ALLENTOWN — Michael Strucko knew he was going to swim fast in his final district meet.

But when he looked up at his time after touching the wall to win his third straight District 11 backstroke gold medal, the numbers were lower than he expected.

He clocked in with a district record time of 49.64 seconds.

“I’m surprised,” said the Marian Catholic senior. “I’m not tapered or rested for this. I wasn’t sure I could drop a lot of time. To get almost half a second under 50 and go a .60 personal best, I’m so happy about it.”

Strucko was one of three Times News area individuals to win gold Saturday in the second day of this year’s district championships, along with the Tamaqua’s girls 400-yard freestyle relay team.

Tamaqua’s Savannah Wilson, who was part of the winning relay team, also captured her third straight district title with a win in the breaststroke. Marian’s Lydia Strucko won her second straight title in the backstroke.

Michael Strucko made his fourth straight trip to the district podium in backstroke as he took second as a freshman and has won every year since.

Saturday at Parkland High School he beat the second-place finisher, Dylan Smith (Southern Lehigh), by almost four seconds.

“I was just trying to swim that race and drop time,” he said. “I’m a little bit speechless. That was a really big swim for me getting under 50 for the first time. I had one event today. I gave it my all. I was really psyched up. I had a good mindset.

“I love this stage. This is the most fun meet of the season.”

Michael Strucko will compete at states in two events after winning the 200-yard freestyle on Friday’s first day of districts.

It marks his fourth trip to states in backstroke and third in freestyle. He medaled in both events last year when swimmers had just 10 days between the district meet and states.

This year there’s an extra week in between the two meets, allowing for much more preparation time.

“Previous years that quick turnaround has really been tough to get back training and you have to taper,” Michael Strucko said. “Having the extra week to relax and reset, we’ll probably get some better results for states.”

Wilson also posted a personal best time Saturday at districts with a 1:04.96 to win the breaststroke by nearly four seconds.

“That is my fastest time ever,” she said. “I was hoping to get a 1:05 to take a second off last year. I ended up with 1:04 so I’m over the moon about it. I’m very happy.

“To me, winning is awesome. I feel like it just shows the effort and the work I put in really pays off. I’m just really happy about everything. I felt super good this entire meet.”

The win marks the third District 11 breaststroke title of Wilson’s career, and her third straight trip to the state meet after earning a medal there last season.

She’ll have more company at the meet this year with her 400 freestyle relay teammates.

The Blue Raider foursome of Janna Brown, Kate Behun, Wilson and Shaylee Gormley won its race in 3:48.65, over four seconds ahead of Blue Mountain in second place.

Wilson, who finished the breaststroke just a few minutes before the relay, swam the third leg and took her team from second place to first before Gormley finished it off.

“Blue Mountain got ahead of us,” said Wilson. “I was still tired from breaststroke, but I got in there and swam as fast as I could. Then Shaylee took it home from there. It was another great swim.”

Lydia Strucko won her second straight backstroke title Saturday after capturing her third-straight individual medley title Friday.

She swam the backstroke in 55.68, which is closing in on the district record (55.24) set by former Marian state champ and current coach Kristin Shickora.

Strucko won this year’s breaststroke event by over four seconds.

“Going into it I was really locked in,” Strucko said. “I try to talk myself through it. I was aggressive with it. I went out and tried to hold on.

“I was really focused on my underwaters this week. I think that’s where I had an edge.”

The junior returns to states for the third time after earning a medal there last year.

She’s looking forward to the extra preparation time for this year’s state meet.

“It changes everything,” she said. “This year we have two weeks of high-yardage, high-intensity training. Then we’ll taper that last week and go for it. Tapering means everything and it makes a drastic difference.”

Behun and Gormley also earned individual district medals, which went to the top four finishers in each event.

Behun, a sophomore, swam both her individual events on the second day of the meet. She took third place in backstroke and was fourth in 500 freestyle.

Gormley, a freshman, took third place in the 100-yard freestyle Saturday.

GET SOM ... The Struckos both earned Swimmer of the Meet awards Saturday for their performances over the two-day meet.

BUCKNELL BOUND ... Swimmers who qualified will compete in the PIAA Class 2A Championships March 13-14 at Bucknell. University.

WE’RE SAYING THERE’S A CHANCE ...Swimmers who won events automatically qualify for states. Others may still earn a place at the meet. Their times will be compared to times from other district meets across the state with the fastest swimmers filling in the championship field along with district champs.

District 11 Swimming -

Day 2 Results

at Parkland High School

(top 3 plus locals in top 8)

Legend: Allentown Central Catholic (ACC), Blue Mountain (BM), Catasauqua (Cat), East Stroudsburg North (ESN), Mahanoy Area (Mah), Marian (Mar), Moravian Academy (Mor), North Schuylkill (NS), Notre Dame-Green Pond (NDG), Palisades (Pal), Palmerton (Plm), Pen Argyl (Pen), Pottsville (Potts), Salisbury (Sal), Saucon Valley (SV), Schuylkill Haven (SH), Southern Lehigh (SL), Tamaqua (Tam)

GIRLS

100 freestyle - 1. Julia Cort (SV) 52.13, 2. Hope Stauffer (SH) 54.27, 3. Shaylee Gormley (Tam) 55.12; 500 freestyle - 1. Charlotte Hummel (ACC0 5:13.27, 2. Phoebe Ballek (Sal) 5:23.24, 3. Gianna Laselva (Potts) 5:33.09, 4. Kate Behun (Tam) 5:40.62; 100 backstroke - 1. Lydia Strucko (Mar) 55.68, 2. Lillian Brown (Mah) 59.73, 3. Kate Behun (Tam) 1:04.66; 100 breaststroke - 1. Savannah Wilson (Tam) :04.96, 2. Alayna Hansel (BM) 1:08.94, 3. Olivia Amorim (Sal) 1:09.74; 400 freestyle relay - 1. Tamaqua (Janna Brown, Kate Behun, Savannah Wilson, Shaylee Gormley) 3:48.65, 2. Blue Mountain 3:53.12, 3. Salisbury 3:54.42.

Team Standings

1. Blue Mountain 350, 2. Tamaqua 269, 3. Moravian Academy 253, 4. Allentown Central Catholic 238, 5. Salisbury 191, 6. North Schuylkill 150, 7. Saucon Valley 132, 8. Mahanoy Area 129, 9. Schuylkill Haven 112, 10. Pottsville 110, 11. Marian Catholic 92.

BOYS

100 freestyle - 1. Liam Fitzpatrick (ACC) 46.94, 2. Alex Zabinski (SL) 47.66, 3. Noah Bevan (Potts) 48.55; 500 freestyle - 1. Porter Sarnes (BM) 4:46.27, 2. NS) 5:00.98, 3. Sachin Sareen (SL) 5:07.38; 100 backstroke - 1. Michael Strucko (Mar) 49.64 (district record), 2. Dylan Smith (SL) 53.57, 3. Brody Moyer (BM) 54.56; 100 breaststroke - 1. Caeden Amorim (Sal) 1:00.61, 2. Logan Cruz (ESN) 1:01.02, 3. Brody Wagner (SV) 1:01.49; 400 freestyle relay - 1. Central Catholic (Thomas Rafferty, Colin Fitzpatrick, Gavin Mahon, Liam Fitzpatrick) 3:15.26, 2. Blue Mountain 3:17.06, 3. Southern Lehigh 3:20.27.

Team Standings

1. Southern Lehigh 353, 2. Blue Mountain 319, 3. Allentown Central Catholic 307, 4. Saucon Valley 276, 5. Pottsville 209, 6. North Schuylkill 158, 7. Salisbury 129, 8. Marian Catholic 96, 9. Moravian Academy 92, Schuylkill Haven 92, 10. East Stroudsburg North 64, 12. Tamaqua 5.