keep putting in the hard work and hope to keep getting better.&#8221;Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s 400 freestyle relay team of Kylee Kolbicka, Aviah Dahlgren, Tara Kupsky and Skylar Roerig qualified fifth and finished third by lowering its time 2.1 seconds from earlier in the day.Scranton Prep&#8217;s team featured three medalists with Wyoming Valley ties. Peyton McNulty, who was fourth in the 100 backstroke Saturday, and Lauren Lanzendorfer both reside in the Pittston Area School District. Haley Thier swam for Wyoming Seminary last year.<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom RobinsonFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PIAA CLASS 2A GIRLS SWIMMINGSaturday WVC Results(Qualifying time in parens for finalists)Diving &#8211; Gianna Leo, Dallas, 10th, 305.90 for 11 divesDiving &#8211; Jaelyn Shaver, Dallas, 12th, 283.35 for 11 divesDiving &#8211; Haily Yakimowicz, Holy Redeemer, 18th, 202.05 for 8 dives100 freestyle &#8211; Skylar Roerig, Wyoming Seminary, 8th, 53.50 (52.76)100 freestyle &#8211; Annalise Cheshire, Dallas, 11th, 53.12 (52.98)100 freestyle &#8211; Kylee Kolbicka, Wyoming Seminary, 18th, 54.12500 freestyle &#8211; Missy Leonard, Dallas, 6th, 5:13.36 (5:13.59)500 freestyle &#8211; Emma Thomas, Dallas, 15th, 5:23.33 (5:21.52)500 freestyle &#8211; Aviah Dahlgren, Wyoming Seminary, 25th, 5:27.54100 breaststroke &#8211; Margaret Walting, Holy Redeemer, 3rd, 1:04.07 (1:03.80)100 breaststroke &#8211; Madi Federici, Wyoming Seminary, 23rd, 1:09.02400 freestyle relay &#8211; Wyoming Seminary (Kylee Kolbicka, April Kupsky, Tara Kupsky, Skylar Roerig), 3rd, 3:34.36 (3:36.46)400 freestyle relay &#8211; Dallas (Annalise Cheshire, Gabby Krochta, Missy Leonard, Abby Zolner), 4th, 3:34.67 (3:35.45)Team points &#8211; Dallas, 2nd, 139; Wyoming Seminary, 8th, 96 &#189;; Holy Redeemer, 18th, 47.Friday WVC Results200 medley relay &#8211; Wyoming Seminary (Skylar Roerig, Madi Federici, Tara Kupsky, Kylee Kolbicka), 3rd, 1:47.98 (1:48.26)200 medley relay &#8211; Holy Redeemer (Kayla Kruk, Margaret Walting, Corinne Smith, Cate Blaum), 14th, 1:51.35 (1:51.37)200 freestyle &#8211; Missy Leonard, Dallas, 9th, 1:55.59, (1:58.28)200 freestyle &#8211; Aviah Dahlgren, Wyoming Seminary, 18th, 2:00.07200 freestyle &#8211; Paige Jackett, Wyoming Seminary, 25th, 2:01.77200 freestyle &#8211; Sydney Lloyd, Berwick, 28th, 2:01.83200 individual medley &#8211; Tara Kupsky, Wyoming Seminary, 5th, 2:08.63 (2:10.72)200 individual medley &#8211; Abby Zolner, Dallas, 7th, 2:10.72 (2:10.90)200 individual medley &#8211; April Kupsky, Wyoming Seminary, 16th, 2:05.02 (2:11.95)50 freestyle &#8211; Annalise Cheshire, Dallas, 5th, 24.03 (24.03)50 freestyle &#8211; Skylar Roerig, Wyoming Seminary, 12th, 24.37 (24.35)50 freestyle &#8211; Margaret Walting, Holy Redeemer, 14th, 24.38 (24.25)100 butterfly &#8211; Abby Zolner, Dallas, 4th, 57.55 (57.76)100 butterfly &#8211; Tara Kupsky, Wyoming Seminary, 20th, 1:00.02100 butterfly &#8211; Kylee Kolbicka, Wyoming Seminary, 25th, 1:00.74200 freestyle relay &#8211; Dallas (Annalise Cheshire, Gabby Krochta, Missy Leonard, Abby Zolner), 6th, 1:39.35 (1:39.39)200 freestyle relay &#8211; Holy Redeemer (Kayla Kruk, Emily Blaum, Cate Blaum, Margaret Walting), 8th, 1:39.79 (1:40.21)200 freestyle relay &#8211; Wyoming Seminary (April Kupsky, Paige Jackett, Noam Wasik, Aviah Dahlgren) &#8230; (1:41.82)</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</shirttailMeta></div>

PIAA swimming: Dallas girls claim silver in Class 2A team standings