SWIMMING: State qualifiers finalized

By Steve Moore
smoore@pottsmerc.com

The PIAA unveiled the state swimming psych sheets today. Some area swimmers already knew they were Bucknell-bound by finishing in the top 5 (AAA) or first place (AA) in their event at the District 1 Championships. Others had to wait for today to see if they earned a wild card berth.

Full entries can be seen on the PIAA website by clicking here.

See below for a rundown all the local qualifiers.

AAA GIRLS (Friday, March 15 to Saturday, March 16)

• Methacton's girls 200 medley relay earned an at-large berth with a time of 1:49.29, and is seeded 18th overall.
• Methacton's Kirsten Groff earned the last at-large berth in the 100 free with her time of 52.94, and is seeded 28th.
• Methacton's 200 free relay earned the only AAA Girls automatic bid with a fifth-place finish. Their time of 1:38.72 is seeded 15th.
• Methacton's Nicole Young earned an at-large bid in the 100 breastroke with her time of 1:07.30. She is seeded 24th overall.

AA GIRLS (Wednesday, March 13 to Thursday, March 15)

• Phoenixville's 200 medley relay (Erin McElwee, Devonne Moore, Shawna Moore and Eileen Butler) earned an at-large berth with a time of 1:52.05 and is seeded tenth.
• Phoenixville's Devonne Moore snuck in with the last at-large berth in the 200 individual medley with her time of 2:17.25. She is seeded 31st. Upper Perkiomen's Kirsten Siwy finished just behind Moore at districts but missed out on a state bid.
• Moore also qualified in the 100 breast with a time of 1:09.47. She's seeded 19th.
• Phoenixville's Erin McElwee earned an at-large in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.08. She is seeded 20th.

AAA BOYS (Friday, March 15 to Saturday, March 16)

• Perkiomen Valley's 200 medley relay (Chase Renninger, Russell Lambert, Seth Wrigley and Cody Weiler) (1:36.80) is seeded 10th.
• Boyertown's 200 medley relay earned an at-large bid (1:37.56) and is seeded 15th.
• Daniel Boone's Ryan Owens is seeded seventh overall in the 200 free (1:42.07).
• Boyertown's Steve Miller is seeded 18th in the 200 free after earning an automatic bid (1:43.33).
• Perkiomen Valley's Wyatt Amdor (1:57.28) got an autobid in the 200 IM and is seeded 18th.
• Boyertown's Russell Lambert (1:58.93) earned an at-large in the 200 IM. He's seeded 30th.
• Owen J. Roberts' Sam Feiser (20.97) is seeded fourth in the 50 free after winning the district title.
• Perkiomen Valley's Kyle Dix (22.00) is seeded 31st in the 50 free.
• Methacton's Rick Weber (22.01) earned the 32nd and final seed in the 50 free.
• OJR's Feiser is seeded 10th in the 100 fly (51.21).
• Daniel Boone's Owens is seeded 13th in the 500 free with his time of 4:40.08.
• Owen J. Roberts' 200 free relay team (Feiser, Matt Terrell, Alex McCullough, Colin Bauer) is seeded 22nd with a time of 1:27.93.
• Boyertown's Chase Renninger (52.77) is seeded 23rd in the 100 backstroke. 
• Perk Valley's Amdor is seeded 18th in the 100 breaststroke (58.95).
• Owen J. Roberts' 400 free relay of Feiser, McCullough, Basil Mokhallalati and Terrell is seeded 16th and earned the first at-large bid with their time 3:11.87.
• Perkiomen Valley's 400 free relay also earned an at-large and is seeded 20th with a time of 3:13.81.

AA BOYS (Wednesday, March 13 to Thursday, March 15)

• Upper Perkiomen, which won the district title in all three relays, is tied for the second seed in the 200 medley relay (1:39.02), seeded eighth in the 200 free relay (1:30.53) and seeded fifth (3:16.62) in the 400 free relay.
• Upper Perkiomen's Jason Mercando earned a wild card in the 200 free (1:48.63) and is seeded 23rd. Teammate Hunter Peck (1:50.39) missed an at-large by three one-hundreths of a second.
• Pottsgrove's Morgan Schreiber earned an at-large bid in the 200 IM (2:02.74) and is seeded 19th.
• Upper Perk's Brandon Umstead also made it in the 200 IM (2:04.57) and is seeded 27th.
• Upper Perk's Kyle Himmelwright is only seeded 16th (22.21) in the 50 free, despite winning the District 1 title. 
• Upper Perk's Mason Cassel (52.29) is seeded seventh in the 100 fly.
• Upper Perk's Cassel is seeded 13th in the 100 free (48.52).
• Three PAC-10 swimmers earned at-large bids in the 100 backstroke. Pottsgrove's Schrieber (54.57) is seeded 13th, Upper Perk's Himmelwright (54.97) is seeded 17th and teammate Brandon Umstead (55.73) is seeded 24th.
• Upper Perk's Quinn Perlstein grabbed a wild card bid in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.28) and is seeded 19th.