ALLENTOWN - Obstacles and medals were the themes on Day Two of the District 11 Class 2A Swimming Championships Saturday morning at Parkland High School.

Marian’s Michael Strucko was the star of the day, as the freshman crushed his personal best time to create an obstacle that none of his competitors could come close to overcoming in the boys 500 freestyle.

While Strucko was creating obstacles, Marian’s Zoe Katona, Northwestern’s Hunter Slaski, and the Tamaqua boys 400 freestyle relay team were busy overcoming them.

The result was five medals for Times News area swimmers - including a pair for Strucko.

Magic Mike

Strucko not only picked up a gold medal and the automatic PIAA state berth that goes with it in the 500 free, but he added a silver medal in the 100 backstroke.

“At the beginning of this season, I would have never dreamed this could be possible,” Strucko said about his district gold and state berth in the 500. “But I’ve been able to drop a lot of time, and today was definitely my best swim ever in this event.

“My seed time of 5:11 had been my personal best, so when I saw my time today (5:02.34), I was really happy. It was much better then I could have possibly hoped for entering the race. My goal coming into today was to get my time down to around 5:05, so I’m pretty excited about how I swam.”

Despite a career-best time, Strucko said he wasn’t necessarily “feeling it” during the race.

“With this being my first time at districts, I was definitely feeling some nerves before the race,” Strucko said. “I don’t know if that had something to do with it or not, but I didn’t feel great in the water. I didn’t think I was swimming that well. So when I saw my time was 5:02, I was really surprised.”

Strucko didn’t have long to celebrate the victory, however. Some bad luck in the scheduling meant that his two best events - the 500 free and 100 backstroke - took place back-to-back. So just minutes after completing the grueling 20-lap freestyle, he was back in the pool.

“Obviously, that wasn’t ideal,” Strucko said about the quick turnaround. “I knew this was how the schedule was set up and I did consider a couple of other events instead, but ultimately I decided that the 100 backstroke was where I had my best chance to get another medal.”

Strucko did just that, finishing second in 58.39. Moravian Academy’s Nicholas Ritter won the event in an impressive 52.82.

“My seed time coming in was 56.32, but I knew that was going to be really hard to match coming off the 500 just a few minutes earlier,” said Strucko. “But overall, I was happy with my time and my finish. I definitely made the right choice staying with the backstroke.

“To get two district medals, and to make states in one event, is a great feeling. I’m thrilled with how everything went today.”

Against the Odds

Winning a district medal is a special accomplishment under any circumstances, but overcoming a significant obstacle to do it makes it that much more special.

That was the case for two area individuals and one relay team Saturday.

Katona and Slaski overcame potential season-ending injuries to not only compete at districts, but also take home bronze medals. Meanwhile, Tamaqua’s 400 freestyle relay team overcame the absence of one of its top swimmers to also grab a bronze medal.

The Fillies’ Katona placed third in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:11.44. Tabbatha Ward of Mahanoy Area won the event (1:09.85) and Paige Bensinger of Blue Mountain was second (1:10.04).

“I’m thrilled with how the race went,” said Katona, who lowered her seed time (1:11.79) slightly and set a personal best in the process.

It wasn’t a surprise that Katona set a PR in the event because she didn’t have many previous times to compare it to.

“I never swam this event until a couple of meets ago; I never even worked on the breaststroke in practice,” explained Katona. “But I swam it in a meet late in the season and got a qualifying time. At the Schuylkill League meet, I swam it again and lowered my time about six seconds. Then today, I was even a little better than that time.”

The reason Katona decided to go to the breaststroke was she wasn’t able to compete in her normal freestyle events.

“The 200 and 500 freestyle are my main events,” she said. “But I had surgery in 2020 on one shoulder, and then in 2021 on the other shoulder. Because of that, I was forced to take last season off from swimming. I returned this year and my shoulders were okay early in the season. But about a month ago, they started bothering me doing the freestyle, so I decided I needed to take it easy.

“I thought my season was over at that point, but Michael (Strucko) told me I should try the breaststroke because it would be much easier on my shoulders. I tried it and obviously it has worked out better than I could have ever hoped. I’m so happy right now to have won a district medal in an event I’ve only been doing a few weeks.”

Slaski placed fourth to grab a medal in the 500 freestyle, posting a time of 5:25.38. The time was almost two seconds slower than his seed time, but considering that up until race time Slaski didn’t even know if he would participate, he was thrilled with what he accomplished.

“I’m actually swimming with a broken bone in my back,” said Slaski. “I have a fracture of my L5 and after I swam on Friday (a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle), it was really bothering me.

“I told my parents Friday night I didn’t think I was going to swim Saturday, and when I woke up today I still wasn’t sure. But it started to feel a little better, so I decided to give it a try - and I’m glad I did.” Slaski - who has had to deal with back problems his entire swimming career - said he aggravated it a couple months ago in a car accident, but continued to compete despite occasional discomfort.

“Getting a PR today would have been nice - and that’s always a goal when you compete in these types of big meets,” said Slaski. “But considering I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to swim until an hour or so before the event, I’m thrilled to put up the time I did and get a district medal in the process.”

For the second straight day, a Tamaqua relay team had to overcome the loss of one of its key swimmers to grab a medal.

Friday, the Raiders’ 200 freestyle team finished third despite missing Jathan Krall, who was ill. Krall was also unable to swim on Saturday, but once again it didn’t prevent the team from medaling.

The Tamaqua 400 freestyle team of Jack Tharp, Ethan DiBonifazio, Brandon Long and Stephen Behun combined to shatter the squad’s previous best time by almost seven seconds, despite using an alternate to fill in for Krall. The Raiders’ time of 3:38.93 was behind only Pottsville (3:27.83) and Moravian Academy (3:33.11).

“I’m really excited with how our guys team performed,” said Tamaqua coach Jen Paisley. “But I’m not surprised. One of the things we stress to all of our swimmers is that they need to be prepared when their number is called. That’s true whether you’re expecting to be one of our top four relay team members, or whether you’re expecting to be an alternate and have to fill in.

“All four swimmers had their best times today, and that’s what it took to get the bronze medal.”

STATES ... The Class 2A state championships will take place on Wednesday, March 15 and Thursday, March 17 at Bucknell University. Strucko and Northwestern’s Aiden Braadt (who won the 200 IM on Friday) were the only area athletes to qualify. Non District 11 champs can qualify based on their times, but the state released the field for each event on Sunday and no other area swimmers made the cut.

OTHER LOCALS ... In addition to the medal winners, other locals who placed on Saturday were Tamaqua’s Tharp (eighth, boys 100 free); Northwestern’s Braadt (fifth, boys 100 backstroke); Tamaqua’s Savannah Wilson (sixth, girls 100 breaststroke); Tamaqua’s Lily McNutt (11th, girls 100 breaststroke); Tamaqua’s Long (10th, boys 100 backstroke); Panther Valley’s Michael Williams (11th, boys 100 backstroke); Tamaqua’s Alex Zehner (14th, boys 500 free); and Tamaqua’s Jesse Gormley (16th, 500 free). The Tamaqua girls 400 relay team of Isabella Jones, Gabby Blasko, Wilson and Lexi Buchala finished seventh.

BEARS IN 3A ... Two Pleasant Valley swimmers competed in Saturday’s Class 3A championships. Sophomore Logan Santiago was 14th in the boys 100 breaststroke, while freshman Victoria Jones was 14th in the girls 100 breaststroke.