POTTSVILLE - It was a gold rush for Times News area athletes at the Schuylkill League Swimming Championships on Saturday.

And no one enjoyed it more than Tamaqua swim coach Al Bostdorff.That's because Bostdorff had a connection to all 11 first place finishes by local swimmers.The first-year Blue Raider coach saw his team pick up five of the gold medals. But he also watched as independent swimmers from Marian and Weatherly - that he had previously coached - combined for another six golds."I'm pleased with how our team performed," said Bostdorff. "We thought we should get five firsts and we did. All of our kids swam their best times or very close to their best times this season."I'm also happy for the Marian and Weatherly kids. I was a coach at the Hazleton YMCA for the previous three-and-a-half years and I worked with all the kids who were here today from those two schools."Four area athletes - two each from Tamaqua and Marian - picked up a pair of golds. The Raiders' Rebecca Kanaskie (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) and Danielle DeCindio (50 butterfly, 100 butterfly) joined the Colts' Timothy Dando (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle) and the Fillies' Katie Kurzinsky (100 backstroke, 100 freestyle) as multiple event winners.Also picking up firsts were Tamaqua's Ben Turrano (100 butterfly), Weatherly's Jacob Sirkot (50 breaststroke) and Marian's Angeline Krupko (50 breaststroke).Upset winnerKrupko's performance might have been the most impressive as her's was the only one of the 11 area golds that didn't come from a No. 1 seed. She pulled her upset after being seeded third in the 50 breaststroke. Later in the day, the sophomore added a silver medal after being seeded third in the 100 breaststroke."This is an amazing feeling," said Krupko after swimming a 33.54 in the 50, which was more than two seconds better than her seed time. "Both of my times today were career bests."I was confident I could better my seed times, but I don't know if I expected my times to be this good."Twice as niceAll four of the double winners from the area displayed a couple of common characteristics - confidence they could win and excitement they did.The Raiders' DeCindio, who was the lone senior among area gold medal winners, swam a 1:04.05 to win the 100 fly and a 28.85 to take the 50 fly."I was a little nervous before the meet because I knew as a senior this was my last league championship meet and I wanted it to be a good one," said DeCindio. "Once I got in the pool, I just tried not to hold anything back. I'm happy I was able to defend my win in the 50 from last year and then add the 100 to it this year."Kanaskie, a Tamaqua sophomore, said her time of 2:22.74 in the 200 IM was a season's best and her 1:12.62 in the 100 breaststroke was just a fraction off her best."I knew I had the top seed times coming in so I was confident," said Kanaskie. "But at the same time, with all the great swimmers here, you can't be cocky."Once the races start, you just trust your hard work and preparation. Plus being around the best-of-the-best in the league gives the competitor in you a little extra push."The Fillies' Kurzinsky opened her meet with an impressive victory in the 100 backstroke as her time of 1:01.89 was nearly two-and-a-half seconds better than the time that earned her the top seed. The sophomore followed that up with a 56.90 in the 100 free, which was also under her seed time."This was really fun," said Kurzinsky. "It's nice to see the hard work I put in pay off."I'm thrilled with the two gold medals and also with both of my times. Facing the great swimmers I did today, I needed to be at my best and I think I was."Both of Dando's races followed similar patterns as he got out to early leads and then turned competitive races into easy victories with strong finishes. His winning time in the 200 free was 1:52.04 and his 500 free time was 5:11.60."I'm thrilled with my times and with the two wins," said the Colt sophomore, who took over four seconds off his seed time in the 200 and nearly 12 seconds off his time in the 500. "These are two of my fastest times ever in the events."I'm usually a pretty strong finisher to begin with, but Mike Smerlich of Pottsville was really pushing me in both races and I think that provided me with even more motivation to close as well as I did."Whatever it takesTamaqua's Ben Turrano and Weatherly's Jacob Sirkot proved that even in sprints there are different ways to win.Turrano rallied late to capture the 100 fly in 58.87 while Sirkot led the entire way to take the 50 breaststroke in 30.33.Turrano found himself in fourth place at one point in the race but picked off swimmers one by one over the final 25 yards to pull it out."I wasn't a very strong finisher last season," said the Raider junior. "But I've really worked on improving that. I'm swimming more yards in practice and my training has been more intense."I think that really paid off today. This was the second fastest time I've ever had in this event and I needed that type of performance to win the race."Meanwhile, Sirkot made it two straight league titles in the 50 breaststroke."I'm pretty happy with my swims," said Sirkot, who added a second place finish in the 100 IM. "I hit both of my target times and felt like I swam about as well as I could."With this type of competition, I knew there was no margin for error and I would have to put up good times to have a chance."More medalsIn addition to the second place finishes by Krupko and Sirkot, Weatherly sophomore Keith Cullen picked up a silver medal in the 50 backstroke and a bronze in the 50 fly.The Tamaqua girls also picked up second place finishes in the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay. Both teams were comprised of DeCindio, Kanaskie, Olivia Stanek and Abigail Brickler.